Twitter's new retweet | Thumbs down

Tried the new re-tweet feature. Great if you don't desire to add/adjust the content of what you're retweeting, which for me is never the case. When retweeting, I usually change the link, add a new link, add an @ person or shorten the tweet to be more succinct so others can more easily retweet it. So, this tool doesn't work for me. You're not an RSS feed. Don't auto-retweet.

I am not a spawn, I am the thought

The Tangerine Toad strikes again with another post about Twitter, which really reveals how unfamiliar he is with it. This time, he...

-claims I spawned a thought of his via a comment I left on his blog about twitter being a great source of info

-says that experts should monetize themselves

-says that people just don't have time to twitter (according to that post's comments)

"...one way I can see Twitter evolving (a thought inadvertently spawned by a comment from one of Steve Rubel’s followers) is as a forum for experts. You sign up to receive tweets from experts in various areas of your choosing and they provide you with a certain number of expert tweets during the day. Links and/or advice."

The "forum of experts" is kind of what I was saying in my first comment I left awhile back. He went on to explain how they could then monetize their expert-ness. Boo. I responded with this:

-The thought (about twitter being a way to learn from experts) did not "spawn" from my comment. My comment WAS the thought. It was my thought I had myself that I shared with you and you agreed with: twitter is great as a learning tool if one chooses to use it as such. My thought spawned your post would be more correct, I think.

-Why are you trying to monetize experts when the NYTimes twitters it's links to it's articles for free? That is just one example. I am sure there are more.

-And, for those who feel like they don't have the time to use twitter, here's the way I use it. (This is my thought, not a spawn by the way) It's in my phone in the browser. When I have nothing to do or am bored I check my twitter feed on that phone. When I do, I get links to articles and new bits of interest to me. It's a benefit you can give yourself when you need something to occupy your time. I do not check it on my computer.

Episode 4: Scoble inspires

Show Notes:
(5:47) Robert Scoble is inspiring me. Follow him on Twitter. Goals for 2008: find more Robert Scobles to follow on Twitter, do less personal blogging, post daily to Creativitity blog and podcast, read more through Google Reader, Micropersuasion. Recommendations: The Accidental Creative, Six Pixels of Separation. Local news: Orlando Podcasters.

Jib Hunt follows my tweets, I learn about Jib Hunt

I now know who Jib Hunt is and what he does, have his site bookmarked, friended him on myspace and subscribed to his myspace blog. Why? He wanted to follow my tweets on twitter.

When someone clicks the "follow" button on my twitter profile, whether on twitterific, snitter, their cell, or the old standard website, I get emailed to me a notice about it.

Lately, as in the past three months, I've been getting "followers" I've never met. Jib Hunt is one of those followers. As a nobody who would find it neat to be somebody on the web someday, I first found this once-a-week validation of my online humanity thrilling. I jumped to the conclusion that they must want to follow me because they read one of my three blogs, found a comment I left on another's blog insightful, liked my flickr photos, enjoyed the videos on youtube or ustream or blip.tv...and then found my twitter feed and liked what they saw there, as well.

But now that people keep coming (and they do) I question my assumption. I do this not because of anything they do, but something I am doing. Now when I receive a notice that a person wants to follow my tweets, I take steps to learn about them. Here's the typical scenario:

1. View their Twitter homepage. This involves checking their latest tweets to see what they care about and if i'd want to follow them myself.

2. Visit their website or blog.

3. Subscribe to their podcast or blog.

So I ask you. That seemingly innocent interest in following me...is that a backdoor way to get me to explore and learn about these people and their media? I think it is. And if so, kudos. They've found a new way to self-market. But beware. These people might just be out for self-promotion and nothing else.

GIF: what podcasts I listen to

Siskita, a follower in LA of my twitter feed (twitter.com/markbaratelli asked me what podcasts I listen to. So, I made this gif to illustrate it. I blacked out the sucky ones I need to delete and grouped the ones I do listen to by category as best as I could. (Some of them overlap into other categories). Thoughts?