Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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We’re all well aware that Twitter represents man’s best chance of Redemption. No one’s disputing that. What is in dispute today is just how representative Twitter is of The Real World. Case in point: TNA Wrestling made its long awaited move to Monday nights this week, and all throughout the night “TNA” was a trending topic on Twitter. We’ve been led to believe that anything that trends on Twitter is hugely important, not merely in the cozy confines of the Twitterverse, but all over Planet Earth. Explain this, then: the show only drew a 0.98 rating (it rounds up to a 1.0). I thought Twitter = ratings? Right, so all throughout the night, “TNA” was all over the Twitter, and it was trending for the duration of the broadcast. Clearly people on the terribly important Web site thought highly of the show. Too bad nobody else did. The show only drew a 0.98 rating, which is pretty much the disappointment of all disappointments. I mean, you had Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair on American TV for the first time in something like 10 years. If that’s not a ratings draw, then I don’t know what is. (A successful rating would have been in the neighborhood of 1.3.) It speaks to the perception that Twitter is God. If it’s on Twitter, by golly, then everyone must be talking about it. Clearly not. Twtiter has something like 75 million registered accounts , of which only 10-15 million of them can be considered active. And who knows how many of those active accounts are nothing but annoying bots? As soon as we write something here, something like 20 bots automatically re-tweet it. Imagine how many bots are re-tweeting popular sites! There’s a whole lot to TNA’s rubbish rating, chief among them terrible build-up and terrible promotion. Why would you spend the time it takes to create a movie for your YouTube account , which has all of 9,000 subscribers, when you could have used that same time to create a video package to air on your TV show , where a lot more than 9,000 people are watching? Using social media to promote your product when you’re already on prime time TV is beyond dumb. The point? There really isn’t one, I’m just sort of bored and wanted to write about the TNA rating. If there’s a lesson to be drawn here, it’s to not think of Twitter as the end-all, be-all of “what’s what” in America.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
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The Shorty Awards were handed out last night in New York amid incredible controversy. The awards, if you’ve never heard of them before, are handed out to Twitter users who exemplify Twitter’s potential “to create the best real-time short form content.” It’s sorta cute I guess, just recognizing people who tweet interesting things. There’s one problem, and it has to do with the award handed out in the “Weird” category. The winner of the weird award was The Llama ( @DoWhatITellYou ) someone who tweets what you’re supposed to do. Like , “Pretend you have a dog or cat in your lap, whichever you like. Pet the animal and say ‘Good little llama.’ Good.” The person who should have won, clearly, was East Side Dave ( @rfeastsidedave ) from Sirius XM ’s Ron and Fez show, whom we interviewed last summer . Now, what’s more “Weird,” more deserving of the recognition of the likes of CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Paul McCartney, MC Hammer, Jimmy Wales, and David Pogue from the New York Times, a fake llama telling you what to do, or a confused-looking, red haired man flopping about with puppets? So at the awards ceremony last night, as The Llama accepted her award, Dave rushed the stage , yelling profanities and gesticulating wildly. It was all over Digg and the like as well as MediaBistro , arbiters of all that is media-related in this county. I, for one, think Dave was well within his right to be upset at this miscarriage of justice. Everyone knows that, in a few years time, the only communication we’ll engage in will be over Twitter, so it’s absolutely crucial to be recognized for your Twitter achievements. Dave was robbed.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
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Ron and Fez, the fantastic Sirius XM radio show that makes my day every day, will host the world’s first second Twitter party on Sunday! It’s a follow-up to last month’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Twitter Party , which was pretty much a gigantic success. What’s being celebrated this time around? The Oscars (gi gi gi)! It gets even better: a live radio show will actually accompany the Twitter party. I’m excited. You know the drill: be sure to keep your eye on @202Friends once Sunday rolls around for a chance to win some sweet swag. Among the prizes: a copy of the movie Titanic signed by James Cameron, Ordinary People signed by Timothy Hutton, and—and this should be a treat for all you sci-fi fans—a copy of Lord of the Rings signed by Peter Jackson! Considering that all you’d have to do is follow @202Friends to win this stuff, you’d be a fool not to play along! All that, and a live, special edition of Ron and Fez at 8pm on Sirius 197/XM 202 ? Count me in, dogsy! I don’t know a damn thing about movies, but hearing the guys discuss ‘em is one of the highlights of the show.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, February 26th, 2010
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Hey, times are tough and if United Airlines has to advertise sex pills on Twitter to keep costs down, I’m all for it. Maybe the company needed the extra revenue and used Twitter instead of installing quarter meters on its plane’s bathrooms. Or the account was hacked. Either way, it makes for a fun, Friday morning post. [ NYC Aviation via Consumerist ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Headlines
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Google Buzz certainly is the most recent Google service that is available. It could simply be summed up by declaring it’s similar to Twitter — however integrated with your Gmail inbox, and a few additional built-in functions that you can see in this video. The question is not regardless of whether Google’s function is good [...]