Who do you follow on Twitter?

My current favourites

LettersofNote – Random pieces of writing from history. (Spike Milligan once placed a small ad in Private Eye “Spike Milligan seeks rich, well insured widow. Intention: murder” He got 48 replies.)

RealTimeWWII – Real time reporting of the war, day by day, currently 1940 (Norway Campaign and the Katyn Massacre in Poland)

Twisst – They send you a message to tell you when the International Space Station is going to go over your location. Great for the kids “Look up! Its a spaceship!”

Lingscars – is, err, lings cars

GreatDismal – William Gibson – curator of the internet.

JackofKent – pointing out the absurdities of English Law

CrankPappy – odd, but in a nice way.

are all good in different ways.

Alan Hinkes
John prescott
various Sale sharks
Peta Todd (she is very funny)
Paul lewis
Daily Mash
Alpkit, BMC, Invo8,

Depressed Darth (He’s looking for love in Alderan places), Alexis Conran and Al Murray are quite funny a lot of the time too.

Apart from that, a load of infosec people, some other random feeds and Bruce Schneier.

Oh, and Rev. Run.

Lord God Almighty (godstweets).
A few off here.

He’s looking for love in Alderan places

hahaha!

Cav’s tweets are pretty good, and Chris Hoy’s when there’s a track event on – it gives you a feeling of being close to the competitors which I like.
Charlie Brooker can be v. funny and links to other funny stuff.
I often follow comedians for a bit and then switch them off as they can be funny for a while but then get a bit repetitive.

One or two from here.
One or two from the world of cycling.
Madrid Police. 😕

As well as others a few local roadies and some of the keener racers off here, keeps me motivated if I’ve seen someone’s been out and it’s lashing it down.

+ MTFU training tips obv.

Some bicycle riders, some bicycle riders that also like running and swimming.

The Special Guys leader.

He’s looking for love in Alderan places

Brilliant.

Peta Todd ( V V Funny + keeps you up to date when Cav is racing )

Lola Alabama

Curiosity Rover ( on it’s way to Mars )

Chopper Cyclist

+ asstd other cyclists and poker players

but the best of all is

Elizabeth Windsor ( @Queen_UK )

and on that note it’s Gin O’clock

Not sure why anyone would want to flow Piers Morgan… But I’m glad this guy did….. NOT WORK SAFE….

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/522881_10150803523451070_572976069_12180555_1241307482_n.jpg

…….10 mins later, just got the Vader joke…

Aside from all the obviousy cycling ones I like

TwopTwips
CatBinLady
PhilGibson01

The last is just a writer friend of mine, but he manages to be significantly funnier than the vast majority of the ‘comedians’ on there, I recommend him!

Jeremy Clarkson ? @jcrclarksonesq
Riley Steele ? @rileysteele
BiBi Jones ? @xxxBiBiJones
Kayden Kross ? @Kayden_Kross
Joe Rogan ? @joerogan
Michael Bisping ? @bisping
Forrest Griffin ? @ForrestGriffin
Dana White ? @danawhite
Hope Technology ? @Hopetech
Tony Doyle ( jedi ) ? @ukbikeskills
1 South West ? @1SouthWest
Gee Atherton ? @gee_atherton
Steve Peat ? @StevePeat
Eddie Izzard ? @eddieizzard
Jonathan Ross ? @wossy
Jenson Button ? @JensonButton

I know I’m massively behind the curve but how exactly does this work? Does your twitter inbox get pinged everytime someone you follow tweets or does it appear on your homepage thing for you to read when you next check?

Or does it do something entirely different?

Do you use Facebook? It’s just like the homepage of that, but just with status updates. So whenever you log in you get a list of tweets in chronological order. If someone tweets ‘at’ you or similar you get a message, if you’re using a smart phone these can be pushed to you.

lauged my ass off at that Piers Morgan one!

These people

njee20 – nope no Facebook either but thanks for the explanation, cleared it up.

