I am a professional blogger. This means I am pretty tuned into the Internet and what’s happening. Social media and the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon are second nature to me. It is the same for other bloggers. But, those of us who are familiar with all this stuff make up a small percentage of the Internet. In fact, most of my readers here on PCMech (yes, that means YOU) are probably not very in tune with social media. Continued

Have you heard of Twitter? Are you on Twitter?

The opinions on Twitter vary a lot. And the reactions I get range from “What is it?” to “It is frickin’ awesome!”

I do use Twitter and today I just wanted to take a moment to ask you to follow me on Twitter. My reason is below.

For those in the dark on it, here are some links to articles I’ve done on PCMech about Twitter:

• What is Twitter?
• 25 Twitter Clients To Choose From

If you do not have an account, you can get one for free. Then, I recommend you get a Twitter client because it does help you get the most out of Twitter with minimal hassle. All of it is free, but it will help you get plugged into the world of social media.

OK, so here I am on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/davidrisley

Now, why follow me?

Twitter is a direct way to be in contact with me. Not everything I say on Twitter is business-related. Sometimes you’ll see me having conversations with others on Twitter. Also, I will be making announcements regarding PCMech.com on Twitter. So, you will have to follow me to get those updates (unless you want to wait to get them through other means).

I’m also going to try to have some fun with you guys - just over Twitter. I may even select a weekly featured Twitter follower and highlight you guys to my other followers.

Trust me, for some of the future things I will do around PCMech, there will be reasons to be in touch with me on Twitter.

But, let’s make this more interesting. I want to be able to more easily communicate with my readers, so I have an interest in asking you to follow me on Twitter. So, what I’m going to do is give away a FREE YEAR of access to PCMech University (http://www.pcmechuniversity.com). The way this is going to work is that you have to follow me on Twitter. I will then pick one random follower on Twitter and I will direct message that person over Twitter. If they respond, we’ll get in touch via email and I will set you up with a free membership.

BTW, I will follow you back that way I can also see what you guys are saying. This is all a big conversation and I’d love to have you onboard.

All you have to do is get a free Twitter account (if you don’t have one yet), then go to www.twitter.com/davidrisley and hit the “Follow” button. That is all. Then, you’ll want to get involved with Twitter and start using it.

See ya on Twitter. Have a good evening.

On the vast majority of web services that offer free screen names it is expressly forbidden to sell your name to someone else.

Why? It’s mainly to offset screen names turning into property that the providers can’t control, i.e. it would turn into a huge big frickin’ mess. Trust me, there are very good reasons why screen names are forbidden from sale.

Andrew Baron has evidently decided it’s a-okay to sell his Twitter screen name. It’s on eBay right now and has a current bid of over $1,000 at the time of this writing.

Is this correct?

No, it isn’t.

However, due to a possible loophole in the TOS (Terms of Service) for Twitter, Baron can most likely get away with this.

The reason this is so disgusting is because Baron is basically selling off not only his Twitter account but also all the “followers” on it as well. And I don’t really think they necessarily appreciate that.

This is wrong in so many ways. You don’t sell a community or even so much as a piece of it, be it large or small. That would be like PCMech selling it’s entire forum to someone else without any consideration of the users at all.

[Source: /Message]

Ever heard of Twitter? If you’re a blogger or somebody in tune with social media, you probably have. If you’re one of PCMech’s computer-focused readers, then your answer probably lies somewhere between “No” and “Yeah, but it sounds stupid as hell”.

Granted, Twitter will probably seem like a colossal waste of time to most users of the Internet. After all, something that is based on the question “What are you doing?” just BEGS for answers like “Sitting here having a pizza”. And, quite frankly, who needs to know?

But, I count myself as a user of Twitter. I’m not a die-hard user, but I do use it. My reasoning?

Continued