Twitter For Mass Messaging

[TastyWheat]

I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. I'm sure some of you already have but I didn't see any official mention of it.

For those of you who don't use Twitter, the site allows you to track twits (short updates) on a given profile by receiving text messages on your phone. During the state convention we were able to setup a mass messaging service (I forgot what we used but it wasn't Twitter) in order to let people know what was going on and what we should do. In the future I think it's absolutely crucial that we use Twitter or a similar service to quickly distribute messages during conventions. One profile can be set up for each district and maybe one for each state.

I've barely used Twitter myself so I can't attest to it's efficiency or expediency. Any thoughts?

[mediahasyou]

or use just email.

[Knightskye]

Just wanted to clarify:

"Twit" = insult
"Tweet" - Messages you send on Twitter (140 characters or fewer)

But I can think of one improvement it could use - having updates show up instantly, instead of having you have to refresh the page to see new updates.

If you don't have your profile open, you won't know you've received a message unless you check your e-mail (Twitter sends you e-mails if you receive a "Person is following you on Twitter" request or a message).

So yeah, e-mail is probably best.

[TastyWheat]

Not everyone can read email on their phone.

[wizardwatson]

Not everyone can read email on their phone.

There are plenty of mass-messaging and collaboration devices. There are more digital doo-dads and baubles than we can shake a stick at.

We got twitter, couchsurfing, RipplePay, Jaiku, Facebook, MySpace, Wikis, OpenID, hCard, XDI Link Contracts, I-Names, FOAF files, XFN, the list goes on and on.

Everyone is plugged in, booted up and logged on. Millions from Vietnam to Amsterdam to Fargo ND.

But what do you actually want to DO?

[Bryan]

I've started to use Twitter recently- there are some good GOP networks you can be a part of, such as #TCOT. It is good in that people can send updates from their phone and you can then follow them from your PC or your phone.

The other week I was following my Congressman who was in committee and was reporting on this new stimulus bill as it was unfolding there.

I agree Twitter can be good for conventions (better then what we used for the Texas state convention). You can set up to follow whoever you want, so you can follow your meet-up / SD lead and your friends, etc. It can be a good system. You'd likely want to set up different accounts for this- one that is open for anyone to follow you (to spread the message) and another for private comms for a convention.

Standard text rates apply. :)