From My Bottom Step

Twitter is a micro-blogging service which allows computer/cellphone users to post mini messages limited to 140 characters or less. The tech community loves the ease with which news, links, profiles etc. can be exchanged, and that’s reflected in an exploding number of users (2008 saw a 600% increase to an estimated 5 million currently). And it’s a great way to meet new people in your own community.

Local tweeter Brian Frank says, “I’ve never found any more effective way to find people with the same interests.”

So if all you’ve known so far is email, or web browsing, or even Facebook, give it a try!

Getting started is easy. Log on to http:/twitter.com and set up an account. Then go to http://twitter.com/fowgre and click on the “follow” button to start following my feed (and you might like to follow FMBS as well).

In the input box, enter “I’m a new London, Ontario tweeter. #londonont” and send it (without the double quotation marks). Everybody who subscribes to my feed will receive it, and many of those will start to follow your feed.

And now you’ve got lots of new friends.

More? If you live in London, Ontario there will be a mid-month Tweetup on Monday, January 19 at 07:30 p.m. at Coffee Culture on Dundas Street (right across from the Central Library). Why don’t you drop by and introduce yourself?

Appended 2009/01/20:

Twitter is a particularly valuable networking tool for staying in touch with people who share a common interest. By assigning a hashtag to the subject-specific discussion, you can easily separate that thread from the rest (you create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol). For example, anybody who clicks on #londonontpeds when it’s included in a tweet will be presented with a feed of all the “London, Ontario pedestrian-related” tweets. Members of the Glen Cairn & Pond Mills Community Association should use #gcpmca. Members of the London Strengthening Neighbourhoods Residents Task Force are encouraged to use #lsnrtf. Note: if you intend to put hashtags in your tweets, you should follow @hashtags.