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Jared W. Smith

A weblog by Jared Smith about technology, weather, the social media scene, and whatever else comes to mind.


Twitter & Facebook: An Uneasy MarriageYesterday

When I first really started paying attention to Twitter in late November 2007, I succinctly lamented the lack of a Facebook connector. Twitter was, after all, a status tool, and it would only make sense that I could keep the two in sync. Facebook Mobile was not yet the most developed thing on the planet at that time, and I thought it would be nifty to send a service a text message to keep my Facebook friends up to date.

Then a funny thing happened; I started using Twitter as a microblog, with more frequent updates than pithy status messages on Facebook. I also thought the connector’s “is twittering” — a limitation of Facebook status then was that it was required to start with the word “is” — was kind of lame as well. So, I decided to stop synchronizing Facebook status with Twitter status and let the two run their course.

However, more and more Facebook friends started populating their Facebook status with their tweets, even though they may send many, many tweets a day (as I do). I got to thinking about perhaps reuniting the two; after all, I still have maybe 10% of my friends using Twitter, which means a majority of my friends are missing out on my wit. ;) I’d been tossing this idea around for a few weeks when the other day I ran across this

MacWorld Rips Hole In Tweet-Time ContinuumJanuary 6
tweetfromthefuture

In case you’ve been avoiding the Internets today, this morning (on the West Coast) saw the Philnote at MacWorld Expo 2009. As I write this, it’s been done for a half hour; though if you’ve been following it on Twitter, Tony Bennett is just now starting up. Right now, my timeline’s about 37 minutes behind. It’s better than nothing; I’m still getting my replies in real-time, but if you were hoping to follow Macworld on Twitter, it’s clear that it just doesn’t fly. There was a similar issue on election night when Obama claimed the presidency.

Instead, I followed the keynote in a real-time Apple room on FriendFeed. While there were occasional hiccups where I’d get a ton of stuff dumped on me at once, FriendFeed continued to demonstrate excellent performance under duress. And, real-time interactivity with “likes” and comments on FriendFeed enables discussion that Twitter simply can’t, especially when it’s running a half-hour behind. So, I think it’s worth saying that this time around, FriendFeed made following the event easier and more intuitive, not to mention that it stayed on pace with the event.

I’ll give Twitter one thing: At least it di

Seven ThingsJanuary 2

I’ve been really sluggish at blogging over my two week vacation, which is a marked change in behavior from years past; I’m usually jamming a whole lot on stuff during my two weeks away from work, but not this time. I gave myself a chance to spend time with friends and family for a change, and it’s been a good thing. I hope your holidays have been equally fun and memorable!

However, I do need to get out of this sluggishness. So, when I got a DM from the girl Riot over Twitter today letting me know of my taggedness in a meme, I decided to dust off the ol’ WordPress and get going again. Sure, it probably won’t be the most insightful post into social media or technology or Weather Channel music ever, but cut me some slack — I’m still on vacation. And besides, at least it’s not yet another Best of 2008 rehash. ;)

So, without further ado — seven things a majority of the Internets does not know about me. (I’m a pretty open book. If we’ve talked, even online, you likely know most of these things.)

Just the facts, ma’am…

  1. I’ve hit 81 mph on a radar gun before throwing a baseball. (Once.) My friend Greg and I went to a Charleston RiverDogs game a couple years ago and went t
Coming up tonight: a Serious look at 2008December 30 2008

2008 was Serious Business. I’ll be taking a look back at what 2008 did and take a stab, with the assistance of the infamous Dragon Dagger, at what 2009 might possibly bring (though I will likely be very, very wrong). I’ll take your predictions in the chat room, and we’ll likely derail the conversation in some awesome direction as we always do. :) We’ll do it live on Ustream.tv at 8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific. Hope to see you in chat!

Serious Business Hiatus Is OVAH!December 23 2008

Yes, I’m bringing Serious Business back tonight for the first time in three months. While the plan is to do another show next Tuesday, I can’t guarantee that Tuesdays will be the permanent night yet. (Honestly, it all predicates on the day of the week after work I go to Norm’s.) It’ll be the usual 8:30 ET starting time.

What’s on the docket tonight?

  • OMG LISTS: If you ask some people, lists are The Scourge of the Internets. Others deem them necessary, and even more people think “There’s two Internets?”
  • 12seconds Is The New Hotness: 12seconds.tv — a service that is essentially Twitter for videos, limiting you to 12 seconds to speak your mind — recently went into public beta. With more community building there, it’s starting to become a real blast, and I may have found a great use for it as well…
  • The Answers: A new segment wherein you ask me a question, I consult my source, and give you the answer. You’ll just have to see it.

There’s likely more, and who knows what tangents we might go off on in the conversation — the only way to find out for sure is if you join us at 8:30 ET tonight!