Twitter and Tweet Convert - Kevin Benedict

Twitter Conversion

It's true.  I am but a recent convert to Twitter.  Since I typically write obnoxiously long articles, I had a difficult time understanding the value of a technology that limits itself to 140 characters.  I have now, however, seen the light and the light is an iPad app.

I use the iPad application Flipboard.  Flipboard and Paper.li are two applications that convert RSS feeds, tweets, Facebook and other content into online newspapers or magazines that are easy to read.  I am very impressed with Flipboard's ability to show the original tweet, and automatically open up the tiny URL link and display the content in the online newspaper format. 

I was simply too impatient to read through a list of tweets with enticing titles about world changing mobile technology, and not be able to see the content without waiting for the link to open in a browser and display the content.  In Flipboard it is a one step process.  All the tweet links are automatically opened and displayed in the newspaper.  BEAUTIFUL!

Today, the value of tweets on Twitter is more than minimalist human interaction.  It is rich content in a newspaper format!  Whenever I open Flipboard, I get the sudden urge to sit in a soft padded chair with a cup of coffee and read in front of the fireplace with my dogs at my feet.  That is how you read tweets in comfort and harmony with the universe.

Tweetdeck is also a cool application.  You can monitor real time communications from many different communities and conversations all on one screen.  It is interesting to have a real time pulse on an event.  At the last SAP Influencer Summit (read my report here), SAP showed how this could be done.  The moderator of the panel discussion was watching the real time tweets from participants and responding to them on stage.  It was true interaction with a global audience.

In one case, I tweeted that SAP CTO Vishal Sikka had dressed like Steve Jobs for the event - jeans and a black shirt.  Moments later the moderator mentioned the fashion tweet on stage.  I love it!  The value of tweeting is slowly sinking into my thick skull.  Onion News also had a very funny segment about real time audience interaction that I would highly recommend.  Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

On my desk sits the book Twitter for Dummies.  I am now learning about #tags, DM (direct messages), lists, searches, etc.  More Twitter epiphanies to follow I am sure. 

I must credit my fellow SAP Mentors, that all seem expert on using Twitter, for my motivation.  When all of us SAP Mentors met together at Sapphire and TechEd last year, I noticed how most of them spoke to each other like they were next door neighbors.  I wondered how these individuals, from all around the globe, could know so many private jokes.  It turns out the secret was Twitter.  They had formed an intimate community through the use of Twitter.  I have much more to learn, so that I am not the private joke.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.