I think this blog post from SEO presents some good points both for and against using the tags.  The author (Joshua Odmark) sums up: “In conclusion, even though I think twitter hash tags are a dying art, they are not dead yet.”

I checked with some folks in my own twitterverse and they confirmed that they still use hashtags.

Which makes sense.  I think the real benefit to using hashtags is to cut down on noise.  In the examples given by my friend (course comm & sharing, seminar backchatter, and public workshop notes), the hashtag allows you to search on a pre-defined tag.  If you have a term that is rather unique (like “moodle”) then maybe you don’t need it.

We installed the most excellent twitter tools plugin by Alex King.  This plugin integrates twitter with wordpress in a variety of ways.  First, you can set it up to make all your tweets into full posts.  If you don’t want to do that, you can set it up as a widget and the posts will appear in the sidebar.  You can also set it up to automatically or on demand (via checkbox) send out a tweet announcing any posts you publish.

Of course you don’t have to do any of those things; you could simply display the rss feed in the rss widget, but with the handy-dandy auto installer provided by wordpress (point to the zip file and press the button!), what is holding you back?

Here is what a WP blog would look like with both a widget and posts generated by this plugin.

We are still discussing the best way to incorporate the twitter feed into the site.  In this particular case, we may elect to allow the plugin to generate a post for each tweet.  This is a low volume twitter account and the announcement-like content is suitable for blog posts.

Twitter tools is a very flexible and useful addition to your wordpress instance.  The main thing I still wish for is that there was some sort of separation between posts to make them more readable.  Either a line or perhaps alternating/tiger-stripe backgrounds for each post.

Now, we need a badge!

Tweleted is an interesting tool with both a “good” and “evil” face (try switching them with the link at the top, but I think you get the same results either way).  According to the author, “Deleting a message from Twitter itself doesn’t delete it from other sites, including search.twitter.com.” AND the messages in twitter search hang around for at least a month (see Search API limit).

I verified this on my own account.  I was experimenting with SMS tweeting, and twitter went down for maintenance.  The tweets were eventually posted, but in the wrong order.  So I deleted all of them.  But they are still showing up on tweleted!  According to twitter, a user can request that a status be manually deleted from the stream.  According to handsmobile, one of the comments in this post, the deleting was not happening very quickly.  I did check that username on tweleted as I write this, and posts prior to early May are not reported.  Either they were deleted, or perhaps they have passed the expiry point!

As a (sometimes careless) user, I think that deleted tweets should be deleted in the stream AND on twitter search at the same time.  After all, it is pretty easy (especially when texting on a cell phone with no keyboard, virtual or otherwise) to made a mistake with a direct message, enter an incorrect URL, or otherwise send a tweet that would better be retracted.  But even if twitter DID remove the tweets more quickly, there are hundreds of third-party apps and clients that maintain their own caches.

So there you go.  If you are going to be visible on the public stream, then you must also accept that (along with so many other things!) your dialogue is and will remain public.  That trashcan doesn’t really mean much!

I remember the story of Buck, a graduate student who was arrested in Egypt.  He had time to twitter a single word, “Arrested!” as he was taken away by Egyptian police.  Mobile devices are, of course, with you wherever you are.  SMS could be an option for those of us who do not have an iPhone, and iPod Touch, a Blackberry, etc.

Unfortunately, carriers have made SMS updates problematic in many countries other than the U.S.  In August, 2008, Twitter dropped full SMS update service to European users due to fees imposed by carriers.  Later, Canadian users were also affected.  It seems to me that the problem is with respect to people who are receiving updates from other twitter users (and you can easily see how quite a lot of traffic could be generated that way).  I believe that people can use SMS to SEND a tweet in any of these countries.  At any rate, apparently the US and India are the only countries that still allow full two-way communication via SMS.

To set up Twitter SMS on your phone, first you have to login to twitter and go to “settings”.  Look for the devices tab and enter your phone number.  You will be sent a text message and you must reply to 40404 with a captcha code that is displayed in the browser window.  Once the code is received, then you are ready to fine tune the settings that govern SMS services.

You can set up how you want the updates handled–direct messages only (which should give you all direct messages); on or off.  If you choose on or off, then you will be able to go through your “following” list and selectively enable specific accounts’ updates to be sent to your cell phone.  In this way, you can filter the activity.

The last step is to create a contact for Twitter that is associated with the number 40404.  Then you have an entry to which you can send your message.

I have an interest in receiving direct messages only (because I don’t get very many) and being able to send out tweets when I am not near an internet connection.  So the next time I am hiding in the closet during a tornado warning, maybe you will see an SMS tweet from me!

Tweetdeck is very functional.  You can hover over any avatar to reply to, direct message, retweet, or a variety of other actions (follow, unfollow, etc.)  You can also see what client was used to send the tweet.  Time is shown in your local time zone (so far as I can tell).

Tweet desk appears with three columns.  The first column displays tweets from “all friends”, or everyone you follow.  The second column is for replies.  Third column is for direct messages (and it shows you the messages you sent as well as those received).  Fourth column is for groups.

The group feature is what sold me on tweetdeck from the very beginning.  You can set up groups quickly and then filter messages by group.  This helps a great deal when following people who tend to tweet about a specific topic.  My main groups are moodle and mahara.

This blog post provides a tutorial on how to use tweetdeck.  I found it helpful.  Links at the bottom of the entry point you to youtube video tutorials on creating groups, using the search function, and setting up display preferences.

I still use twitterfox a lot, just because it is integrated into my browser and doesn’t take up much space.  But if you want a client, I recommend tweetdeck!

I follow a few people on twitter, and I like to follow them on their own blogs also. Some cross posting goes on. For example, here you can see a twitter widget in my sidebar. I frequently see tweets that announce a new post (which is interesting, because sometimes I see the tweets BEFORE I get the post in my rss aggregator).

Terry’s post today is one of those. I saw his tweet on the BBC story and then later saw, through my aggregator, that he had posted on it. I “clicked over” to read it in full and commented at length. So I thought I would re-post my comment over here and perhaps develop my thoughts more in time.

I find twitter interesting also. So far my observations are that it seems to be a lot more personal than the blogs I follow. I follow several people on their blogs AND on twitter. It seems to me that when blogs first started, many of them were about “what I did today”. My guess is that blogs that “held up”, or are still active over a long period of time are more geared toward thoughtful reflection, news, and substantive issues (at least to the author). After all, how much navel-gazing can most people stand? To have a real conversation or feel that you are reaching people, you must soon branch out beyond yourself! (Well, unless you are a movie star. I guess there is ENDLESS fodder in celebrity lives).

So will twitter follow? Right now, I see a lot of tweets that are stream of consciousness and much to do with “I am at Starbucks”, “I am stuck in traffic”. I really LIKE the tweets with links, such as “I found this cool new website”. There is a thriving development environment producing tweet managing software–seems like a new one every day! (another thing you can follow on twitter, since posting sources are embedded in the tweets). So I am interested to see what the future brings. Will microblogging influence blogging? Or will tweet managers make twitter more like WordPress?

I think I have just inspired myself and I had better go post this whole rant on my own blog! : )