I only ‘follow’ people IRL.

I only ‘follow’ people IRL.

You’re so awesome!

*follows schrickvr6*

BIGRINGRIDING
GusTheFox
OctoberJones

Along with various other cycling people at friends.

Awesome is my middle name.

*peeks through Jamies letterbox*

Genuinely don’t get Twitter. I mean, I completely understand the purpose, but I’m not interested in anyone enough to want to hang on their every word and be updated on each pronouncement they make.

Luddite? Probably. But I just can’t be bothered to invest any time at all in the world of celebs.

Genuinely don’t get Twitter. I mean, I completely understand the purpose, but I’m not interested in anyone enough to want to hang on their every word and be updated on each pronouncement they make.

Luddite? Probably. But I just can’t be bothered to invest any time at all in the world of celebs.

You say you understand it, but seem to think it’s a method of being drip fed celeb info. Which, like any other medium it can be, this isn’t the case for many.

For myself, it allows me to keep up to date with family and friends around the world, be able to get instant reaction to events, whether sports/news, find out info quicker etc etc

…for the record I am not on Facebook.

Genuinely don’t get Twitter. I mean, I completely understand the purpose, but I’m not interested in anyone enough to want to hang on their every word and be updated on each pronouncement they make.

Luddite? Probably. But I just can’t be bothered to invest any time at all in the world of celebs.

Thats what put me off but it isnt what it is all about honestly. I quite like following politics for example, so I follow all the Fleet St hacks and some of the bloggers like Guido, Conservative Home, Liberal Conspiracy and so on. They all post their own blog updates, retweet interesting stuff, it eventually starts to feel like a general “narrative” (straight to Pseuds Corner) that you dip in and out of. If you are say into science, or the arts you will build up a critical mass of the most interesting people to follow. Its good.

it has various purposes, it’s not just celebrity stalking.

it’s not just celebrity stalking.

Oh. 🙁

I have a quick look every few days, to be honest it makes me laugh, and that’s about it! I find the cycling insights good too, find out more about races and what not from the actual riders.

For myself, it allows me to keep up to date with family and friends around the world, be able to get instant reaction to events, whether sports/news, find out info quicker etc etc

That’s my point though – I don’t want or need to know those instant updates from sports people or news events, and if I do, I have a radio, TV, the BBC website…..things that I opt to use, and update myself on.

As for instant updates from friends and family, words fail me. Do I really need to know that my brother’s just fitted a shower? Do I really think that he’d tweet about it?

As a follower of F1, I want to see a balanced summary of a test session, rather than Lee Mackenzie tweeting “Lee McKenzie ? @LeeMcKenzieF1 Close
I work closely with @HorseCharity World Horse Welfare. Always very sad to hear horses dying in any equestrian genre.”

Brilliant. Thanks Lee. You like horses, but why the f*** do you feel the need to comment pointlessly on something that you have no professional interest in, nor can in any way impact. At least you managed to take up a few seconds of time to make yourself feel better though, and that’s the main thing, isn’t it? Just next time, keep it to yourself.

Does your twitter inbox get pinged everytime someone you follow tweets

You can set out columns in apps like Tweetdeck; I’ve got mine so that people I actually know are split out. I try to read all my friends’ output, but the rest just get skimmed.

I just can’t be bothered to invest any time at all in the world of celebs.

Real people use it too. It’s not really Heat Magazine for people with ADD, you know. It’s a nice way of keeping up with mates and sharing stuff on the web that you find interesting.

The “celebs” (for want of a better term) I follow are people who I find genuinely interesting to read or who I want to keep abreast on what they’re doing. Eg, one of the first celebs I followed was Robert Llewellyn, because that was where news about the new in-production Red Dwarf was first being announced. I also follow a handful of joke lists and suchlike; Viz are often entertaining, for instance. Following celebs isn’t a case of knowing when Justin Beiber last went for a poo, despite what you might think.

