Tapping into Twitter & other insights…

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I am happy to write and release a new issue of my ComBridges enewsletter last week. It included some of my excitement about Twitter as well as other insights.

Please click here to check out the last edition of the ComBridges “It’s a Wonderful Web” enewsletter.

In the meantime, what I’ve come to call “Twittermania” has continued to heat up. In addition to the resources listed in the enewsletter linked above, here are a few more that I have found valuable:

And the list goes on, and the beat goes on, lots of interesting information being found by tuning into Twitter streams.

As pointed out in the O’Reilly webcast, Twitter really is different than other Internet communication channels. 1. Because the posts are SHORT, it’s microblogging, snappier and more accessible. 2. Because the posts are public and you can “follow” (or “listen”) to someone without permission, it’s more open than other social media platforms where you have to accept people as “friends” or whatever. And finally, 3. because it’s a text-based platform it can be pushed to you on a wide variety of distribution platforms from cell phones, to the web, to IM clients, you name it.

Mark my words, Twitter is really a big thing, maybe even the “next big thing.” The experience seems to be consistently that people don’t get it at first. It was that way for me and lots of others. But once you do get it, you see its enormous power and how much fun it is, especially for us information junkies. Enjoy.

The Transparent Presidency

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Yes, it’s apparent that Barak Obama is not only the most impressive leader and community organizer that we’ve ever had has president, he will also be the most transparent. This is the first presidency that is “digitally native.”

The evidence of this is already on the web in the form of a slide show of back stage images from election night that was made freely available, almost immediately, with apparently little editing, via Flickr. The image above is from the set of images that is available here, and an articulate description of their historical significance is here.

Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes, Obama’s “online organizing guru” Deserves Big Props

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You have to love a story about a 24-year old who made a monumental difference by helping Barak Obama to become president-elect of the United States. In other words, this young dude helped change the world.

His name is Chris Hughes and he was one of the three co-founders of Facebook, the runaway social networking phenom to which I am addicted. And I am 61.

Mr. Hughes left Facebook last February (taking stock options that are worth at least tens of millions with him) to become the “online organizing guru” for the Obama campaign, moving from Silicon Valley to Chicago. Obviously, in hindsight, the move was worth it. MyBarakObama.com was brilliant and brilliantly successful. Thanks so much, Chris.

The New York Times published his story in July calling him “The Facebooker Who Friended Obama”
and he came to my attention because
Beet.TV republished a two year old video interview with Hughes last week.

I have a new enthusiasm for the ways that the world is changing, and I’m inspired by young people like Chris who are making real changes happen.

Continuing on the Gen-X theme, I was also very moved by Heather Havrilesky’s “open apology to boomers everywhere” on Salon.com. It was nice of her to speak so respectfully to her elders when she said, “Your earnest, self-important prattle has gotten on Gen X nerves for decades. But now we finally get it.” 😉

It’s a bright new day.