Twitter and the White Oaks Blog…

March 3, 2009

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A couple of months ago, I wrote about how I use Twitter as a vehicle to provide instant updates on real estate news or just things of interest in San Carlos and Emerald Hills (the two areas I write blogs about.)   Basically, it's a great platform to send instant updates on something that's important, but may not warrant an individual blog post.

Here's an example:   Every weekend I create a blog post entitled “The San Carlos Week in Review,”  where I list what homes sold and what new listings hit the market during the past week in San Carlos.    But what happens if I see a fantastic new listing early in the week, or a particular home closes escrow that you'd really want to know about?   I certainly don't want to wait until the weekend to tell you about it.  That's where Twitter's technology really shines, and that's why I use it as the backbone for feature entitled “The Very Latest” that you see in the left sidebar.   I like to think of it as a “micr0-blog.”

But that's not the purpose of this article.   As I mentioned in my first post about Twitter, it took me a looooooooong time to figure out how to best utilize this technology that everyone was raving about.   I have always viewed Twitter as “A solution that's looking for a problem,”  and apparently I'm not alone in this view…

Check out this funny clip from Comedy Central about Twitter, and how it has impacted just about everything we do today…whether we realize it or not!

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2 Comments

  1. KR on March 3, 2009 at 9:19 pm

    I’m a big fan of Twitter. It’s the best place to see real time trends and to search for real-time results, as such it is a great supplement to Google for up to the moment news. One example would be if you were not near a TV but wanted to know immediately who won the Oscar for best picture. Another would be searching for recommendations among your trusted group of followers.



  2. Chuck on March 3, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    Hey Keith,

    You’re absolutely right — the big advantage that Twitter has is the “real-time” nature of the updates. Survivors of the plane crash in the Hudson River were Twittering as they were riding the ferry to safety, thus becoming the first people to provide any kind of first-hand account of what happened.

    There are lots of great ways that people are using Twitter. I think the biggest challenge right now is simply how to find those applications.

    Thanks for your comment…
    CG



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