@Brooke secrets. plastic fantastic

That’s my point though – I don’t want or need to know those instant updates from sports people or news events, and if I do, I have a radio, TV, the BBC website…..things that I opt to use, and update myself on.

Don’t use it then. It’s not mandatory. You don’t like it, or don’t get it, fine.

Why are you reading this thread? That’s what I don’t get. If someone started a discussion thread about football(*) then I’d just ignore it. I wouldn’t jump on there going “I don’t get football, bunch of blokes kicking a ball around for 90 minutes, big whoop.” It’s not constructive, and it’s a waste of my time. Oddly, I’d rather talk about things I’m actually interested in.

(* – providing I can tell from the subject line what it’s about, anyway. That’s often not the case as some people just assume everyone else knows what they’re referring to from vague titles like “so, what about Manchester then”.)

As for instant updates from friends and family, words fail me. Do I really need to know that my brother’s just fitted a shower? Do I really think that he’d tweet about it?

I never said that. I said:

it allows me to keep up to date with family and friends around the world,

Jon pigeon.

Paul McCloskey
Manny Pacquiao
Jason Miller
Ring Magazine
Freddie Roach
Dana White
Miguel Cotto
Adam Booth
Kevin Bridges
Tensnake
The Revenge
Optim
Craig Brown
Creed Bratton
Rosie Jones
No Fuss
7 Stanes
Aaron Gwin
Andy McKenna
Chris Ball
Glencoe Mountain
Trail Scotland
Soma Records
Joey Barton
Greg Minaar
Brian Cox
NASA
Stephen Fry
Ed Norton
Jon Favreau
Simon Pegg
Jamie Oliver
Shaun Palmer
Vital MTB
MTB Cut
Singletrack
Gee Atherton
Ian Poulter
Alan Partridge
Rockshox
Anthill Films
Glenn Howerton
Kaitlin Olson
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Josh Bryceland
Barack Obama
Rob Warner
Danny Hart
Brendan Fairclough
Seth MacFarlane
Freeflow Bikes
Rory McIlroy
Rainn Wilson
Solardisco Records
Kell Brook
Ingle Gym
Adnan Amar
Adam Etches
Carl Froch
Ricky Hatton
Johnny Nelson
Steve Carell
Hannah Barnes
Rachel Atherton
David Price
Steve Peat
Tiger Woods
Not Big Sam Allardyce (best thing on Twitter by far)
MMA Gym Banter
Ted
Riddick Bowe
Lennox Lewis

Try The Big Sam if you like footy.

Why are you reading this thread? That’s what I don’t get. If someone started a discussion thread about football(*) then I’d just ignore it. I wouldn’t jump on there going “I don’t get football, bunch of blokes kicking a ball around for 90 minutes, big whoop.” It’s not constructive, and it’s a waste of my time. Oddly, I’d rather talk about things I’m actually interested in.

Perhaps I’d like to be convinced? After all, Twitter’s supposed to be a two-way thing, much as this forum is. As an outsider, I’m surprised at the huge number of re-tweets which seem to emanate from institutional sources, and which, at least to me seem to add little other than text.

Obviously I’ve taken things slightly off-topic. That happens on this forum. You clearly think I’m wrong to question the orthodoxy that Twitter’s a good thing, but I remain of the opinion that Boris Johnson tweeting “Good luck to all the Home Nations playing today!”, or Jeremy Clarkson tweeting “Four amazing goals from Chelsea. One was especially amazing” just doesn’t add to the sum of human knowledge. Alan Sugar’s pronouncement of “Have to sympathise with people who lost family or friends at hand of murderer Breivik to sit through court case and listen to his rubbish” is no more profound for having come from a businessman than it would be from a cabby, or my sister.

So I ask again, what is it about these pronouncements that makes them so worthwhile? Or are the Big Hitters to be avoided on the basis that they’re a waste of time?

Not Big Sam Allardyce (best thing on Twitter by far)

Try The Big Sam if you like footy.

This. Consistently makes me laugh.