Ignite Cardiff
Apr 14th
It’s only taken me a week to get round to this, but hopefully it’s been worth the wait!!
So last Wednesday was Ignite Cardiff 2, at Sodabar. I won’t explain what Ignite is, just clicky here and have a read. But to summarise: It’s ace.
I was down to do a talk at the first Ignite, but just didn’t have a clue / time to prepare really, so offered to do this one instead. My first real public speaking experience (excluding Uni presentations etc etc!), so I was a smidgen nervous! An amazing turn out made it all the more nerve racking, but strangely, I love that!
If you’ve never been to an Ignite, then I really suggest you try and make it to the next one. Some really interesting talks. If you missed it, you’ll be screwed when the Zombies attack, be spending far to much on Wine, and have no idea where your Cat is. Intrigued?? You should of attended….!!
My talk was on Cardiff Twitter trends. A subject that, at first, worried me, because I thought it would be really dull to talk about (Stats, stats and more stats). Evidently, I think it went well. Of course, I think it went appallingly, but others beg to differ 
There is a video coming soon I think, but for now, there is a plethora of stats available here. It’s important to remember that these stats are in no way gospel, they are just an analysis of Cardiff Tweets over a period of time, extracting pre-defined terms that signal our emotions. Also, if you aren’t within a 10 mile radius of Bute Park and you don’t have your location set with Twitter, then you’re not in the stats
So that’s that, an evening with like-minded people, a good laugh, and some interesting talks. Ignite Cardiff is a definite must for anyone with an interest in the web, geeky things, social media / networking, or just a good night out
And I did that whole post without mentioning the copious amount of Alcohol that was provided free of charge for speakers and guests, because, although its an amazing perk, the event sells itself without that Special mention to Neil, Claire and anyone else who played a part in organising the event, really excellent
Roll on Ignite #3
Apr 6th
There’s been quiet a few stories about Twitter recently, regarding its status, ownership and the people that use it. So I thought I’d pipe up and share my views!
Firstly……I think its safe to say that, no matter who (if anyone) buys Twitter (Google, Facebook, Yahoo)…It will remain free, 140 character limited and as ace as it is. The user group is such a close knit niche that any huge changes will just drive people away, and I’m certain that anyone opting to buy the service will appreciate that. Of course, that’s not to say that it won’t get covered with adverts, or change its look and feel (again, I think this is unlikely), but fundamentally I feel that it will remain the same. Which is ace.
For me, Twitter has become a massive part of my online Social Networking. I’ve met new people, people with similar interests that I can discuss similar likes / dislikes with, and also people that I would never normally socialise with, who can offer a decent opinion to the things I tweet about. It’s safe to say, that without Twitter, I’d be a bit lost at times. It’s inspired me to create things that I wouldn’t have ever thought of creating (Shameless plug for http://www.tweetview.co.uk here!)
Maybe that’s a sad thing to say. But I’m sure those who use Twitter daily (probably without even thinking!) will agree, that as long as Twitter keeps its “charm”, then no matter who owns it, it will still remain an ace web app to keep us talking.
So that’s all I have to say on the matter. Twitter is ace. Fact. And no matter who buys it (if anyone), I’m sure (I hope!) they will have the intelligence to know when something is good and doesn’t need changing, and will find innovative and hassle free ways of making money from an already perfect service.
Done.
xx
The “New Facebook” – Worth the whinges?
Mar 18th
So it looks like the new Facebook is up and running for all users now. And, unsurprisingly, the haters come out of the wood work and speak up, demanding that it go back to how it was.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion. That’s human nature, if we didn’t have opinions then things would just be boring. I thought I’d put together my opinion of the “new Facebook” with comparisons to Twitter, seeing as that’s what everyone is talking about!
For me, Facebook (old or new) has been an amazing tool to keep in touch with friends, share my images and arrange events with the people I don’t often see. It is a Social Network in its purest terms, regardless of layout.
