Lisa Rex has been working and playing on the web since 1995. She is a user experience designer and analyst for the interactive web. When not in front of her computer, she enjoys baking, family history research, being outdoors and traveling to warm places.
Nope, not birds! Nearly everyone has heard of Twitter by now. Anyone with a free Twitter account can publish their thoughts from the Twitter website or from an ever-growing selection of computer and mobile software applications (known as ‘apps’). ‘Tweets’ can be informative, emotional, conversational or just plain self-promotional, as long as they are 140 characters or less. Twitter accounts are normally an individual person, but can also belong to charity groups, a company, professional organization, or even a ship (check out the Amistad! http://twitter.com/amistad)
People who take the time to interact with others generally find Twitter to be a useful addition to their social, news and networking groups. It’s less interesting when it’s a one-way conversation, on either the giving or receiving end.
Over the past few months, I’ve spent some time talking to people about why they use Twitter. For some, it’s just to have a bit of fun with their friends and isn’t taken very seriously. Others use Twitter to build up an audience to share and discuss issues within their industry or areas of interest (genealogy is a big one).
There are many Twitterers living in Newburyport. Here’s a selection from within the very diverse range of locals:
HappyChickens: Chicken Lover
Orren Fox is a young animal activist who raises chickens for eggs and was recently featured on Raw Food Nation. His tweets are fairly focused on issues such as promoting backyard chicken keeping, local food, and sometimes beekeeping. The amazing thing is that this advocate of poultry welfare is only 12 years old!
http://twitter.com/HappyChickens/
TylerJamesComic: Artist for Games and Comics
Tyler James is a video game designer at Muzzy Lane and comic artist. He uses Twitter to promote his webcomics and comic book writing classes, interact with other writers and artists, including both up and comers and industry pros; and also to let friends and family know what he’s up to!
http://twitter.com/TylerJamesComic
whatsthesoup – Soup of the Day Bloggers
What’s The Soup is a growing blog which reports soups of the day in towns and cities. The What’s The Soup organization consists of three people, including Ed, who lives in town. Their tweets promotes their blog, soup recipes and restaurant reviews. The blog started with Newburyport restaurants and has since expanded to other cities and states.
http://twitter.com/whatsthesoup
All three accounts are good examples of their users who are interacting with their followers. (Please note, I don’t follow everyone listed above.)
Want to see what other Newburyport residents are doing? You can find the Top 50 Newburyport residents on Twitter: http://twitter.grader.com/location/?Location=newburyport
Want to see what people are saying about Newburyport? Use the Twitter search on keywords nbpt OR Newburyport:
Newburyport even has its own hashtag (#nbpt). Hashtags are a keyword or abbreviations preceded by the hash symbol. When this is included on tweets, it becomes a searchable link within tweets and lets others know the tweet’s topic. You can use established hashtags or make up your own. If you’re tweeting about Newburyport then go ahead and use #nbpt hashtag! Which reminds me, I now need to tweet this blog post!
