TWEET THIS!

As many of you know, social networking is the latest and most pervasive trend on the internet. From MySpace to Facebook to Twitter, social networking is the future of how we communicate and share our lives with each other. In our continuing effort to keep TDH modern and relevant as well as continuing to help our members strengthen their relationships with each other, we have added a feature that will allow you to integrate your Twitter account with your TDH profile so other members can learn more about you!

How do I add my Twitter account to my TDH profile?


Click on My Helmet in the Navigation Bar, then choose Edit Your Details from the left hand menu.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find a field under the Additional Information box to enter your Twitter account name.

Enter your Twitter account name and click "Save Changes."

Once you have done this your last 3 tweets from Twitter will show up in your user profile on the right hand side of the page!

If you post non-family friendly tweets on Twitter, we recommend you not link your Twitter account to TDH as we are a family friendly site!

Got mine linked in!

Possibly a silly question but... what is "twitter"?

Twitter is a social messaging utility. Some find it utterly pointless while others are consumed by it. It is like an abbreviated version of facebook where you post "tweets" about what you are doing or things that interest you. Many industry people are using it to post news and the latest info. A tweet can only be 140 characters long so your message is brief. Most people post a small header and a link to a longer message/article. For me it has been a very interesting way to keep up with trends in real time.

From my perspective, Myspace started this all, but it quickly became clogged and cumbersome. It was hard to look at a lot of people's pages due to all the clutter and junk. Then came facebook... much more refined and straight forward... but it too is becoming cluttered with crud and bloated. Twitter seems to be the next step towards keeping up with friends, associates, and interests without having to wade through a bunch of junk.

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Originally Posted by ART ANDREWS

Twitter is a social messaging utility. Some find it utterly pointless while others are consumed by it. It is like an abbreviated version of facebook where you post "tweets" about what you are doing or things that interest you. Many industry people are using it to post news and the latest info. A tweet can only be 140 characters long so your message is brief. Most people post a small header and a link to a longer message/article. For me it has been a very interesting way to keep up with trends in real time.

From my perspective, Myspace started this all, but it quickly became clogged and cumbersome. It was hard to look at a lot of people's pages due to all the clutter and junk. Then came facebook... much more refined and straight forward... but it too is becoming cluttered with crud and bloated. Twitter seems to be the next step towards keeping up with friends, associates, and interests without having to wade through a bunch of junk.

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Translation: Another silly fad that college kids think is cool until everyone else uses it, then something new comes out. ;)

Thanks for the info Art. I appreciate your candor too.

Seeing as I'm already using the basic features of Facebook ( and I agree with you that it is indeed becoming too cluttered ) for keeping in touch with friends both old and new, I really don't see the necessity to switch and/or add a new application/site that I'll have to maintain. I'm already finding it difficult to sit down in front of my home computer to slog through my many e-mails and notices... I've got my family and projects that take up the majority of my free time as it is.

In a nut shell... I just don't seem to be able to make the time to keep myself "up-to-date" with modern technology.

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Originally Posted by Shinobi_Fett

Translation: Another silly fad that college kids think is cool until everyone else uses it, then something new comes out. ;)

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Interesting take, but I think you will find that Twitter is being used quite a bit by both industry, news, and a ton of online businesses. I believe that this type of technology (not Twitter specifically) is not only the way we will stay in touch with friends, but is also how we will get our news and other information in a much more quick, short and "live" manner. I would definitely disagree that Twitter is a "fad for college kids." While no one knows how long it will last, it is more of a online trend towards getting information quickly and succinctly.

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Originally Posted by Jango72

Thanks for the info Art. I appreciate your candor too.

Seeing as I'm already using the basic features of Facebook ( and I agree with you that it is indeed becoming too cluttered ) for keeping in touch with friends both old and new, I really don't see the necessity to switch and/or add a new application/site that I'll have to maintain. I'm already finding it difficult to sit down in front of my home computer to slog through my many e-mails and notices... I've got my family and projects that take up the majority of my free time as it is.

In a nut shell... I just don't seem to be able to make the time to keep myself "up-to-date" with modern technology.

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Not to be a nerd but "so say we all." As technology allows for faster communication and the ability to get "news" out (whether it is about yourself, your website, your company, or actual news), it is becoming a bit more difficult to keep up with! I feel that we, as a society, are going through some serious growing pains as we try to keep up with ourselves and the technological innovations we have created. I think the 30-40 crowd is the generation being hardest hit because we are the "tween" generation. We remember card catalogs and having to check out actual BOOKS at a library. We know what an encyclopedia looks like. But we also are savy enough to use a computer and the emerging technologies, but they are coming so fast that it is becoming a bit hard for us to keep up. I think the next generation (late teens, early twenties) will blow us out of the water in the next few years with what will come as these technologies are redefined and consolodated into more usable, and applicable formats. We certainyl live in exciting times.

In regard to keeping up with multiple communications tools, I have always looked for ways to combine my ability to communicate, such as using Trillian to combine AIM, MSN, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger. For now, I am using a free prog called "Tweetdeck" which automatically informs me of new posts to both Twitter and Facebook and allows me to simultaneously make a post to both Twitter and Facebook at the same time. I have all but abandoned MySpace at this point as I feel it is just too clunky and unusable.