Twitter, however, is something I’ve only been using for 4 months, and its more of a tool as apposed to a network. Agreed, I have my followers and followees (Is that right!?, you know what I mean), which form my “network”, but I mainly use Twitter for sharing knowledge. It’s public domain, everyone can see my updates (unless they are private, of course), so personal things are pretty much a no go. OK, so this is just my opinion, but if I had to quickly sum the two up, it would be:
Facebook – The Ultimate Social Network
Twitter – A network of like-minded knowledge sharers.
I’ve noticed no end of people saying that Facebook is ripping off Twitter, and to be honest, I agreed to begin with. First impressions make it look like this is the case. But really, all Facebook have done is seen a working system, that has become hugely popular recently, and integrated it into their already popular system. In my opinion, that’s good thinking! Over time, I’m sure they will adapt this to become more unique.
So to those people, who are demanding that Facebook change back to how it was, please, give it time to grow on you! After all, we don’t pay for the joys of Facebook or Twitter. If we did, then it would be a completely different situation.
Current Vote on Facebook. Do you like the new layout?
22,690 Yes
304,022 No
Finally, seeing all the status updates saying “SAY NO TO NEW FACEBOOK” and other similar grumbles….it just makes me repeat what I say when I unfortunately catch “Points of View” on TV and have to listen to people moaning about what they watched on BBC 1 last night. . . . . . Just pick up the remote, and change channels! If you don’t like Facebook, just don’t use it. No one is forcing you, but I really think you’ll find yourself a little bit lost with out
Rant over now, I’ll blog something worth reading next time!!
x
Cardiff Twitterers
Feb 19th
So, for those of you who don’t yet know, the next Ignite Cardiff event is on the 8th April at the Sodabar. It should be a really good event, so if you’re around, its going to be well worth popping in for a bit!
I’ve (foolishly, maybe!) offered to do a talk, so even if your not in any way interested in the Web Scene or anything related, at least pop in and laugh at me (that’s a definite “at” me, and not “with” me!).
It’s OK offering to do a talk, but of course, you need something to talk about! So for the past couple of weeks now (and for the following weeks leading up to Ignite), I’ve been tracking Tweets from people within a ten mile radius of Cardiff (According to Wikipedia, the centre of Cardiff is slap bang in the middle of Bute Park, so its a 10m radius from there!). Basically, I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of tweeters we are. Whether that’s Happy, Sad, Moaning, Drunk, Over Worked or just chatting to each other a lot, I thought it would show some interesting, and hopefully amusing stats relative to the people who will be at Ignite.
Before any one worries…..I’m not keeping the tweets themselves, so there won’t be any examples of embarrassing drunken tweets about your boss, who may well be there!
I don’t want to reveal too much, but here’s a taster to the kind of things I’m noticing (If you’re interested in viewing the stats in detail, pop me a comment, I have graphs and everything, how exciting!)
Stats from Saturday 7th February to Wednesday 18th February 2009
- Top Twitterer: Sianz - An impressive 936 tweets so far, with a total word count of 11556. Ironically, 2nd place WalesOnline have tweeted 12825 words. Over 1000 more, but only a total of 563 tweets.
- Ville1955 really loves Dancing on Ice. Cardiff tweeters have used the trend 135 times, with Ville1955 using it a massive 98 times alone! (Along with the following Dancing on Ice related trends: #Ice, #Todd, #Ellery, #Ray)
- On average, we tweet over 50% of our Daily total during “Working hours”, making over half of us “Social Notworkers”
- Wmjohn is the happiest tweeter, with 124 of their 495 tweets containing smiles, or happy words.
- There are currently 1293 Twitter users being located within 10 miles of Cardiff. If only 30% of those users could come to Ignite, it would be amazing, and very full! Hint hint
Of course, these stats are just for fun.
If you’re interested in seeing the stats so far, or have any ideas of things that would be cool to track, then please let me know!
That’s all for now!