Sep
10
Interbike 2008 News & Updates Via Twitter
By Rich Kelly, Filed Under Attendee News, Blogging, Events, Exhibitor News, Interbike
So, do you Twitter?
Without going too deep into an explanation of the Twitter concept, it’s basically like a group instant messaging system. Once you have your Twitter account set up, you select the people whose posts (“Tweets”) you chose to follow. Others will do the same and some will even choose to follow your stream of tweets. Each time you post in the system, each of your “followers” will receive it in their Twitter home page. Likewise, your home page will show all the posts from the people you have chosen to follow. Simple, no?
Twitter suggests that you answer the question “What are you doing?” as the topic of your tweets, but as long as it fits within the 140 character limit that they impose on each posting, anything goes. One of the basic ideas of Twitter’s micro-blogging platform is to give people a better insight into your day to day life – things that may not appear in a more profound blog posting. (You do blog, don’t you?) Take a look at Common Craft’s “Twitter in Plain English” for a simple overview of Twitter.
Twitter is another in the line of social media technologies that provide a way for people to connect and stay in touch with what others are up to. That last item is where this post comes into play. I’m not here to evangelize Twitter, but it has allowed us to do something that we’ve tried to set up in the past through cell phone text messaging: For 2008, we will be using Twitter to send out Interbike 2008 event reminders, updates and news throughout the show. The reason we’re using Twitter? 1. It’s free for you and us, 2. you can sign up to receive tweets on your cell phone, 3. you won’t be giving us your cell phone number and 4. it’s fun.
Here’s the plan. We have set up a Twitter account called Interbike2008. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, go create one for free. Once you’re set up, search for “interbike2008″ or visit twitter.com/interbike2008 and click on the “Follow” button. That’s it. Oh, you can also set up your account to work with your cell phone so that you can receive tweets on your phone via SMS text messages. If you have an iPhone, you can just access it through Safari or any of the new Twitter apps that are out there. As a matter of fact, you really don’t even need to sign up for an account to read the updates.
For those of you that I Twitter with already under the “Interbike” username, why create a new separate account? Well, after talking it over with fellow Twitterer David from our PR firm, we felt it would be useful to keep the current voice of Interbike as me. For updates and news, that will come from the new account.
I’m really looking forward to participating in and reading the conversations that will go on during the show and I’ll use my current account to do that. I saw a few of these exchanges at our recent Outdoor Retailer show and we should see much more from the more connected and early-adopting bike industry. Twitter has become a very popular way for show attendees to communicate onsite at events in the tech industry. If enough of you choose to sign up for this, we might actually even end up with a nice little community online that will all be in touch post show, as well. Good for the industry, right?
Who else from the industry is on Twitter? You can take a look at the list of people I’m following on my Twitter page for a small idea. I’ve tried to limit the accounts that I follow to those related to the bike industry in some way. You’ll recognize a bunch of familiar names and logos there. VeloNews tweets news items. Pro teams Slipstream, Rock Racing and Type 1 post race updates. Jonathan Vaughters was even twittering from the team car at the Tour this summer. Obviously, the industry’s vibrant blogging community is active online. Talk of Lance’s comeback has been the topic of many posts over the last couple of days.
Give it a try – at the very least you’ll be able to stay on top of the events that are going on and know about any changes or updates during the show – whether you’re in Vegas or not.
Comments
4 Responses to “Interbike 2008 News & Updates Via Twitter”
i have been meaning to sign up for Twitter, Rich. thanks for taking the time to explain it and set up Interbike2008. it sounds very helpful and a good way to keep industry people connected. thanks for 2 great social media articles….all good information worth sharing.
thanks,
eric
Ooh, we’re “vibrant”
THanks for getting that Interbike2008 account setup — I intend to use it so I don’t forget so much stuff! See you in a week and a few days.
Fritz – you sound like Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web. Will you be ‘radiant’ and ‘humble’ next?
See you in Vegas
I’m looking forward to see all the Interbike 2008 events and special guests.
Where is the roller race event going to be held this year??