The Trouble with Triberr And/Or Twitter

I saw the percolating of Triberr.com at least a week or so before it a critical mass recently. (Does that make me an early adopter? Or just early spotter?)

Mitch Joel, and commentors, have a great discussion about Twitter automation going.

I really liked the idea- practice is another ball of wax.

Most folks are complaining that automatic retweets of unread blog posts suggests that you are recommending something that you might not recommend. I can see that side of the argument, very legit. Course, this operates with the assumption that EVERYONE assumes you are recommending something when you tweet or re-tweet it.

Are you? Should you be held liable if you were to send a link and it changes? The discussion of decorum and expectations about online practices such as this isn't going to end any time soon. The reality is: EVERYONE has their own set of best practices and SOP. I'd like to think that most of them mesh up.

I dare say, I get a little tired of experts telling everyone what Twitter *IS*. It's conversation, it's engagement, you should only Tweet certain times, yadda-yadda-yadda.

Perhaps it is a good sign that there are so many conflicting POV on how to use Twitter. Everyone has their preferences. What Triberr is illustrating, or what the discussion on automating Tweets is illustrating, is "different strokes for different folks."

My experience with Triberr: I was placed in a tribe with people I did not know. That's cool. I did not find the RT equitable because you could control what you RT. I was putting out stuff for people I literally never met before. I started two tribes with two separate bloggers I know and trust and did not have an issue putting out their posts.
I have started seeing examples like this in my stream:

Now, I am fairly sure @joey_strawn and @jaybaer are NOT the same person and I read @ginidietrich like she paid me to do it.

I definitely did not need this circular recommendation in order to read the post. Does it mean that they "recommend" me reading it? NO- I pretty much take at facevalue now that tribr.it links are just automated retweets.

Is this good or bad? I originally leaned towards the "ok" side on this equation, but even with some of the tweaks they are making to the tool, I see it as little more than a reader. If you know who you are re-tweeting, then you probably have the mechanism in place. If you don't know them, then you are probably going to worry the whole time about the perception of your stream if you retweet something that you otherwise wouldn't have.

Course, you don't have to be using Triberr to have that problem.

Slow Death or Rebirth for Myspace?

Are we really watching the slow inevitable death of Myspace? With the integration with Facebook complete and the push towards what appears to be a mobile only function , isn't it time to call this one? One report says that Myspace is making $200 million less this year. They are functionally giving up on Myspace Music , which was always their bread and butter. Without the music tie in, why would people BOTHER with Myspace? I'm talking about it because my wife's band has used every medium known to mankind to promote themselves online and Myspace has been nothing but dead weight from the very beginning. Only bands and their most ardent fans go there. The rest are on Facebook. There is talk of selling Myspace, but who in their right mind would consider it? This will have some interesting implications for bands down the road. Many use Myspace as their de facto website, just pushing their domain name onto the customizable site. Now apparently, Reverbnation , a North Carolin

Being a Parent

While back, I wrote a post on Father's day about being a father and how being a parent is a job. I wistfully look back as I look forward to another school year quickly approaching and the evidence of my "work" is becoming less and less my handiwork. Our youngest has just moved on to middle school. Josh has moved into high school and the oldest has graduated from high school and about "start" her life. We've had a tacit arrangement with the kids. We do NOT want boomerang kids coming back to haunt us. So they have always been told, they are staying with us until they are REALLY ready to go out and that includes the joke that college has become. Sadly, despite the fact that I have spent a good chunk of my career working in higher education, I know that it is a folly to think that sending a child off to college is preparing them for much other than to have a lifetime of loans. Thankfully, Amanda has gotten the message. She has a plan to go to local c

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast Such a fun time!

Todd Lyden

Search This Blog