In the history of this blog, I don't believe I have ever posted an entire e-mail verbatim. However, I got this e-mail today from the makers of Twitter filled with crisis communication case studies, useful applications and fun stuff too. I had to share it.
Making Twitter More Useful
There have been raging wildfires and rumbling earthquakes
inspiring avalanches of Twitter updates over the last few weeks
out here on the West Coast of the US. In Tumultuous times, people turn to Twitter. In fact, there's been a steep increase in the number of SMS and IM devices activated recently. This is probably due to the Track feature which allows folks to follow keywords or phrases in real time. Is your phone activated?
Activate: http://twitter.com/devices
Do You Owe Someone A Beer?
Foamee.com is a fun IOU system built on Twitter that helps you
track who you owe beers to (and vice versa). All you have to do is follow the account “ioubeer” and then send it @replies. So, say
you owe me a beer for helping you change a flat tire, this is what
you'd send to Twitter: @ioubeer @biz for helping me change that flat tire. Then, your IOU will show up on the front page at foamee.com.
There's even a way to tell it when that beer has been redeemed.
I think a root beer version is in the works. Maybe even a latte
version? Those are foamy too. Dan Cederholm of SimpleBits design is the mastermind behind this fanciful creation. We think it's
really cool. Thanks Dan, we owe you a frosty one!
Visit: http://foamee.com
Follow: http://twitter.com/ioubeer
More: http://simplebits.com
Other Cool Stuff
Foamee is part of a growing list of interesting applications that
interact with Twitter. Jott, for example, has created a way to
send a Twitter update by speaking into your phone–your voice gets converted to text and sent out to all your followers. This is a much safer solution for people who insist on updating Twitter when their attention is required elsewhere–like driving!
Twitter by Voice: http://jott.com
More Twitter Apps: http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Apps
Featured Twitter-ers
We have a sidebar on the Twitter public timeline page where we
occasionally mention accounts you might want to follow. For
example, during the San Diego wildfires, KPBS News, LAFD, and the LA Times had important live updates.
The following accounts are less of an emergency situation but interesting, nevertheless. SkinnyJeans is wondering if Twitter can help her lose 10 pounds.
http://twitter.com/skinnyjeans
Jamie Kennedy is experimenting with Twitter.
http://twitter.com/jamiekennedy
Maureen is serving up a steady stream of tiny recipes.
http://twitter.com/cookbook
Sara Bareilles is sharing the details of her budding career.
http://twitter.com/SaraBareilles
Crisis Communication
On the subject of emergencies, that earthquake we had recently in Northern California was highly Twittered. This blogger captured a lot of the action: http://tinyurl.com/2xv5el Also, if you're a
Bay Area resident you might want to follow the updates of this
profile http://twitter.com/SFSurfrider regarding the recent oil
spill in San Francisco Bay.
Twitter on the Mobile Web
In case you didn't know, Twitter has a mobile web site that you
can access from your phone's web browser at m.twitter.com. Twitter developer Britt Selvitelle has been quietly improving the site recently. It's a great way to check out what people are up to when you're waiting for a bus or taking the subway home from work. Britt's Twitter profile is http://twitter.com/bs in case you want to @ioubeer @bs for making the mobile site!
Twitter Logo by Hugh McLeod
tags: Twitter, crisis+communication
