SGTMcClain dot Net

Ok I know this is my first blog post of the new year, but I didn’t know what to write about.  Every time I would start to write I couldn’t find the words because I couldn’t get my thoughts off of my dearly departed friends.  Truth be told I have been beating myself up for not being a better friend to them, and being so distant from them when the time came for them to leave this earth.  Its taken me many days of soul searching to realize that they were my friends and I have no doubts that if they were still here and we were to see each other we would pick up like there was no time lost what so ever.

I know that their is a lot of grieving happening over on facebook, and while I know I cross post from here to twitter I feel that this is a slightly better forum for me so that I don’t step on any feelings over there.  If you have been following my blog posts you know that I have a certain respect for facebook as a public space, but this here is my personal space so this is where I am going to do my grieving for them.

I know this is the time of Earls passing but the close proximity brought back a lot of what I had tried suppress from Helen’s passing and I mean no disrespect to Earls memory.

I don’t think I can say anything more about Helen that I haven’t already said I really really miss her.

To Earl Glover, man we had some good times together, JROTC, skipping school to have water fights, the graduation party in your moms basement…. LOL I still remember the line on the wall down there from where people were dancing up against it.  I know that some of the things I did made you question my loyalty but in that situation I don’t know what the best choice was but I was torn between 3 good friends, and from the way things turned out I ultimately think it worked out for the best.  I know we hadn’t talked in many years but you looked out for my sisters down there in Florida and for that I am eternally grateful.  Know that you are missed and loved down here bro!

Finally I wrote this… as a way to clear everything that was in my head… I am posting it because maybe others are feeling similarly… but know I am not a poet

One Sweet Day – Acapella Version

I started writing this as a rant but then I figured it should be a guide, I figure why complain when I can try to help.  I am starting with guiding facebook users in how to get some value on twitter.  .

Ok being a user of both platforms I always am running into people that say I won’t use twitter because of this or I wont use Facebook because of that, I am here to say that both of these types of people are missing the boat completely, at least from my point of view.

Twitter is nothing like facebook, though it can be used similarly it is vastly different.  Twitter is like having a soapbox to talk to the entire world about anything you desire, while facebook is a small community made up of people you know.  Personally I think everyone should have a presence in both places but I don’t think the two should mix, in other words, I wouldn’t suggest for anyone to open up their Facebook profile to the world, and I don’t think you should isolate your twitter to just people you know.  Doing either of these limits the usefulness of each product in my opinion and I feel you get much more value in using these for their strengths.

Again while reading this remember:

Facebook: Close Friends, acquaintances and Family

Twitter: EVERYBODY ELSE

Occasionally you might get some cross over, twitter followers you get to know on a more personal level may become your facebook friends and friends from facebook may start following you on twitter but I at least try to keep the two worlds separate.

Ok I have to admit I was in the camp with the people that use facebook and wouldn’t use twitter.  I honestly looked at twitter as a bunch of status updates and the like, granted I was looking at the web page.  But I didn’t understand the concept of social networking at the time and how valuable a live stream of information could be useful.  That and twitter has to have the most god awful web interface known to man.  Heres my hint for people who use facebook and looking into twitter, if you want to find out what the big deal about twitter is don’t use the web site… Once you create an account set your picture and leave.  Don’t come back until you have a better feel for twitter, otherwise you will get frustrated and leave never to return.

The key I have found to twitter is the use of applications to organize the streams of information.  For a newbie I would recommend Seesmic or tweetdeck then before you actually start following people do a few searches for things you are interested in.  Once you have done that search start following the people that are talking in those searches…

But heres the key don’t be a silent observer, most people wont know your even there so you still wont get the point of twitter.  Unlike on facebook where most times you only comment if people are saying something directly to you, most people on twitter are saying things to get responses from the world, so comment, say something anything.  That way people know you are there and once they know your there they will start to interact with you.

On twitter a closed mouth doesn’t get fed so talk, heck you don’t even have to interact some times, just start ranting about something on your mind and eventually your bound to attract some attention.

Oh I left out a very important part… in the beginning don’t block your tweets… at least until you get a few followers, again this way people know that your their so that they can interact with you.  Once you get a few followers (about 20-30) that interact with you on a regular basis its cool to block your tweets because when your followers @ reply to you their followers will see it and if they are interested in hearing (reading) what you have to say they will request to follow you and you can be a bit selective about who you allow to follow you.

Also quick warning… there are a few apps for facebook that will pull your twitter stream into facebook and the apps for twitter can also post to facebook, I strongly suggest not updating automatically into facebook because this will utterly confuse your friends on facebook.  You can use the twitter apps to update facebook but only do it either when you have something to say that effects both crowds or just to update facebook only, and then immediately switch it back.

Both Seesmic and Tweetdeck allow you to see your friends on facebook’s status updates and comment on them, they also allow you to like status updates, so I also find these tools helpfully in keeping me up-to-date on whats going on on facebook.

The most fun you can have though is watching a TV show while on twitter, if you don’t believe me, try watching something like an awards show or a popular TV show, search for the shows name in one of the applications and just watch the stream.  I will get on hash tags in a later post but if you watch for long enough you will probably get the picture.  This is how I met most of the people I follow now.

I will probably add more to this as time goes on but this is just my intro for people that are curious about the twitter phenomenon but don’t quite get what its all about, I hope this helps, feel free to comment or tweet me @sgtmcclain if you get lost along the way.

Stay tuned for part 2 Facebook for Twitter users.