Question: Why bother with Twitter?

Seattle P-I Food Writer Rebekah Denn writes in with this question about Twitter:

"My problem with Twitter is that I feel like I'm just adding (and getting) another layer of noise. I get a lot of information from my Google Reader - I probably have 50 blogs on it. What's the advantage to following the same people on Twitter? Won't I just be finding out, say, that they've posted something that I'm going to see on my reader soon anyway? Do I want to know the low-level chatter?

"...I see the attraction of referring people back to your blog... but is there any reason to do that on Twitter rather than Facebook (which, ironically, feels less in-your-face)? And would I annoy people if I do both?

"If you can make sense out of that as a question, have at it! Maybe I'll try some sample tweets and just see how they're received."

Thanks for the question Rebekah. I couldn't see the value of Twitter before I started using it either. It seemed stupid. Yet another way to tell people an incremental update about the boring stuff you're doing? Who needs it?

But then I read a great New York Times Magazine story on Twitter by Clive Thompson -- one of the best writers around on social media, technology and society.

He writes: "For many people — particularly anyone over the age of 30 — the idea of describing your blow-by-blow activities in such detail is absurd. Why would you subject your friends to your daily minutiae? And conversely, how much of their trivia can you absorb?"

After trying it though, he writes, users discover that "each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting."

This (and most everything he said in his excellent article) intrigued me. After reading his story, I decided to try it.

As Clive promised, Twitter has helped me reconnect in a daily, quick and easy way with good friends I was only finding time to call a few times a month. (Granted, this effect is more striking when you and all your friends have iPhones.)

Twitter's been great on a professional front too. I've met a bunch of people in the journalism and blogging community I never would have met, and keep up with what they're all thinking and saying to each other. Sure, I could read their blogs, but my Google Reader is maxed out, and who has the time to read lengthy essays? This is the ultimate in MTV-generation short attention span theater -- every thought is an elevator pitch, just 140 characters in length. Who doesn't have time to read two sentences?

True, as you note, you can follow many people on their blogs, but not everyone. Many nonbloggers are on Twitter, so Twitter is the only place you're going to hear their thoughts.

True, you can follow a lot of people on Facebook, but many of the people you might want to follow aren't your friends (yet) so you can't very well friend them on Facebook or LinkedIn to see their updates.

Twitter is a great little niche tool that lets you hear the latest epiphanies of people you think are smart and cool -- even if you don't know them.

Geek that I am, when I started using Twitter, I started following a high ranking developer guy at Amazon as he mulls his latest ideas on technology.

When the stock market started to crash, I found a trader who was Twittering and followed him for the emotional side of the story, to hear his heart pounding from 3,000 miles away. He followed me too for a while, and learned a bit about the newspaper business. For months, we never spoke (direct messaging is one of Twitter's tools) but we overheard each other's conversations, and learned about a part of the world we knew nothing about.

When the last hurricane hit New Orleans, I did a search for New Orleans on Twitter and found some New Orleans locals to follow to get the latest news. I prefer the news in their personal stories to the "news stories" coming out of the Times Picayune.

Also, if you do follow your favorite bloggers, you will find that many are tweeting different stuff than they are blogging -- often the story behind the story, and how they personally feel about stuff, which is cool, and a new side of the story. So no, it's not the same, usually, and not repetitive.

But yes, Twitter, just like Google Reader, can turn in to too much noise, an overwhelming and therefore not useful tool you don't enjoy. The key to getting the most out of both tools is in the management.

I'd suggest you start slow, follow some friends, follow a few of the people you find interesting. Add new feeds as you go, and when the conversation moves too fast for you to follow, get into your follow list and delete the people you won't miss.

You'll notice right away that some of the folks you're following are boring Twitterers. Dump them. (Buh-bye, Bonnie Fuller.) Some will be interesting but crazy prolific, filling up your inbox. Dump them too. (Sorry, Robert Scoble!) Keep tinkering with the mix of the people you're following until you get to a point where you find your Twitter feed fascinating, and can't wait to see what everybody's saying.

One payoff, if you respond to people's tweets and get to know them, is that you get to meet cool people you might not have met before, and you get to be a part of important local and national conversations you never could have otherwise been a part of.

If it wasn't for Twitter, I can't imagine how I would have ended up exchanging notes with King County executive Ron Sims. Mark's been chatting with Mavis Staples' recording label about what a rip off it is that she didn't perform at the inaugural.

In ways you can't imagine until you start to use it, Twitter opens doors, helps you make new connections, and keep track of conversations in new ways. If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to give it a month. No, it's not for everyone, and in the end you might decide you don't like it. But then again, you might be surprised at the unexpected coolness of it.

So Twitterers, did I get this right? Did I miss something? Why do you use Twitter? Read more!

Question from a reader: Which pictures on Flickr can I use?

Hooray, our first interactivity for my new blog. Reader and Seattle P-I managing editor Rita Hibbard asked me offline today to answer this question:

Which pictures from Flickr can I republish on my blog?

Excellent question.

First, a little background: Contrary to many bloggers' beliefs, you can't just take content that you find out on the Internet and post it on your blog. All the content in the universe has some kind of ownership rights attached to it, and before you republish anything, it's your duty to check first to see if the owner of that content has granted permission.

If you don't see any indication on the site that the owner is granting permission, you need to contact the owner of the content to ask permission. Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great Q&A to help bloggers learn the nuances of copyright.

Be careful on this point: One blogger I know once contacted the PUBLISHER of the content (another blogger) and asked for permission to use a photo on his site. He said Sure! You guessed it -- he had taken it from another site and did not own the content or have the right to grant others permission to use it.

Flickr, an awesome photo-sharing site, makes it easy for you to tell whether the owner of the photo grants you permission to use it.

To start off, go to Flickr.com. See that search bar front and center? Type Seattle in the search box and click Search. On the results page, look to the right for Advanced Search. Click Advanced Search.

Scroll down the page and click the checkbox in front of "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content." Click Search. The results page will give you all the photos people have decided to share, in various ways. Go here to get definitions of the different kinds of sharing. For example, some people want you to credit their work if you publish their photo. Some ban commercial use.

Okay, so, click on the photo you like. This will bring you to a new page with a bigger photo. Scroll down the page, looking in the right column, and you'll see Additional Information. This is where you'll find the specific info about how this photographer has chosen to share his or her work.

A word of warning: Many photogs ban commercial use. In my mind, if you have Google ads on your site, and earn even $2 a month, that's a business. Many people are likely not that picky about it, but since you are making money you might want to write to the photographer and ask him if the usage you have in mind is okay. I generally write to people when I publish their photos anyway to thank them and give them a link, so they can see how the photo is being used.

More later on other places to get photos. Thanks for the question Rita! I have another question lined up from P-I Food Writer and blogger Rebekah Denn for tomorrow, but after that I'm bone dry. Please post your questions in the comments!

Thanks Ben Sonkua, for the use of the awesome photo! Check out Ben's Flickr stream -- he's got a bunch of great photos there. Read more!