SCPA & SBSA Discussion Board

So, most days I'm heading to Parma I tweet so that others can join me. I just looked at who's following me and realized that very few local pilots are getting my messages.

Twitter is pretty useful for that sort of thing. I had an awesome day at Wilcox thanks to Parma Chris' report that it was on.

It's free. you can just check online, or have it send a text to your phone like I do. Tweets are limited to 160 characters so they won't be long messages. You choose who you receive tweets from by who you follow (and you can set only certain peoples tweets to go to your phone. I maybe get 4 tweets a week, but they're usually worth knowing about.

Select to Follow: flyingzippy

Hook it up!
Zippy

I will also try and start using it more often to let everyone know when I'm heading up. If you want to follow, add me through zippy's or @flyjunky

I'm following ya Zippy, just so I know what I'm missing!

Hello Tweople,

WHAT IS TWITTER? http://twitter.com/

Twitter, IF used properly would be just like a text radio. But unlike a radio, if some one is keying or talking to much you can just block them from coming to your phone. SO, if you twitt something like; “mmm having a nice cup of coffee” or “ I’m dreaming of going flying” then the first thing I do when I read that twitt on my phone is to simple block your twits from coming to my phone. So, just because you follow someone does not mean that you have to allow their twits to go to your phone.

TIPS;

If you think you want to follow someone, before you click the little icon that says you want their twits to go to your phone, look at what they have been twitting about and how often, If you see they are twitting stuff like… “Hmm have a tuff time sleeping” and its 1:00 am, well no offense but I don’t care to know that so I would not allow your twits to go to my phone. (and I probably would not even follow you on your web page) If you go to my account you will see I follow Ashton Kutcher only for the reason he posts some funny and cool stuff IF and when I’m bored and want to surf the web I look at the webpage of twitter, But his twits never get to my phone.

NOTE: If your one of those not so techy types, you can always have a teenager set up your twitter account for you. In Fact, I started an account on twitter so I could get weather tips from John Scott who was twitting great weather tips. I hope they return.


GOOD TWITS;

-WILCOX IS ON NOW
- WEATHER LOOKS AWSOME, I’m meeting at east beach 9:30 then parma 10:00 if anyone wants to carpool.

POOR TWITTS:
“Dreaming about going flying”
“About to go to the store”
“im going to mow the lawn now”
“I have to go take a dump” ….

Ok, I think you get the picture.

I'm Parma_Chris on twitter but i block who can join to keep the marketeers out of my twitter page.
please send request to Parma_Chris

----
If you need help setting up your phone you can read this. http://help.twitter.com/forums/59008-us ... er-via-web

I am now %51 percent convinced... Thanks for the great info.

I signed up last year for the purpose of being part of a flying network. I stopped using it because there were too many "Poor Twits" as pointed out by Chris and also because I always seemed to have to log in. It just didn't seem worth the hassle. The other problem is the limited words that can be written for each tweet.

I'm thinking that a better idea might be to use Facebook instead. Not only can you do the quick info updates, but you can also, of course, post pictures and videos from your flights -- or if you have some thoughts on the conditions, Skew-T charts or other nice graphs. As a matter of fact I'll start a group called SoCalXC right now (Done). Look for it and become a "fan."

John

Chris, thanks for the comment. I'll start posting there a bit more.

I actually started one called "Santa barbara paragliding" and have 46 fans so far. I would be more than happy to change the name and give any pg or hg admin access. The problem with fb is that you have to get deep in the settings to get something specific to your phone. Twitter would probably be the easier solution.

Facebook is blocked on work, so I use Twitter, nickname SkyDizzy
Southside, you are probably the most valuable Twitter with your forecast, so please continue

I think it would be very helpful if the vans tweeted their intentions whenever they are headed up to Alternator or Skyport. We can tweet when we plan to fly Ojai or Pine. Will Eagle and Fly Above All post who to follow and make that happen?

omg, finally dragged into social networking?... *sighs*
no but seriously; following everything about "someone" is not really my gig, but if it were only pg flying meet times i'd follow. i appreciate that almost everyday faa and eagle post what the vans are doing on their websites.