Rants and Ruminations

It has seemed for the last several months that I have begun to leave MySpace behind.  I find myself spending much more time on Facebook, and now, using Twitter.  While I don’t know if I will ever totally abandon MySpace I am probably not going to be updating the page except with things that update there automatically (blog posts, tweets, etc.)

With the strong emergence of Facebook over the last 12-18 months it seems to me that the two sites really cater to two totally different age groups.  All my youth group kids are on MySpace while practically everyone else I know past high school age are on Facebook.  At first it was not too much effort keeping the two synched but now that I am posting on a much more regular basis it has become a little pain.  Now, there are some tools, like Digsby, that has made this easier but even with that I seem to be just treating MySpace like a red headed step child.

For now I will keep the account alive but if it goes away suddenly…don’t be surprised!

I will be the first to admit that I was a little skeptical about using Twitter when I first set up my account.  I have a hard enough time keeping up with my blog, Facebook. and MySpace (which is really beginning to suck, btw…more on that later).  In this post I’m just gonna touch on some of the things I like about Twitter.

Accessibility: I really didn’t see the uses for Twitter when I first set up my account but once I started really looking at the tools available for using it, the coolness factor shot through the roof!  I am currently using four different methods to post to send my tweets: digsby, text message from my cell, the twitter tools widgit for wordpress, and the Twitter website if I have to.  I haven’t used the Twitter module for my Drupal powered websites but that is next up on the docket.  I also get the updates through digsby and they show up on the left sidebar of my blog .

Share My Thoughts: One of the big reasons I don’t have more posts on my blog is that I usually don’t have that much to say and I quickly lose interest when I have to force myself to post.  Microblogging is the answer to my problem!  I hit my Twitter with a few thouyghts throughout the day and reply to the tweets that I need to.  It is also a great way to have targeted conversations.

Making New Friends: I am a huge fan of talking about different things with a wide variety of people.  Since I now work from home and have very little actual human contact things like this are a lifeline to sanity for me.  Plus the advantage of this is that I find it easier to connect with people with targeted intersts that I am looking for.  For example…I am in the process of trying to figure out how to leverage the power of social networking in expanding my church’s presence.  I have found several people on Twitter that are doing just that and have already learned a great deal from them.

Shameless Promotion: Of course it goes without saying that this is a pretty good tool for website promotion.  It requires some care and maintenance to get the word out about your site but once you build that following, and your content is relevant to the audience, it will go through the roof.

So those are some of my main reasons I am digging Twitter.  What are yours?  SHare your thoughts with me either in the comments or on my Twitter page . Or use @steveblount if you already have an account.

…is finally dead.  Kirk is safe now.

RIP: Ricardo Montalban

Yeah.  Yeah.  Yeah.  I know.  I haven’t posted here in months.  And it may be a few weeks before I post some more as I am working on a relaunch of this site.  But you can follow me in several places:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=539899732&ref=profile

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/steveblount

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/steveblount

Watch this spot for the relaunch!!!

The man that Elvis stole his groove from.. One of the most innovative guitarists ever.  His use of the drummers stylings on the guitar was sick!

The world is definitely less cool today.