I’m Starting to understand, and love, Twitter

That’s what I asked Friday morning, and below is what I got back. All these wonderful strangers from all over the world (and a few familiar faces) writing in about their passions.

Something about twitter is exciting in the same way email was exciting 10 years back. It really does feel like the world just shrunk.

I don’t know whether twitter is supposed to be about connecting you with your friends, or with the world, but there’s a really exciting sense of energy here that’s inescapable.

	jmm403 @superamit Forgot to add I’m passionate about maths and TagHeuer watches too! about 19 hours agofrom twhirl in reply to superamit
	jmm403 @superamit Hi amit, Jean-Marie from France, nearby Tours. I’m passionate about politics, computers and internet marketing. about 20 hours agofrom twhirl in reply to superamit
	chunkymutt @superamit I’m Kelly. I live in San Francisco and sit across from you sometimes. I like sleeping and Japanese TV shows. And cheese. 01:39 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	rtsnance @superamit www.visitflorida.com www.visitgrandjunction.com golf.visitnc.com 04:08 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	attilacsordas @superamit very nice networking campaign, you have :) 02:26 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	twilightfairy @superamit the meet is scheduled for 20th. time and venue to be decided but most probably in connaught place. You familiar with Delhi? 12:50 AM April 12, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	ziadbc @superamit hows it been going from NYC to San Francisco 02:12 PM April 11, 2008from twhirl in reply to superamit
	tonymaro @superamit I’m out here! 03:02 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	mattcoop @superamit - your old pad I should say (house 2.0) 02:41 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	mattcoop @superamit - I’m awesome AND new. And I’m at your pad now. 02:40 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	joannou @superamit Me? 02:26 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	twilightfairy @superamit well my passion happens to be similar to yours - photography. Been following you for some time now. Care2attend a bloggers meet? 11:54 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	rtsnance @superamit in sarasota florida. i am an interactive producer for tourism sites. 02:16 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	couch @superamit Ha, hello to you, too! This is the beauty of Twitter. 02:08 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	attilacsordas @superamit I live in New Orleans, and my passion is a little, but reasonable lifehack called life extension 01:07 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	raghav @superamit big fan of photojojo. me: based in nyc especially, love b&w photography, tennis nut, launching winedrip soon. 02:06 PM April 11, 2008from twhirl in reply to superamit
	Archana @superamit what up amit! i’m a student/entrepreneur @ UT Austin & i love using my gorillapod to take photos - http://tinyurl.com/22h3m5 01:04 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	jenningschris @superamit I take pictures and ride motorcycles in Texas. That about sums it up. :-D 01:01 PM April 11, 2008from txt in reply to superamit
	blissink @superamit i’m a freelance geek, new musicologist and all-around peace-loving, artist-type…glad to meet ya! 01:57 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	gehernando @superamit Im a fan of Mike Chriswell, he’s a fan of you. Im from Orlando and I like to motivate people! 01:53 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	Mimistrobell @superamit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Many things :) To mention a few Classical Music, Gadgets, Boating, philosophy, Technology 07:52 PM April 11, 2008from twhirl in reply to superamit
	couch @superamit Metro DC area, photography, music, design tech. Found out about Muxtape from you and sent it to all my audiophile friends… 01:51 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	kaushal @superamit u know me as a friend of Nick/Zach/Meg. official intro - UX/UI designer, Mumbai. passion: creating value, tho it sounds cliched! 11:19 PM April 11, 2008from TwitterFox in reply to superamit
	meghunt @superamit I’m Meg! I live in AZ currently, and my passion is exploring things and drawing pictures. 10:49 AM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	davidgiesberg @superamit I’m an engineering student/blogger in Austin, TX (actually attending Austin Jelly right now) 11:49 AM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	alexknowshtml @superamit that’s a GREAT idea! Hey followers: introduce yourself with @alexknowshtml and tell me something interesting about yourself! 01:48 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	ziadbc @superamit I’m Ziad, I live in Chicago I’ve heard your name a few times from guys like sean johnson. My bag is ubiquitous computing 12:48 PM April 11, 2008from twhirl in reply to superamit
	robot_operator @superamit Oh, and you once sent me a postcard with a picture of you inside a giant lizard’s mouth. 01:47 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	robot_operator @superamit I think we may have met at NYCPB a couple of years ago. I gave a talk and you were giving away free stuff. I also like Photojojo. 01:46 PM April 11, 2008from twitterrific in reply to superamit
	BrooklynHilary @superamit: you know me, but I’m saying hello anyway. Come back to NY! ;) 01:45 PM April 11, 2008from web in reply to superamit
	stuboo @superamit - what a great idea. I’m Ryan Stewart (search your gmail). Changing careers now. Going to medical school this fall. Age = 31 01:44 PM April 11, 2008from web

Fray’s Back!

