Lisa Rex has been working and playing on the web since 1995. She is a
user experience designer and analyst for the interactive web. When not
in front of her computer, she enjoys baking, family history research,
being outdoors and traveling to warm places.
Nope, not
birds! Nearly everyone has heard of Twitter by now. Anyone with a free Twitter
account can publish their thoughts from the Twitter website or from an
ever-growing selection of computer and
mobile software applications (known as 'apps'). 'Tweets' can be informative,
emotional, conversational or just plain self-promotional, as long as they are
140 characters or less. Twitter accounts are normally an individual person, but
can also belong to charity groups, a company, professional organization, or
even a ship (check out the Amistad! http://twitter.com/amistad)
People who
take the time to interact with others generally find Twitter to be a useful
addition to their social, news and networking groups. It's less interesting
when it's a one-way conversation, on either the giving or receiving end.
Over the past
few months, I've spent some time talking to people about why they use Twitter.
For some, it's just to have a bit of fun with their friends and isn't taken
very seriously. Others use Twitter to build up an audience to share and discuss
issues within their industry or areas of interest (genealogy is a big one).
There are
many Twitterers living in Newburyport. Here's a selection from within the very
diverse range of locals:
HappyChickens:
Chicken Lover
Orren Fox is
a young animal activist who raises chickens for eggs and was recently featured
on Raw Food Nation. His tweets are fairly focused on issues such as promoting
backyard chicken keeping, local food, and sometimes beekeeping. The amazing
thing is that this advocate of poultry welfare is only 12 years old!
http://twitter.com/HappyChickens/
TylerJamesComic:
Artist for Games and Comics
Tyler James
is a video game designer at Muzzy Lane and comic artist. He uses Twitter to
promote his webcomics and comic book writing classes, interact with other
writers and artists, including both up and comers and industry pros; and also
to let friends and family know what he's up to!
http://twitter.com/TylerJamesComic
whatsthesoup
- Soup of the Day Bloggers
What's The Soup is a growing blog which reports soups of the day in towns and cities. The What's The Soup organization consists of three people, including Ed, who lives in town. Their tweets promotes their blog, soup recipes and restaurant reviews. The blog started with Newburyport restaurants and has since expanded to other cities and states.
http://twitter.com/whatsthesoup
All three
accounts are good examples of their users who are interacting with their
followers. (Please note, I don't follow everyone listed above.)
Want to see what other Newburyport residents are doing? You can find the Top 50 Newburyport residents on Twitter: http://twitter.grader.com/location/?Location=newburyport
Want to see
what people are saying about Newburyport? Use the Twitter search on keywords
nbpt OR Newburyport:
Newburyport
even has its own hashtag (#nbpt). Hashtags are a keyword or abbreviations
preceded by the hash symbol. When this is included on tweets, it becomes a
searchable link within tweets and lets others know the tweet's topic. You can
use established hashtags or make up your own. If you're tweeting about
Newburyport then go ahead and use #nbpt hashtag! Which reminds me, I now need
to tweet this blog post!
