Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Twitter is increasingly used by serious organizations for serious purposes. For example, our institution: http://twitter.com/OAMITWEETS Several other international organizations are on both Twitter and Facebook. Oh, and I am there to, as nwaj, but I do not tweet. I have an account just so I can follow others. Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog On Dec 6, 2009, at 11:11 AM, Michiel Fokkema wrote: > > Cheers, > > Michiel Fokkema > > I'm on twitter too. Posted a bit. But still wonder why people want to know > what I'm doing or need to know what I'm doing. I'm also not always > interested in when people pick their nose or brush their teeth. > But I do recognise thatit can be a powerful marketing together with > Facebook. > > Cheers, > > Michiel Fokkema > > Kyle Cassidy wrote: >> Over the years I have been known to bark, at random times, "What do you >> think Bob Denver is doing RIGHT NOW?" -- and not because I had some >> personal curiosity about the star of Gilligans Island and Dobie Gillis >> but because it was a synecdoche for something I _was_ curious about -- >> what do famous people DO when they're not being famous? >> Fast forward 20 or 30 years and now we have Twitter. >> >> For those of you who don't know, twitter.com is a service that >> rebroadcasts text messages to subscribers. Nothing more than that really. >> You pull out your cell phone, type "I'm standing in line at the DMV" and >> send it to anybody who cares to listen. And who cares to listen? It could >> be your family, old college buddies, your Mahjong club.... Or, if you >> happen to have achieved some level of notoriety ... thousands, hundreds >> of thousands, or even millions of people. >> >> And what does this mean for photographers? >> >> I've wondered this myself for a long time and resisted twitter -- after >> all, you're limited to 140 characters, it seems to be the sort of thing >> that destroys our conversational skills, promotes ADHD, and removes >> meaning from our lives. And ... it can be. But it doesn't have to. While >> photographing a celebrity who shall remain nameless, I watched him >> twitter several times, remarked that I found it useless "I write in the >> long form," I said (albeit not exactly that pretentiously). "You still >> can," he replied, "I do as well, I just send out a note to twitter saying >> "I have a new blog post up. And people go and read it." >> >> And I realized then that twitter has a use for photographers. A good one. >> >> People who are following you on twitter are people who are _predisposed >> to like the things that you do_. Which means if you have a gallery show, >> a fine art print go on sale, an image in a magazine, or even a new image >> posted to your web page, the people who follow you are much more likely >> to buy it, see it, or talk about it than any selection of people walking >> past a Barns and Nobel window on any street. The life of an artist is one >> about building community and as such, I've found twitter to be useful. >> >> In the grand scheme of things, Twitter is a Good Thing in two ways: one, >> if you have a lot of people following your "tweets" it's useful for >> nearly everything, from finding a developing tank and Dektol at 1 a.m. in >> Burnt Church Michigan, to getting people out to your gallery show, but >> also it's good for keeping like minded groups of people in contact -- >> like this mailing list but from moment to moment. The use of keywords >> (called "hash tags") allows people to search for posts they're interested >> in. You could, for example, post a photograph and add the hash tag >> #leica, allowing people who are interested in Leica to find you. >> (Checking twitter right now for people using the hash tag #leica, I find >> this interesting message: "ianjindal Celebspotting: stood in front of >> Rowan Atkinson in RG Lewis, #leica shop today. He didn't recognise me." >> -- we find out that Rowan Atkinson is shopping for Leica's. Oh the magic >> of the Internet.) >> >> I know LUGger Chris Williams (who can be found on twiiter here: >> http://twitter.com/zoeica) posts photos from his shoots. But who else? >> If you're talking about Leicas on twitter, you can find me here: >> http://twitter.com/kylecassidy >> & I'd love to hear why people like, dislike, or are ambivalent to this, >> or how people are using other parts of the Internet to move their >> photography forward. >> >> Kyle >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >