http://twitter.com/vitormagalhaes And speaking of Twitter...

When I got on Twitter, I put it here on the Blog a skeptical post about my curiosity to explore it.

At the time he said that Twitter “did not tell me anything but at the same time told me much” and compared it to a new version of IRC on the Web.

Although I am not totally addicted to Twitter (I am a moderate user), it took me very little time to “see”, “breath” and get “fascinate” with Twitter.

The “fascination” is 100% the result of the simplicity of Twitter, the project that most marked the Internet in the last year, showing that “It’s not the technology, stupid!”. A simple interface, 140 characters that do not require thinking too much and a reversal in the normal subscription process that clicked: we do not select who can follow us (although we can block, which is something radical), we only select who we want to follow. Very democratic.

And for those who wonder about a “So what?” or, “I’ve tried it but I don’t understand the joke”, see Twitter as more than an application or service. A service worth the people there.

Why do I use Twitter?

For the people. Many “early adopters”, it is true. But at a time when everything happens at the moment, in real time, and intellectual capital, the capacity for innovation and differentiation are indispensable ingredients for any business, these are the people I want to be with, I want to hear and I want to feel.

“Early adopters” who want to have intelligent conversations with intelligent people, about intelligent things.

Of course, it is not always like that, that many are dazzled by themselves and demonstrate to have what I call Ego 2.0 (geeks rich in the ability to produce content on Blogs, Twitter, Friends and similar but very poor in the ability to have a life outside of the online which makes them socially impoverished and who gives the will to say “get a life!”), but for those who “hear” and take advantage of the proximity that the online world presents to us... is more than fascinating.

This, apart from Twitter having assumed itself as a channel and vital source of information, almost always faster than televisions and newspapers.

“Ready. I'm convinced. But how do I start?”

There are no formulas to indicate interesting people to follow. Depends on what we want to hear. For those who want to start, basic suggestions:

  • Find someone to identify with.

  • Look who the people you identify with are following. They are a good starting point for us to follow new people (it is always very likely to identify with our friends);

  • The more followers someone has, the greater the probability of being worth following (if many people find someone interesting, we probably also find points of interest);

  • Share your thoughts, blogs, websites, photos, ideas, what you're doing.

  • Some services I use and recommend:*

  • Twitter trends: topics most discussed on Twitter;

  • Twitter Search: allows searching and following trends and discussions on any type of theme. For example...;

  • TwitLinks: if you want to know the most popular Twitter suggestions and have no time (or patience) to follow them;

  • TweetStats: for those who want usage statistics.

    • For those who are starting, TwitStars who can start following (in the online world):

Information Twitters (news):

In Portugal, because I know many Twitters personally and do not want to risk not listing them all, I leave, due to the high level of participation, only one (which I am not pleased to meet personally):

There's a lot of interesting people out there, but from here... listen, participate, follow, be followed, Twittem!