Patterico's Pontifications

2/25/2009

OK, I Get the Twitter Thing Now. Everyone Should Join

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:08 am



It seemed completely stupid and pointless at first, but I just needed the right software to implement it properly. What it is, is basically a giant chat room. Which is neat, if you like that kind of thing.

Now, on my computer screen, there is a chat window, and I choose who I want to listen to. When Michelle Malkin or Allahpundit or Jim Treacher says something, their message pops up with a sound alert (which can be turned off) and I can reply to it if I wish. People following me can send me messages and I reply to them. It all happens in real time. I may grow to dislike it, but for now it seems pretty cool. Distracting, but cool.

It was especially neat last night, during the speech, because everyone was on talking about the same thing. When it works, it’s a lot like doing one of those “Cover It Live” chats that I sometimes do here late in the evening. Only it’s on all the time. (If I want it to be.)

So if you enjoy those chats, you really should sign up. It’s a continuous live chat at your fingertips. It’s better than the live chats with me, because you can interact with people who are funnier and more interesting than I am — people like Jim Treacher and Allahpundit and Michelle Malkin . . . the list goes on.

If this interests you, I’ll explain what you need to do. Sign up for a Twitter account here. Download the twhirl client here. You will also need Adobe AIR to run the twhirl client.

That’s it. Do that, and you’re good to go.

If you sign up, make sure to check out my Twitter feed and “follow” me. You can see the people I’m following and decide whether you’d like to follow their posts as well. Sign on and chat away.

P.S. Everyone is welcome, but I especially need some West Coasters on it, because this sucker quiets down at night when everyone on the East Coast is asleep. Night owls on Central and Mountain Time are coveted as well.

P.P.S. Thanks to @ennuipundit for explaining this to me.

21 Responses to “OK, I Get the Twitter Thing Now. Everyone Should Join”

  1. a few post’s ago,you were bagging on “allahpundit” for his crappy post’s.now he’s funnier than you.I personally don’t care for him,he post’s all the time at “hotair”.he’s always bashing conservatives,gov.palin,and Christians.he belongs more on “LGF”.he fits in better there.now morrisey is more my style.

    mr. falcone (eed2b3)

  2. a few post’s ago,you were bagging on “allahpundit” for his crappy post’s.

    You are s’illy. He did no s’uch thing.

    Jim Treacher (796deb)

  3. #1,
    I like AP because he challenges people to think with his writing. He says he is an atheist which drives people nuts, criticizes all of the GOP candidates while still identifying with the GOP.
    In other words he is pretty objective.
    As far as Twitter I just don’t see how everyone has the time to keep up with twitter, blogs, IMs, work, home and fun. Just seems like there is a risk of being more spread too thin – being a jack of all info feeds and master of nothing.
    I know… call me old school.

    voiceofreason2 (10af7e)

  4. Allah is one of the best in the business at bringing all the information on a story and sourcing it. Some of his Middle East posts particularly have been downright amazing, despite taking an hour or so to read them and all the links. If you can’t handle reading someone you don’t always agree with then don’t read him.

    Pablo (99243e)

  5. a few post’s ago,you were bagging on “allahpundit” for his crappy post’s.

    B.S.

    That’s the least true thing anyone has ever said on this site. I have always said he’s my favorite blogger and that I steal from him constantly.

    Patterico (cc3b34)

  6. Not to whine (well, a little), but twhirl doesn’t run on Linux. Isn’t there a Linux-friendly alternative?

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407)

  7. If you run FireFox, you can use the TwitterFox add-on, which is pretty good.

    Scott Jacobs (89480a)

  8. Glad twhirl worked out for you. I got the idea to try it from James Lileks, so all credit to him.

    Joe (a6bb2f)

  9. I need a twitter AP that handels multiple accounts, and I’ve never much liked twhirl…

    Vista-based machine.

    Scott Jacobs (89480a)

  10. I just started using Twitter after being alerted to it by Michelle Malkin during the August House sessions in the dark. The coolest thing is that many MSM reporters bare their souls for brief moments, and you can detect their thought patterns. It was funny reading Terry Moran and Michelle Malkin’s different reactions to lines in Obama’s speech!

    L.N. Smithee (f1c54e)

  11. Easy as pie! Alls I have to do is download software that will enable me to use the software I have to download in order to run my twitter software. By a programmer’s standards, I’m sure that is easy, but it’s enough steps to keep me off the grid for another six months.

    tim maguire (4a98f0)

  12. Talking, chatting, talking, chatting. Sounds like being plugged into The View…24/7.

    Enough, already.

    PC14 (82e46c)

  13. tim maguire,

    It’s two easy downloads and a signup. It’s easy — trust me. I’m no computer whiz.

    Patterico (1fe5af)

  14. It’s also the only way I can “blog” at lunchtime. I just put up two links — one is particularly interesting, about the possibility of Rupert Murdoch buying the LAT.

    Patterico (1fe5af)

  15. “…the possibility of Rupert Murdoch buying the LAT.”

    Oh Happy Days!
    Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of f…heads!

    AD - RtR/OS (5b97d9)

  16. Talking, chatting, talking, chatting. Sounds like being plugged into The View…24/7.

    Enough, already.

    As opposed to what you just did.

    Jim Treacher (796deb)

  17. I’ve just figured out Patterico’s diabolical scheme. As a prosecutor, Patterico knows how much money is made in drugs, and he wants to cash in, but remain within the law.

    Getting us addicted to all the various social networks and his blog is techno-crack. Once we’re hooked, he’ll ask for our credit card numbers to pay for our fix, or we’ll be cut off and go through the horrors of withdrawal. And it will all be perfectly legal.

    We’re doomed.

    Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc)

  18. my god,doesn’t anybody know sarcasm when the read it.2/23/2009 “your goody videos of the day”.read the very first sentence.now I’m sure that patt knows pundit on a more personal level than most of us.so he can give him a little “ribbing”,but people,calm down.

    now as far as allahpundit is concerned.90% of his blogs bash those whom he claims to be a part of.I know that with democrats,”dissent is the greatest form of patriotism”,but give me a break.he sounds more like a liberal than a conservative.and he’s blogging on a “conservative” site.now if he’s considered one of the “best”,than the bar wasn’t set high enough.I don’t know one person that learned something,or had their mind changed by someone who bashed them.

    this is my personal opinion,I’m not asking anybody else to subscribe to it.

    mr. falcone (895ab2)

  19. Sorry, guys (and gals), I absolutely do not need yet another distraction; my ADD head finds more than enough all by its self. Thankee, but no.

    htom (412a17)

  20. […] whatever the new social networking fad is, and didn’t really see the appeal of Twitter.  This post from Patterico moved me to join.  It makes more sense to me as a chat room than as “mini-blogging” […]

    Twitter : Pursuing Holiness (e6211d)


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