Are twitter hashtags dying?

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I was using twitter recently and started to realize that I don’t use hashtags anymore. If you are not familiar with hashtags you can check out the hashtags wiki. I originally started using hashtags to fill the twitter search void. Since Twitter acquired Summize, twitter search has been just as good as hashtags, if not better, at tracking topics; so, one question remains, are hash tags a dying feature?

I started using Hashtags only a few weeks after joining Twitter because I quickly noticed its growing popularity. It was a good way to fill the search void and keep track of various topics. Whether you used it for an internet meme, natural disasters and/or major new stories/events, it was a great way to find popular topics and follow them.

Lately, I have been finding myself less and less likely to use hashtags. At one point, hashtags provided what Twitter didn’t; now, since Twitter acquired Summize, that void has been filled and contains all the benefits of hashtags and none of the drawbacks. Twitter search is an official, real-time search without the # clutter and #difficultytoreadtopics (difficulty to read topics), that hashtags bring. The real-time search is a great feature; especially, if you are going to track a frequently updated topic. In my testing around the recent frequently updated topic, #asot400, twitter search found much more tweets than hashtags.org found, giving you a more accurate up-to-date representation of the twittersphere. Also, you can run a search on your topic of choice and every new tweet on that topic gets dynamically loaded to the search results. Twitter search doesn’t require the ‘#’ symbol; so, you are not limited to what people #tag. Tagging keywords can also make tweets difficult to read. For instance, let’s take a look at the following tweet:

Went to the #worldseries #redsox #game with @seandfeeney and the #beer was way too #expensive. BTW, #yankeessuck

Without the ‘#’ this would be much easier to read. Not to mention, stringing multiple words together like redsox becomes incredibly annoying. Also, tweets only allow for 140 characters and saving on characters is very important. If you tweet regularly, you will find that you run into that character limitation all too often. Finally, Twitter search will allow you to search on a string with spaces like “Red Sox.”

In conclusion, are hashtags dying? What do you think? The once void filling addition seems to not have much purpose anymore. Hashtags seem to be nothing more than a character hogging, legibility inhibitor with more limitations than benefits. Twitter search has all the tracking with none of the limitations. Twitter search will track hashtags and doesn’t require you to be followed by another twitter account the way @hashtags works. There are too many people who use the ‘#’ symbol and don’t even know that they have to follow @hashtags then have to wait to be followed back (which doesn’t take too long) in order for your #hashtags to be tracked.

Staying Organized and Developing Incrementally

Design, Tech/Gaming, , , , ,

As promised in an earlier post, I will be discussing the importance of organization and the use of various tools to help keep progressive development. In the past I used to think that if you were going to write blog posts you had to sit down for an hour and think of your topic, research, write, edit and rewrite your posts all at once. I tried to do this for a little while and I ended up becoming counter productive. The problem with a busy lifestyle is that you never have the time to just sit down and concentrate on one thing. This is why I developed a different strategy.
Incremental development is the best way to keep productive without overwhelming yourself. The most noticeable part in incremental development is that you don't feel overwhelmed, which in turn wears you down. I have found that when you write a little bit then put it down, the next time you you come back you will read what you wrote and revise it for the better; therefore, you get a creativity boost because it forces you to reread and edit your work. The only drawback to incremental development is that it will take you longer to complete a particular task but, hopefully your work will be more quality, not quantity. Also, when you are busy, getting work done eventually is better than not getting anything done at all.
In order for incremental development to work, you have to have a place to jot down your idea's. Some people find sticky notes to be a very easy way to jot down your ideas. Now I am not talking about grabbing a pen and post-it notes; however, if that works best for you, by all means use it. For me, I sit in front of a computer about 80% of my day. It is better for me to use computer based note taking software. Some good options are Tomboy (for the Linux users) and sticky-notes (for the windows users). Personally, I like to use web applications because of the multiple computer problem.
As previously noted, I sit in front of a computer about 80% of the day. One problem I face is that I have a laptop, which I am in front of part of the day and during the other part of the day I am in front of my desktop. Because of this, I had some notes, files, etc. on one computer and not on the other. To over come this, I use a series of applications to make sure that no matter what computer I am on, I will have the latest updates that I have made. When writing my posts, I have ditched the sticky-notes / Tomboy method. Instead I have grown accustomed to google notebook which, unfortunately may be going away. Don't worry because there are some other alternatives This ways I can create various notebooks for different topics. I have one for my personal site http://seandfeeney.com and one for each website I write for. I then can create posts (notes as google notebook calls them) for each blog post I wish to write. I also create a "note" for general website ideas and changes. This makes ideas and posts easier to write but, what about pictures, documents and other various files?
In order to address the problem with files being located on multiple computers, I recommend looking into various file transfer or on-line storage programs / services. In a previous post, I recommended the use of Dropbox. Dropbox is a great way to keep certain files on all of your computers without having to do anything more than just putting the file in your Dropbox folder. I won't get into to much detail here if you want to know more read my previous post. The only problem with drop box is that the free version has a 2GB limit. That is normally a good amount of space for everyday use but, if you have a lot of pictures, videos, etc. you will quickly run out of space. This is why you may want to look into programs like SyncToy from Microsoft. SyncToy, however, only works with windows. If you need a program that works for both windows and UNIX based operating systems you may find Unison accomplishes what you are looking for. Finally, if you are willing to spend a little money you can keep all of this information in one place by using on-line storage services like Mozy. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Mozy supports Linux operating systems at this time. If you really need Linux support then you are probably better off using Dropbox and upgrading your account to the 50 GB version for $9.99 (at the time of this post).
Finally, consolidating your work is essential to bringing everything together. Using applications like Firefox is a great way to bring your work together. For web design, I have found that the less you have to switch between applications and the less applications you have open, the easier you life will be. There are a number of features to Firefox that help you consolidate. First, it is a web browser and you can test and view web pages. You can also use services like google notebook, google reader, google docs etc. There are other similar services out there but, Google integrates their free services together in a nice, simple way. That is just the basics though, Firefox also has a lot of add-ons that can increase productivity and help you to stay organized.

