Tweetgrid for Tucson
April 27, 2009
Post Tags: Arizona-Daily-Star , tweetgrid , twitter , twitterlocal
Click to see the larger tweetgrid
It was sometime Friday evening I found a reference to tweetgrid.com in my twitter stream. Yes, I’m on Twitter and have been for some time now. But I’m not a prolific “tweeter”.
It seems twitter is “In the News” a lot these day with names like Oprah, Krutchner and Degeneres popping up in the media in the same sentence as Twitter. I saw two article in the Arizona Daily Star on it this weekend and almost every tech and marketing conference going on in the world will have at least one session on using Twitter in your business plan.
However, I’m finding using Twitter is a good way to find out what is going on in and around Tucson. I’m also connecting with more people (yes, even in just a few days) through tweetgrid.
Twitter Local
There are a lot of tools you can use to find people on Twitter. Twitter Local is one. It is different from Tweetgrid in this respect; Twitter Local is based on where people on Twitter say they are located. You select the distance from the town or location and all the tweets from people in that area appear in Twitter Local. Twitter Local is also an application you download and run from your desktop. Tweetgrid is a website you bring up in your browser. Tweetgrid is based on a search term not a locality. The only way you would see the same content in each is when someone in Tucson puts the world Tucson in their tweet.
Tweetgrid.com
I’m using a two up grid(as in the image above) with Tucson in one window and Oro Valley in the other. This means anytime the words Tucson appears in a tweet it comes up in the window, I don’t have to refresh it does it automatically. I use the firefox browser but any browser that has tabs works great. I open the tweetgrid, pick the two up, enter my two search terms and immediately information on and about Tucson is popping on my screen.
I learn about what is for sale, what events are going on around Tucson, how much people hate the heat, etc. Who is flying in and out of Tucson gets a lot of traffic.
I’ve also met some interesting people by seeing what is being said about Tucson. I helped introduce someone to Zin Burger the other night when they were looking for a place to eat in the Campbell River area. I’ve started following (this is not like stalking) others on Twitter to see their updates and I know there are some who are beginning to hold and plan “Tweetup” meetings where Twitter users get together to talk.
Finding out what it going on in Tucson and what is being said about Tucson will be easier if you browse Tweetgrid and search on Tucson. Maybe we can follow each other someday. I’m the guy in the red shirt.
