A Twittering You Will Go?

This week, a thread was started on the DB2-L list server about Twitter, the micro-messaging Web 2.0 social networking tool. Basically, someone wanted to know why more DB2 people did not use Twitter. The consensus seems to be that many organizations block it as a "non-business" web site.

(Surprisingly, LinkedIn seems not to be blocked as often as Twitter, even though LinkedIn is a prime vehicle for job search networking.)

This is disputable. If you've tried Twittering you know that it can be addictive, but it is also growing in popularity as a business tool for communication. This might seem hard to believe when you first dive into Twittering.

The basic idea of Twitter is simple: provide a platform for users to publish messages of no more than 140 characters at a time. And that can seem limiting... until you've used Twitter for awhile. If you subscribe to my Twitter feed you'll find that I send out regular Tweets (that is what a Twitter message is called) for many things, such as:

• when I post a new blog entry (maybe you got here that way),
• to share the highlights of interesting sessions when I attend a conference or user group,
• to notify folks when I've published a new article or column, and
• just to share some of the "things" going on in my life.

OK, so what are the business uses of Twitter? Well, sharing information (like I do) is absolutely a
business usage. Sharing practical web links is another. Keeping abreast of technology topics, yet
another. Micro-messaging can help you reduce email and eliminate unproductive meetings.

Other DB2 professionals use Twitter to communicate and solve problems. Willie Favero, Troy Coleman, and even some in-the-trenches folks use Twitter. So you know you'll get some good DB2 information if you participate.

So what? you may say: "my company already blocked Twitter so I can't participate." Well, there might be a way around that (I don't know if this will work or not). From your home PC, or some other non-company PC, go to twitter.com, register and see what it is all about. Then download a Twitter client, like TweetDeck (which my personal favorite) or Twhirl. Take the download and install it at work... now see if things are still blocked when you use a different client. They might be, but then again, maybe not...

Now (wink-wink) I do not really advocate people trying to get around their company's policies. But if you try this out and it works (or even if it does not) post a comment here to let us all know.