Facebook Funny Names

Last week the Washington Post had an interesting article of people with unusual names being rejected by Facebook because they felt anyone using a last name like "Batman" had to be faking it.

Personally, if I married a woman whose maiden surname was "Batman", I'd be taking HER name.

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My Twitter Page

I grew tired of the standard default page for my Twitter account, so I decided to personalize it a bit and to add information on where else I could be located online, though I recently found that one of those will change. But more on that later.

The background is my favorite shot of part of the woods on our property in North Carolina up on Sheepback Mountain. Over on the left is a head shot of yours truly (the same one used on this blog as I'm trying to keep the information consistent across all my sites), my logo from this blog and a list of my "Other Online Presence" so those who want to can see all my current online locations.

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Twitter Tools

I started using Twitter more than a year ago on my laptop and aside from adding it to my BlackBerry this past March and having my blog posts automatically tweeted when published, I've confined myself to simply using the basic and original Twitter service. In the meantime several third party applications have arrived on the scene to complement and even expand Twitter beyond a micro-blogging tool to a major social media application. Several friends of mine have been coaxing me to try some of the other available programs, but I've been too busy to take the time to explore them.

Until now.

Over the weekend I began investigating the other various Twitter applications, then downloading and using some to get a feel for them and to decide if they might be useful additions to the basic Twitter. Here are the ones I have chosen to keep.

TwitterBerry - A mobile client application for posting updates to Twitter designed for BlackBerry users that doesn't require opening up the mobile browser. I rely heavily on my BlackBerry to keep me connected when I don't have access to my laptop. Though I have Twitter set up to send tweets from those I follow (and have chosen to turn my "device on" for their tweets, something I DON'T do for all those I follow) and I can post my own tweets or reply to theirs using the BlackBerry, TwitterBerry is an application that offers two distinct advantages:

1. All of my replies go over the data network instead of the SMS text service. I have an unlimited data plan with my mobile provider, but text messages are extra after a certain count. Shifting my replies to the data network saves me some cash on the text side.

2. When I reply to a tweet, it automatically places the "@nameoftweeter" in my reply, something I had to type in manually using the SMS text feature. Not a huge deal, but sometimes I forget and sometimes I'm just plain lazy. And it allows "Direct Messaging" so that, if I choose, the reply or the initial tweet is not broadcast to everyone but only to the specified user.


TweetDeck - A desktop application (for my laptop), Tweetdeck allows users to take their entire feed of tweets and split them up into manageable groups, as well as allowing for posting, replying, direct messaging and re-tweeting of a poster's tweet, all without accessing the Twitter webpage. And speaking of webpages, it will automatically shorten any webpage you include, using the TinyURL feature. True to it's name, any time you receive a tweet, the application sounds a "tweet" to notify you. Since I currently only follow about two dozen fellow twits, I have my TweetDeck divided into just three sections; "All Friends", "Replies" and "Direct Messages", but if I add more friends then I can divide their tweets into more descriptive groups.


TwitterLocal - A desktop application (for my laptop), TwitterLocal allows users to enter a state, city or zip code and a range of miles to identify all the Twitter users within that range. I currently have mine set for a radius of 20 miles from Orlando and it has allowed me to add a few interesting Twits to those I follow. I think that when I'm traveling around the country, it will allow me to get hyper-local information on the city I'm in and identify some good places to visit or tour during my down time.


TwitPic - An online service that allows you to send photos with your tweets. Twitter, in its basic form, is a text only post limited to 140 characters, but there are times when you'd like to send along a graphic and TwitPic lets you do that from your phone or from the website. I haven't used it yet, but it's ready to go on my BlackBerry.

SnapTweet - An online service that allows you to send your Flickr photos out as tweets. Haven't used this one yet either, but looking forward to trying SnapTweet.

