ARTS & FARCES internet

Do you tweet from or about the Twin Cities? If so, consider joining TwinCitiesTwitter, a hyperlocal tweetstream for the Twin Cities—Minneapolis and Saint Paul—Minnesota USA.

Here’s how:

1. Send a Twitter @reply message to @mfraase requesting to be added.

Here’s an example from any Twitter client or your account on the Twitter website:

@mfraase Please add me to TwinCitiesTwitter. Thanks.

That’s it.

Once you’re added, everything you tweet will appear on TwinCitiesTwitter.

How this happened

Dave Winer and I have known each other for years, although I’m pretty sure we’ve never met in person. I’ve used his software from time to time for just about as long as I’ve been using a computer—starting with ThinkTank and just about everything else up to and including Radio; for about a year, this site ran on Winer’s Frontier software, which he graciously provided gratis. Today marks another milestone in that regard.

Last week Winer put together an aggregator for Berkeley-based tweets. Late last night he tweeted asking if he should apply for a Knight grant for his hyperlocal tweetstream. I was scrolling through last night’s tweets and responded that, yes, absolutely—I’d like one for the Twin Cities. Winer asked if I wanted to work together on it: If I got the people together he’d set up the system. I did and he did, and TwinCitiesTwitter launched about three hours later. As I tweeted shortly after the launch, Winer is a mad good hacker and coder and both the Berkeley and Twin Cities tweet aggregators are fine examples.

But both are community endeavors—this won’t work unless there’s a lot of individual participation. Get yourself added and get yourself heard. Tell others about it. I seeded the list to start with Twin Cities people and publications I follow and figured would want to participate. But it was just a start—there was nothing nefarious or even nontransparent behind the launch selections and no one’s been turned away who’s requested to be added. I’m uncomfortable adding anyone else who doesn’t request addition, but I’m open to alternative views about that. If you were added without a request and want to be removed, just let me know.

The power of Winer’s Twitter hack is irresistible. I’d like to see every Twin Cities neighborhood have its own hyperlocal tweetstream. On the other hand, I’d like to see each major issue of the day have its own aggregated tweetstream. The applications for what Winer has created are close to endless.

I wish this was up and running when the tornado recently hit downtown Minneapolis. I wish it was up when the State Fair opened in Saint Paul.

Got ideas? Let’s hear them; if you’re on TwinCitiesTwitter and you tweet them, we’ll all see them. New to Twitter? Rafe Needleman’s “Newbies guide to Twitter” is a good start.

Some suggestions

Please be patient. It may take a while to get you added—I don’t live in Twitter, I have a day job, my own 30-year-old business that acts like a 12-year-old, and a complicated life.

If you tweet about a lot of different things, consider creating a separate Twitter account for your geographically local tweets. Or better yet, tweet local more often.

Take this for what it is: an experiment; a quick hack. There’s nothing going on here other than what you see. Really.

Remember that everything you tweet—everything—gets automatically republished on TwinCitiesTwitter.

Update: Sunday 06 September 2009 09:33PM CDT: Edited how to get added section for clarity; added call for additional ideas and Twitter introduction. I’ll be updating, adding, and filling in blanks as necessary. A lot of the edits aren’t transparent because I believe usability/readability trumps transparency in this one instance. This isn’t the norm for articles on this site where edits and additions are transparent.

Update: Monday 02 November 2009 07:09AM CST: With the introduction of the Lists feature in Twitter, Twin Cities Twitter becomes, at best, redundant; at worst, obsolete. Accordingly, support and maintenance of Twin Cities Twitter is no longer provided. The account will probably be deleted in the near future. Thanks for your past support of the idea.