Archive for January, 2009

One of the things I was looking forward to with the new administration at the Whitehouse.gov website was the integration of a blog. With all the promises and buzz about how President Obama has been the most tech savvy I though it would be interesting to follow the progress of our newly appointed President.

Unfortunately, the Whitehouse.gov blog’s RSS feed hasn’t changed since the inauguration. I thought it was odd that there were no updates, so I clicked through to the site and it appears the RSS feed isn’t working because there have been plenty of updates.

I thought perhaps it was due to there being three different feeds available on the site, but that’s not it either. I know some people could care less about the RSS feed, the same people would just visit the site. The major problem I see is they’re missing an opportunity in spreading the news. One of the powers of an RSS feed is in the syndication of the feed and sending any updates to all the RSS directories that help to spread the news.

I’m just dumbfounded that the RSS functionality has been overlooked … Is it just me, or does anyone else think they missed a vital step in the update when they changed the site over to the Obama camp?

• RT @SprockGirl: Proof positive that Google is everywhere: Police google farmers, find marijuana field. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28913784/ #

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• aint karma a *itch … air bag deploys after granny smacks the bumper … super funny … http://bit.ly/16Z7y #
• Pit crew fail … me thinks someone is in need of a new pit crew after this fail … http://bit.ly/32XHSn #

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This video seems to convenient to be real, but it was done so well that it’s hard to tell if it was real. Either way I watched it over and over laughing every time. What do you think? … is it real?

• @studio747 Thank you for the follow, I’ll be sure to watch for your tweets. in reply to studio747 #

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• I found the service … TweetLater.com … just canceled the auto-follow and auto-reply. My apologies to followers prior #
• @Taoski I here that … the things we can look forward to with these kids that never new a life without the Internet or computers in reply to Taoski #
• @Taoski Crazy huh? makes me want to encourage my own kids more instead of restricting their computer use. in reply to Taoski #
• Amazing 8 year old becomes youngest MS certified pro – http://bit.ly/R0Ll #
• @Kimi267 Thanks Kimi, it was a third party app, I use Twitter Tools on my blog, but I don’t think it has an auto-follow, will check tho in reply to Kimi267 #
• @CouchSurfingOri I’ll remember that if Ican’t get it done any other way. I have other third party services that are useful, will do if nd 2 in reply to CouchSurfingOri #
• Anyone know how to turn ther auto-follow off, can’t remember which service I used. Decided I want to be real instead of a drone. #

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• @adrianeden Them are some delish looking steaks – I call dibs on the second one in reply to adrianeden #
• @fusionfitmomi WOW! that IS cold for Miami – we’re just hoping the sun will break the inversion here, we miss the sun in reply to fusionfitmomi #
• Reading … RT @stumclaren: See what big companies are using Twitter (http://twurl.nl/yllexr) … what a great article #
• @fusionfitmomi It’s 25 here in Idaho, want to trade? in reply to fusionfitmomi #

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• Don’t try to sell me something through Twitter … Instead take a tip from this article at Twitip – http://bit.ly/3cVzS9 #
• Do you REALLY want to know what is in Hot Dogs? http://bit.ly/yoaZ #
• @davidrisley That is true … It certainly shows how much has changed in 8 years. Look at any website through http://bit.ly/EPVU (WayBack) in reply to davidrisley #
• @davidrisley Just keep in mind, look at any website from 8 years ago and you’ll see similar comparisons. Nothing to do with W vs O in reply to davidrisley #

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• @ConversationAge Yes, I’m in property management for now, lots of people time I’m also reading more blogs now, just subscribed to yours in reply to ConversationAge #
• @ConversationAge That’s very true. Twitter is helping me feel like I’m still connected as I am “between ventures” trying to find my way back in reply to ConversationAge #
• @ConversationAge “Direct Tweet” … That’s good, as for me I just see it as a huge party. My sales are done away from the party in reply to ConversationAge #
• @ConversationAge Because @LeoLaporte said it was cool back whn it launched. In 07 I saw it as a way to connect with like minded people. in reply to ConversationAge #
• @ConversationAge Because @leoleporte said it was cool back whn it launched. In 07 I saw it as a way to connect with like minded people. in reply to ConversationAge #
• @wizzardsblog Just set up a group in TweetDeck and place the people you don’t want to miss in it. in reply to wizzardsblog #
• @PerryBelcher Thanks for the friend follow on FaceBook. in reply to perrybelcher #
• To those talking about $250 in free Google Adwords – you need a mailer w/coupon code, and it’s for NEW advertisers. http://bit.ly/IJE7 #
• @hollyrhoffman True, but the ladies have so much of a selection, sometimes us guys like choices too We don’t always want to look alike in reply to hollyrhoffman #
• I couldn’t resist this cool little app … I added a video greeting to my Twitter profile – http://bit.ly/4mIh #
• @SprockGirl Just sending you some love, I want to see you see you smile. Love you Babe! in reply to SprockGirl #

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My wife had mentioned how some local Twitter users started following her recently. She was curious as to how they found her.

This got me thinking about looking for other Tweeters in our local area, but the ‘find people’ link on Twitter doesn’t have a location filter. I then thought there would certainly be some third party tool that has been created. Sure enough, there’s a little app that uses the Adobe Air application called TwitterLocal (fitting name too ). This tool was ok for locating people who have Tweeted in the last 24hrs but it lacks any customization. There’s no way to adjust the refresh, and it would be nice to be able to add new followers from the app.

I then found you could also do a Google search using ’site’ and ‘location’ filtering. Here’s an example search query …

site:twitter.com location boise

You can add your state after the city to be specific if you get results for cities in other states with the same name. Doing this search I was able to locate over 1600 Twitter users from Boise.

Then I remembered Twitter does have a search engine (scroll all the way to the bottom of Twitter.com) and once there you will find an advanced search link. There are so many cool search filters, but the one I wanted was the ‘Places’ filter where I can search near my city.

So there you have it, a few simple ways to find Twitter users near you.

Enjoy … Scott