Twitscoop - Their tagline is "What's Hot On Twitter Right Now" and that's exactly the information they provide. Through the graphical representation of a Tag Cloud you can discover what's popular in the "Twitterverse" at any given moment in time. Twitscoop allows you to stay on top of developing news, sometimes before it hits network or mainstream media, and to examine what is being talked about, big or small, by Twits everywhere. I've installed their widget over on my right hand column for a while

So, those are the Twitter applications or services I'm using or going to use. I still stay pretty limited (compared to some, lol) in my usage of Twitter because I just don't have an availability of free time to spend on it, but I do find it fun and useful when employed with moderation.

If you've got a favorite Twitter application or services you use and would recommend, I hope you'll leave a comment about it.

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My B&N

Book-based social networking sites like Shelfari, Goodreads, Bookcrossing and others are being joined by Barnes & Noble with the rollout of its new My B&N site. Like other book social networking sites, My B&N encourages users to create a personal profile (complete with pen name and avatars) and then to build preferences to fashion MyLibrary, a section which showcases your individual tastes in literature, music and cinema. You can post your own reviews and ratings, create lists in the My EssentiaLists section, keep track of events occurring at your local Barnes & Noble brick and mortar stores, and, like online book retailer Amazon, you can create a personalized Wish List of your most-desired books, movies and music.

My B&N is easily accessible on the Barnes & Noble homepage. The site will remind users of recent purchases so they may be added to the MyLibrary section, and users can share their My B&N lists with other social networks sites such as Facebook and Digg.

I'm working on setting up my profile and information as time permits, so if you join look for pen name jmwetherington.

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FriendFeed Frenzy

Hand in hand with my Twitter use is my FriendFeed. FriendFeed is a social networking tool that allows you to aggregate all the online activities of, who else, your friends!

I find it especially useful for keeping up with those who I don't follow on Twitter. For instance, John Frost of The Disney Blog (I had hoped to meet him at last year's BlogOrlando event, but was out of state at the time) is a frequent blog and Twitter poster. If I followed him on my BlackBerry, my phone would never stop making that "Star Trek transporter" sound I use to alert me to incoming twits, so I find it helpful to have him on my FriendFeed and follow his postings through that medium.

At the end of the day I receive a FriendFeed activity report on what my friends who are online have been up to that day. This includes blog posts, Twitter posts, Flickr uploads, additions to their Amazon WishList, items shared on Google Reader, Facebook activity...just about anything done online. Plus, sometimes friends of YOUR friends will have their activities show up, in case you see something of interest from them and decide to add them directly to your feed. That urge hasn't struck me yet and probably won't.

FriendFeed is a great way to see what all of your online friends and acquaintances have been up to, and keeps you informed about their online lives.

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Face Time

A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me an invitation to join Facebook. As you probably know, Facebook is a social networking site that originally was limited to students and alumni of schools, colleges and universities, but recently opened up membership to any and all. That allows riff-raff like me to join. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I'm not sure I want to belong to any organization that would accept someone like me as a member.

But I had already been looking into Facebook, so I availed myself of her invitation and joined. I was hoping I could network with other writers, both here in Orlando and around the globe. That is one of the great things about the Internet; global connectivity. For a while she was my only "friend" (everyone that connects to you, whether you have ever met them or not, is a "friend" on Facebook) because I did not have much time to spend searching for either people I already knew or for new "friends." One day I stumbled across a former co-worker, Katrina, and begged her to be my second friend. She graciously acquiesced, mostly because she hates to see a grown man cry. Then my real-life friend Michelle found me there and we became Facebook friends. A couple of weeks ago a friend of my daughter's (whom she has never met face-to-face, by the way...see how the Internet works?) found me and we became Facebook friends. Yesterday I became friends with a young man who is a comic book writer that I am interviewing for a future article over on Athena Comics Guide.



So now I have 5 Facebook friends.

And I'm looking for more. Some people actually have the maximum amount of "friends" allowed on there, which is 5,000. I don't want that many, it's too much responsibility, lol. But if you're already a real-life "friend" of mine, sign up and be my Facebook friend. If you're already a Facebook member and it looks like we may have some things in common, like writing, be my friend.

A link to my Facebook entry is over on the right. Click on it and let's be friends.

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