Cathy Edwards interview on Twitter

GG: When did you discover Twitter?

CE: I’ve known about Twitter for a while, but actually got into it when I was at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology conference in March. Everyone I met was going crazy about it, so I figured it was worth playing around with.

GG: What do you like about Tweets?

CE: A couple of things: 1) Subscription news and information feeds. I use Twitter much like RSS – I subscribe to Techmeme, Mashable, SBS, The Age, etc. Because the news updates get SMSed to my phone, I usually know about things the moment they happen. 2) It enables what has become known as “ambient intimacy”. Basically it’s like being in a big room with lots of people. You might not have anything important enough to say to anyone initially to go up and start a conversation, but by being in the room with them you learn what they’re interested in and what they do. It’s not a replacement for person-to-person communication – it augments it.

GG. What Twitter functions do you use in Oz, especially as we don;t have the phone setup yet like they do in North America or the UK?

CE: I mainly use the webpage and SMS updates, although I use Twitteriffic on my Mac at home and there’s a fabulous Firefox extension that helps you manage your friends lists – you can get it at http://captsolo.net/info/blog_a.php/2007/04/12/twitter_toolbox

GG: Why do you think it;s fun to meet a bunch of people who Tweet and wanna make it real time and social?

CE: I mainly see the Twitter meet-up as a networking event. The people using Twitter are typically tech early adopters or work in the tech community, and those are the sort of people that I find it useful to know. Hopefully it’ll also be fun and I’ll meet some great people 🙂 Thanks also to Ben Barren and Andrew Pascoe for being my co-organisers.

GG: Where do you see this heading and what;s the best way you have seen Twitter used by someone?

CE: I would like this to evolve into one of the regular events which underpins a vibrant tech community in Melbourne. I’d like it to be a place where tech enterprise can network with small start-ups, where VCs and potential future start-ups can meet, and where people can debate and discuss ideas. It would be very cool if we could move it towards a DemoCamp model, similar to what they have in Toronto, but I’m starting small 😉

The best use of Twitter I’ve seen is when people use it as a human powered search/recommendation tool. People ask questions like “which software should I use to do X?”, or “Where can I find good coffee?”, and they get great answers back from their Twitter followers. Very cool. Also check out Twitter time ( twitter.com/timer/) which is a bot which can can program to send you a tweet to remind you to do stuff.

Cathy Edwards is co-organiser of the first MelbTwitUngrdBrigade (MTUB) meeting being held at the HooHaa Bar, 105 Chapel St, Windsor, Melbourne, Australia. Friday, June 15th, 2007 From 5.30/6pm…

Don’t know what Twitter is, then go here!