But, time passes. I have a new cell phone with a keyboard (I’m a writer, not a talker). And Twitter has become so hot that it’s not hot anymore and people are getting tattoos of the fail whale. There’s a lot of what Twitter is all about that I have no interest in, but there are a couple of things that are starting to make it very interesting to me.
First of all, everyone has a cell phone. Its battery may be dry (if you’re a Sailor, for instance), but you’re carrying it around. For example, I open every MHL tournament with, among other announcements, a warning that if your cell goes off during a round, you will get an automatic loss. The cell is the ubiquitous machine of the millennium, or at least one ubiquitous machine of the millennium.
Secondly, everyone does not have internet access 24/7 on their person. Some people come close (iPhone and Blackberry users and folks with expensive geegaws plugged into their USB slots), but absent universal wireless, we’re not there yet. Eventually, and with small devices like iPhones and Touches and netbooks and the like, but not just yet.
Third, I have timely information that is worth communicating, on occasion, to a select group of people. I am not interested in reading that so-and-so is doing some mundane action and getting updated every time so-and-so progresses in that action, and I’m sure no one is interested in that sort of thing from me. But I have two groups of people for whom instant group communication is valuable, the Sailors (and their families) and attendees at tournaments I am tabbing or directing.
Because we all have cells, Twitter seems like the perfect medium for getting that information to those people.
Think about it. I need to get my team on the bus. Twitter. I need to tell the parents that the bus just left Timbuktu. Twitter. I need the team to come to the tab room and lug all that crap somewhere. Twitter. I need to cancel a meeting on the fly. I need everyone to meet at a certain restaurant. Whatever. Twitter is a great solution. It can deliver real information quickly to a group in a position to get that information immediately. I like that.
So, I created a jimmenick account.
I also created a tabroom account, although I’m still futzing around with the concept of two accounts, since I only have one phone. But think about tournaments. I am in tab, and just for this weekend, you will follow me on Twitter (either as jimmenick or tabroom). Schematics are being released for round 3. Round 4 starts at 7:45 tomorrow morning. Lunch is being served in the cafeteria. Missing judges X, Y and Z. Breaks posted in the such-and-such hallway. Award ceremony at 4:00 in the library with the lead pipe. It’s all very mundane, in its way, but it’s information that people need at a tournament. At a tournament like Yale or Princeton, spread all over creation, it’s information that hundreds of people, competitors and judges alike, need quickly. Follow me on Twitter, just for that weekend, and you’ll get that information tout de suite.
I need to polish the approach. I figure a preface, like TAB: or SAILORS: to lead the message makes sense, since I’ll inevitably have two groups at once at a tournament. And not everyone will do it, but a lot will, and more will join up over time. I know that Bietz played with this at VBI with success, and that’s part of my inspiration.
I’ll be playing and polishing over the next few weeks, running various tests. Absent the fail whale, it works pretty well with the little I’ve done so far. So, don’t follow me now, but do feel free to offer advice. I’m all ears. And next season, bring your cell along with you. You’re going to want the tweets.
1 comment:
I actually created "palmertab" after seeing Harvard promise to do this sort of thing with tournament announcements. That they didn't hasn't dampened my belief that it could be useful.
Convergence is a lovely thing sometimes.
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