I’m really excited that Derek’s webzine Fray is coming back as a quarterly book. Can’t wait to see what he does differently this time and as a followup to JPG. (via Derek and Danny)

Ben Lerer from Thrillist Loves His Job

Ben Lerer from Thrillist loves his job on Vimeo

I had lunch with Ben Lerer from Thrillist today. Ben runs an newsletter for guys that I subscribe to. It’s kind of like a guy’s Daily Candy. (In more ways than one — Thrillist has the same backers, Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group.)

We talked some email newsletter shop, something I don’t get to do very often! Thanks to my pal Noah Brier for the intro.

(Part of a series where I’m taking < 30 second video clips when I meet with interesting people.)

Two Quick Bits of News

1) I’m a guest panelist for this season’s Hey, Hot Shot, a really cool photography competition run by the jen bekman gallery. The submission deadline’s tonight at 6, so I probably should have posted earlier!

2) My pals Jake and Zach of Connected Ventures sold a 51% stake of their company to Barry Diller. Congrats, guys!

This is What Blogs Were Made For

One of my favorite new blogs is called The Knowledge for Thirst. It’s a beverage blog where two witty lads audition new beverages and blog about their experience.

Beverages are their passion and it comes through in their writing. The topic appeals to a pretty narrow slice of the population. But that slice, of which I am a member, loves what they’re doing.

It shines because it’s focused and because Kevin Fanning and Josh Allen write very, very well. Even if you’re only mildly interested in beverages, it’s hard not to love their writing. And it’s hard not to love a medium that allows two guys explore their passion so easily. Here’s a sample:

Thums-Up Cola is marketed in India as a manly drink, (i.e. right up my alley) and they got off on the good foot with me before I even had one taste. Here’s what I liked about the bottle:

Bottle cap was NOT a twist-off, so it required extreme manliness and/or bottle opener to pry off;

The bottles themselves were all scratched up and chafed, like they fell off a cargo boat in the middle of the Atlantic and judo-chopped every fish they encountered on their long swim to my local grocer’s refrigerator.

As for the taste, well, even a hunk of man such as myself cannot resist the charms of a refreshing soda. I felt like Thums-Up is overall very similar to Coke, starting off with a very strong cola bite. But it has a finish that’s heavy on the caramel, which made me want to fell every tree in a forest, leaving it denuded and fearful of its life. (Continued…)

See The Knowledge for Thirst for more. (How else will you learn about the mythical, and delicious, Inca Kola?)

I’ve just discovered that the venerable BevNET recently started a blog. Visit it for posts such as “Sprite redesign misses the mark,” and “Blue coloring — a reliable way to fail.” The Knowledge for Thirst is better.

Wednesday Assorted Links: Japanese videos, copy-writing, micropatronage, zefrank, typography, and collaborative drawing

TV in Japan gathers interesting video clips from television and ads shown in Japan. They confirm that Japan is, in fact, awesome and weird, but mostly awesome.

Some of Brian’s best online copy-writing tips in 10 short posts. It’s a good mix of classic and updated advice. (Example: “Every element of copy has just one purpose — to get the first sentence read.”) Everyone, and I mean everyone, can benefit from writing more persuasively.

Successful blogging micropatronage: Jason Kottke vs Joshua Ellis.

zefrank is the craziest and best videoblog I’ve ever seen. Each day’s broadcast is like an entire episode of The Daily Show, but condensed into two and a half minutes. [via Luke]

Examples of blog headline styles. Lots of interesting variations, both “Web 2.0″ and not. [via Zach]

Massively Collaborative online drawing!

Links: USB Beauty, Startups, Video Remixing, MySpace Obits

Beautiful experiments in USB by dialog05, a group of five German industrial designers. I love the USB lock drive, and their USB phone handset is great, too. [via PingMag]

In 9 Questions to Ask a Startup Guy covers the most important questions to ask if you’re thinking of working for a startup.

Rocketboom recently did a remixable video. They created a few scenes and shot 2-3 different renditions of each. Viewers were encouraged to use the footage to create their own edits. And they did. Fantastic marketing. Totally Pinko. If the next-gen video sites make this kind of remix easy, this medium’s going to go in a really interesting direction.

MySpace obituaries - These are obituaries of people who have MySpace profiles and have died. As Luke pointed out to me, the fact that this site exists speaks volumes about how big a part of people’s lives MySpace has become.

Web 2.0 is reminiscent of Marx

Andrew Keen pens a smart essay for The Weekly Standard on the cultural changes that may result from Web 2.0’s push for the liberation of the individual through “democratized media”. He contends that the fall of big media doesn’t just mean changes in distribution, it means that the infrastructure necessary to create super artists (Bono, Hitchcock, etc.) goes away. Elite talent, he argues, requires big money and a big (non-fractured) audience.

In the Web 2.0 world, however, the nightmare is not the scarcity, but the over-abundance of authors. Since everyone will use digital media to express themselves, the only decisive act will be to not mark the paper. [...] But one of the unintended consequences of the Web 2.0 future may well be that everyone is an author, while there is no longer any audience.

It’s a well-thought article, worth reading, but unfortunately it’s wrong.

Read on to find out why…

(more…)