Personal & Tech & VC 09 Oct 2007 06:19 am
Tracking Me
Twitter released a new feature that allows users to track keyword in the public Twitter stream. If you’re tracking “X” then anytime anyone posts “X” in a public tweet, it will send the message to your phone and IM.
I’m now tracking the word “talktoandrewnow” (no quotes). I don’t think anyone will casually use this word, so I am essentially squatting on this word as a public messaging system.
Some might wonder: “Why is this better than direct messaging via Twitter?” Answer: it’s not better, it’s just different. Direct messaging only works if the person you are direct messaging is following you. If your direct message target is not following you then the direct message fails. By squatting on this keyword, now anyone can message me even if I’m not following them.
Essentially, I’m publishing access for anyone to SMS me. But, by doing it this way, I reserve the right to turn it off or change the keyword at any time, without the inconvenience of changing my phone number.
2 Responses to “Tracking Me”
on 09 Oct 2007 at 3:31 pm 1.bijan sabet said …
I did the same thing except for just my first name since that is also my twitter handle.
it’s helpful because I was missing a bunch of replies.
on 11 Oct 2007 at 1:29 pm 2.michael galpert said …
at first i tried tracking “@msg” seems that twitter provides tracking for “msg” which has lots of meanings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Msg so now i get lots of crap.
originally (pre sxsw) i was @michaelgalpert but then realized that i was providing a disservice to my followers and stealing 11 characters from then and have adopted @msg since.