Twittering about Second Life

Monday I got this e-mail from my director:

Those of us at the Futures conference heard about the increasing rate of change
and how technology is central to it. So, do any of you read the Sunday Star
Ledger? If you do, did you notice the articles on pages 2 and 3 of the first
section (not buried somewhere) - Twitter and Second Life. When things like this
become news that's prominently placed, you HAVE to sit up and take notice.

True, this past Sunday's Star Ledger carried articles about Twitter and Second Life (actually, there were two about Second Life, there was also this one). Well those are the ones I found online, I didn't actually see the print paper.

While I'm certainly not a "Twitter celebrity" I have discovered that Twittering is kinda' fun. The first time I heard about it I thought it was ridiculous and didn't even sign up for it - even though I am a major "joiner"! ;-) However, when a friend invited me to join and be his friend, I did it and then found out that getting little messages about what he was doing was kinda neat and fun. Then I added another friend. It also became fun to post little tidbits about what I was doing (you are limited to 140 characters). I am by no means "addicted" or "obsessed," but it is fun.

The article calls Twitter a "booming new social networking site," "micro-blogging," "addictive and may just be the future of communication." People are using it to find like-minded friends and connections without all the "noise" of MySpace. Especially funny tweets become popular and their posters gain visibility.

One day when I checked the public timeline I saw people posting to each other who were at some kind of conference and checking-in to say when/where/what they were doing - making plans about where to meet up and when to eat, etc....

At the Futures Conference Ray Kurzweil talked about things doubling very quickly. Well, according to one of the founders of Twitter, its users are doubling every three weeks!

Check out Twitter Map and Twitterholic if you're into it.

As for Second Life, the first article offers a sort of "travel guide" to it with tips and a warning that "sex is everywhere," hence the second article about someone offering child pornography there.

Again, I am not a big user of Second Life. I did eventually sign up but have only been "virtual" once. I just fumbled and stumbled around and ended up getting stuck on a fence somewhere. However, Second Life has more than 6 million registered participants (according to the article) and I have seen some interesting things on useful applications and results from Second Life. Of course, there is a library there and many "real world" things take place there - concerts, buying and selling, advertising, building or creating things, meet people, own land, etc..

Maybe I should give it another try. If anyone knows how to get off that darn fence in Second Life, Twitter me!