Changes Coming…

SeanDFeeney,

Hi everyone,

I would like to take this time to tell you that from now on I will be taking this blog a little more seriously. In the past, I wasn't very organized (which I discussed here). And, I didn't, and still don't, have much time to spend writing blog posts. Due to my lack of time, I would result to reposting videos, games, pictures, etc. that I came across surfing the web. Reposts of funny and interesting items will not go away completely but, you will see more original content from now on. I have been finding that when you post more original content, the more people take your site seriously which results in people visiting more often. The original content that I plan to post will focus more heavily on technology because I just am more passionate about it. I will, however, venture out into other topics.

When I started this site, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with it. I had just been approached by Brian Hursey, an individual I went to boot camp at EMC Corp. He told me he had webhosing and he didn't use half of the storage space. He then asked me if I wanted to host a site off of it. Since this was an offer that I couldn't refuse, I accepted the offer. I then had a site that I didn't know what to do with. I originally just started playing around with it, seeing how it worked, after all this was my first wordpress site. If you know anything about wordpress, it is a very different form of web design from traditional HTML with CSS websites. I had to familiarize myself with PHP. Eventually this resulted in what you see right now.

I realize that the site design is "OK" but, it does not reflect my talents and I am not that pleased with the overall look and design of this site. With that said you will see more design changes in the near future. I have a few ideas in mind but, I don't want to change it completely. One change is that I am thinking of moving the navigation menu for this site back to the top. Please feel free to post your suggetions of what you like or dislike about this site in the comments. Keep in mind, you don't have to be a registered user to post a comment.

Thanks for sticking with me,

Sean D. Feeney

Dropbox File Synchronization Application

@RaNdoM Tip, Tech/Gaming, , , , , ,

There is a new application out there that is getting a lot of buzz lately. Dropbox, a free application that you install and it creates a local folder on your computer. Once you sign up for the free service you get 2 GB of storage space that you can use to store files online.
What makes this so awesome is that you can use this various different ways. The first way to use this is you can put files into the folder on your computer and Dropbox will automatically upload that file to your online account. They give you two options. You have a public folder and a private folder. When you put the files in the public folder you can get a link that you can pass out to whoever you want and they can access that file and download it. If you put the file in the private folder other people can access that file but, you can log onto your account from anywhere in the world and grab that file.
Another great use of this application is, you can install the app on all your computers. It doesn’t matter if it is Linux, Windows, or Apple. When you install Dropbox on different computers and you add or delete a file from your Dropbox folder on one computer, the application will update the other computers you have installed Dropbox on, once they are connected to the internet.
I have been using Dropbox since if was first announced and I have loved every bit of it.

Launchy Application Launcher

@RaNdoM Tip, Tech/Gaming, , , , , ,

I just downloaded and started using Launchy Application Launcher and it is a fantastic piece of software. It is similar to Gnome Do (frequently used by Linux users) and Ubiquity Firefox plugin. This application can be downloaded for Linux and Windows. So go and check it out, you may find it very useful. Have any questions on how to use this application? Click the Help! link and ask me.