Social Media
Recently, I've been working on a few projects that involve Twitter. Integration, promotion, brand building, etc. I've also become involved in a local Social Media Club to keep the pulse of the online community and stay on top of the latest trends. It's really given me a chance to use Twitter and, more importantly, watch how other people use Twitter. It's led me to a new project that I'd like to share with you...
A little back-story...
What's been really interesting to me, personally, is how I react to what other people are willing to throw out onto the web without much thought or hesitation. It's not always a good thing, but neither is it always a bad thing. It actually makes for some really interesting reading. Sometimes, I'll find something interesting and decide to create a connection. Other times, a random person will say something to nonsensical or irrelevant that I'll unfollow them on the spot. It's the ebb and flow of social interaction. It's how all people function in real life.
But what always piqued my curiosity was how common phrases are used throughout our society on a macro level. Not just online, although Twitter gives us a great way to instantly view them. They've manifested themselves in Twitter hash tags, but I think they should be a little more organic than that in order to open up the social interaction. Even at the loss of subject-specific focus. So, I started searching Twitter for a few common phrases and really liked what I found. They were intriguing. Emotionally charged. And yes, sometimes complete crap. All-in-all, very interesting. So, I launched a website to share those phrases (and more) with the world.
TweetPhrases.com
So, the whole point of this article is to launch my site, yea? The new site is TweetPhrases.com. It's simple. It's straightforward. It's an ever evolving, real time look at what people are saying on Twitter. Limited only, of course, by the use of a selected phrase. The presentation of the tweets is what I really love. It's bold and in your face. Boom!
Check it out. Let me know what you think. If there are other phrases I should consider, don't be afraid to suggest them. I'm viewing this as a social experiment, so I want it to be very organic.
Geek Love
I have to give a little love to ColdFusion, the language used to create TweetPhrases. I am, after all, a ColdFusion developer and I like to promote it whenever I get the chance. It's a great language that allowed me to pop up this site very quickly.
Finally, I would be completely remiss if I didn't acknowledge great inspiration from another website, Twistori. When I came up with my concept, I quickly realized there was something similar out there already. They have a great site and I want to thank them for my inspiration.
Sweet site! I like the “i shouldn’t have eaten” phrase, lots of funny updates. Any plans to create an iGoogle widget for it in the future?
Cool site. On a related note, you might be interested in this TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_harris_tells_the_web_s_secret_stories.html
This guy has a massive database and programs that scours the internet looking for how people “feel”; it then uses those phrases to create very cool graphical visualizations.
@Justin – Thanks! It’s nice to get positive feedback
@Ben – Thanks for the link. What’s really cool is that you just brought this full circle. The site I credit with my inspiration (Twistori) credits their creation to We Feel Fine (Jonathan Harris’ project.) It’s great to see his preso on the project.