Yeah, I know my post was crabby.. like the old guy shouting "you kids get off my lawn" I'm the same age as you Art, and I was that kid clipping the lawn corner with my bike. :lol It seems that the technology is catering more and more to the ADD style information "tidbits" instead of full content. These "social" tools also tend to keep people farther and farther apart. I'm a total techie kind of guy too, I'm just personally skeptical of "bandwagons" :D I have nothing against any of the stuff really, in fact my wife is a FB junkie herself!

You couldn't be more right. There is a LOT of research going on right now about the "ADD" kind of mentality that new technologies are more or less forcing upon us. When I was young (man, do I HATE saying that) I would curl up with a 1000 page book for HOURS!!!! Now, I can barely get through an online article if it is more than 5 paragraphs! It is fascinating but also frightening of how little we care about anything with depth anymore... we just want it fast and condensed. The whole "give me the abbreviate version" is rapidly becoming the only version available!

Perhaps it is my paranoia of getting to be an old codger that is causing me to push so hard to keep up with these trends... I dunno. I never have to worry about lawn though! Out here... there is nothing but dirt and rocks! Keep off my rocks you darn whipper-snappers!

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Originally Posted by ART ANDREWS

Keep off my rocks you darn whipper-snappers!

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hahahaa! That's awesome! Well, I got a lawn and two kids now, and I hear you about the "when I was young" phrase... :cry ah, what can you do? Time marches on, as they say.

You guys are both making me feel old!

I'm married, have two kids aged 3 and 6, and I am constantly fighting the urge to tell neighbourhood kids to "keep off my lawn"... to date I've been fairly successful, as the kids thus far have been mine! ;)

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Originally Posted by Shinobi_Fett

Translation: Another silly fad that college kids think is cool until everyone else uses it, then something new comes out. ;)

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Ha ha. My thoughts exactly - and I've been around since Minitel.

We now have our own account on Twitter! If you have a Twitter account, please feel free to follow us!

http://twitter.com/TheDentedHelmet

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Originally Posted by Jango72

I am constantly fighting the urge to tell neighbourhood kids to "keep off my lawn"... to date I've been fairly successful, as the kids thus far have been mine! ;)

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Ha ha! sometimes I feel like yelling "keep off my lawn" to my OWN kids! :p

I know what you mean Art, My wife is a teacher, and has a masters in early childhood education. Many times ADD is either undiagnosed, by parents that are in denial that their kids have problem that need to be addressed, or mis-diagnosed as in the case of high-stung kids that their parents just plain have the inability to handle.

erm... to return to topic. I still don't like twitter... :lol

EMBRACE THE TWEET! :lol Actually, services like Twitter won't be for everyone, but I am convinced it will be services like Twitter that will be the future of communication and a modified version of these services may one day take the place of more traditional forums like TDH.

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may one day take the place of more traditional forums like TDH.

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Sweet mother of god, I hope not! :lol I'm not overly familiar with twitter in all honesty, but I'm not a big fan of "dumbed down and condensed" for cell phone viewing.

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Originally Posted by Shinobi_Fett

Sweet mother of god, I hope not! :lol I'm not overly familiar with twitter in all honesty, but I'm not a big fan of "dumbed down and condensed" for cell phone viewing.

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:lol:lol:lol

The sad thing is... it is virtually inevitable. With Cell phone subscriptions passing the 4 BILLION mark at the end of 2008, it is almost inevitable that more markets will begin pandering to this massive group.

You guys are ALL making me feel VERY old... :lol Heck... I just got used to Facebook... now there's Twitter too... I can't take this change anymore... ;) :lol

once upon a time i was railing against web forums... i didn't see why we needed to move away from my text based email lists i had been on.

then suddenly web boards became all the rage. a few years later, the number of majordomo type mailing lists i'm on has fallen to... oh... zero.

even now, i see people chatting more through facebook and less through the various boards. rather than a "hey how you doing?" pm you get a facebook message.

i think art is right on the money that this type of communication is evolving, and that a few years from now, no-one will be using boards like this.

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Originally Posted by ART ANDREWS

it is almost inevitable that more markets will begin pandering to this massive group.

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Well... I work on advertising for the largest cellular provider in the country... :doh I see them try and hawk the "Mobile Guitar Hero" atrocious!

Don;t get me wrong STG, I'm a technology buff too, and the evolution of digital communication has been great. I'd just not like to see it de-evolve...

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Originally Posted by Shinobi_Fett

I'd just not like to see it de-evolve...

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Well... this is still an EMERGING technology, still in its infancy... so there are bound to be some steps back... but when you look at the capabilities of mobile devices like the iPhone and the Pre, you can't help but see a MAJOR step forward. Software and users now need to catch up to the hardware advances and capabilities. Like Brian said, I truly believe in the next 3-5 years, forums will be a thing of the past and those who try to hold on to things like them and don't accept and evolve, will be left behind. I, of course can't predict exactly how it will happen or what will be the next major advancing step, but you can be assured, it is coming and I believe social networking will play a major role.