Facebook: For yoof. And wrinklies
Everybody knows that social networking is popular with the younger set. But every generalisation has its exceptions — meet Ivy Bean, 102 years old:
Ivy Bean is a great-grandmother with a difference. At 102 years old she has joined the social networking revolution and become the oldest person on Facebook.
The former mill worker, who was born in Bradford in 1905, showed an interest in the website, after hearing care workers at her home talk about the phenomenon.
… The world has changed radically during Ivy’s lifetime. When she was born … telegrams were the fastest way of communicating and a national telephone network was still seven years away. Ivy would have to wait 46 years until the first computer was invented.
… Care home manager Pat Wright said: ‘We try to keep all our residents independent by letting them use the computer.’
[Via : Meet Ivy Bean - the world's oldest Facebooker aged 102 | Mail Online.]
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August 24, 2008 No Comments
Twitter for Health
Nedra Weinreich has a highly detailed post about the utility of Twitter, and how she scoffed before she actually explored it:
When I first read about Twitter last year, I scoffed. Who cares what other people are doing, thinking or eating every waking moment of the day? …
While I was on my blogging hiatus … I decided to try out Twitter on a short-term basis to see if I thought it was worthwhile. After a few days of using it, I was hooked. I found that Twitter was a great way to have ongoing conversations and build relationships with colleagues, get quick answers to questions and get pointers to useful links.
[Via : Spare Change: Twitter for Health.]
She goes on to list many, many practical possibilities for Twitter, such as:
- Providing information and tips - ex: eDiets, womenshealth, Health News
- Providing motivational support - ex: Qwitter (smoking cessation), Twitter PT Challenge (fitness)
- Early warning systems - ex: Morbus (pandemics), trouble alerts
Nedra also carefully examines benefits and limitations.
Twitter is one of those things where you have to try it out (with some friends or colleagues) before you actually ‘get’ it. Once people do ‘get’ it though, they see how useful it could be.
One of the best things about Twitter is that you have only 140 characters to convey your message. That makes messages short, sharp and to the point, as well as quick to read.
Twitter works best with a standalone client — ie a piece of software that handles tweets separately. If you have to go and look at a web page to read tweets it just all seems pointless.
As a Mac user I can say that Twitterific is superb. Windows and Linux users should check out the Twitter fan wiki to locate good software.
This post suggested by Ted Zorn.
May 28, 2008 1 Comment
