[nabs-l] Need More Of You On Twitter - Washington Seminar Resources

[Jamie Principato]

Just as a side-note to the fantastic wealth of information in Mika's
original e-mail, if you want a more convenient, accessible, and ultimately
very enjoyable way of using Twitter, you can download a twitter client
called Qwitter that will allow you to post messages to twitter and read your
tweets from anywhere on your computer. No windows to navigate to, no website
to mess around with. You just do everything you'd normally need to go to the
website for from anywhere, inside any program, with a few simple,
easy-to-learn keystrokes. Qwitter interfaces with your screen reader, and if
you don't have a screen reader (or if it crashes or something) it will
automatically start using SAPI. It's really a great program, and it makes
tweeting a lot less of a hassle and a lot more fun, and pretty soon you'll
be able to access Facebook and Solona (a captcha solver) via Qwitter as
well.

If you want to check it out, you can find details and the download at
Qwitter-client.net

So go get Qwitter, and start using Twitter!

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 5:33 PM, Mika Pyyhkala <pyyhkala at gmail.com> wrote:

> Good Afternoon,
>
> This message is being sent to both the national and Massachusetts student
> lists.
>
> First, we need a lot more of you to join the Twitter social networking
> service.  This can be done at:
> http://twitter.com/signup
>
> The reason we need a lot more of us on Twitter, among other things, is
> so that when someone is trying to advocate that a company or
> organization increase accessibility or otherwise end a discriminatory
> practice, that we have large numbers of people expressing support for
> that.  This is often done by each person sending, what they call in
> Twitter lingo, an at reply to the organization.  It essentially means
> you are sending a somewhat public message to the organization.  Its
> also important that we create buzz on the internet about our upcoming
> Washington seminar events.
>
> I wanted to also bring to your attention a number of Twitter resources
> relating to the 2010 Washington Seminar and related weekend events
> that have recently been created.
>
> A hashtag of
> #NFBWS10
> has been set up for the event.  A hashtag is simply a way of
> categorizing mesages regarding a topic.  You enter the above hashtag
> in your Twitter post or tweet, and then someone can search on that
> hashtag to get more information and related posts or tweets about
> whatever it is the tag is about.  Anyone can read these so tagged
> tweets or posts at the web page:
> http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23nfbws10
>
> For example you might tweet:
> "Making last minute appointments for California's #nfbws10 legislative
> meetings."
>
> In the above example on the Twitter service someone can click on the
> #NFBWS10
> which would appear in the system as a link and find related posts.
> You might think that some posts like the above are mundane and boring,
> and maybe on some level they might be, but they show internet buzz and
> chatter is building about the event.  They also connect people who may
> be going to the event or who may be reading about it for the first
> time.
>
> Many of our representatives in Congress are also on Twitter, and we
> can create tweets or posts linking their Twitter accounts to ours when
> we meet with them to highlight our legislative issues.  Also many of
> the organizations that will address the NABS conference on Sunday are
> on Twitter, and this is a quick way to ask them questions, give them
> feedback, etc.
>
> The NFB of Massachusetts has also set up a Twitter list (lists are a
> new feature in Twitter) for those attending the event.  The list is
> located at
> http://twitter.com/nfbma/nfbws10
> Someone can go to this web page and both see who will be attending, as
> well as read the posts (tweets) of the attendees.  Note that when
> accessing the list, people will see all Tweets not just those with the
> hashtag.  The list could also be used for networking or other efforts.
>
> Finally I've set up a shortened URL that points directly at the NFB
> 2010 Washington Seminar official web page agenda:
> http://bit.ly/nfbws10
> (note the above is all in lower case and unlike most of the other
> resources noted in this message it is case sensitive, again all lower
> case)
> This provides a short web page address that you can easily remember,
> and give to people who may need to access fact sheets, or the agenda.
> You may also want to put this short web address in some of your
> Twitter posts or tweets.
>
> NABS has a Twitter page which you can read and follow at:
> http://twitter.com/nabslink
>
> In conclusion, the most important thing you can do is begin
> participating in these social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in
> order to move our agenda forward, as well as educate your own networks
> of contacts about what we are doing.  On top of that, you may well
> find other interesting uses for these web sites.  Once you join the
> sites, you will pick up jargon like hashtags, trending topics, at
> replys, status updates, and soon be an expert in such things.  Email
> while still widely used is ever so gradually (depending on what group
> we are talking about) being replaced by communication in more
> collaborative social networking services that essentially permit a 1
> to many conversation and interaction.  In some newer conferences, for
> example, tweets are used to solicit questions from the audience, and
> also to give the event a sort of presence on the internet.
>
> Thanks to those of you who who have already gotten involved in
> creating buzz about Washington Seminar on Twitter and other social
> networks.  I look forward to seeing many of you this weekend, and
> remember its still really not too late to make plans to attend if you
> find you are able to do so at the last minute.
>
> The weekend is a fun event like a mid year convention, and of course
> you can experience all Washington DC has to offer while visiting.
>
> Best,
> Mika Pyyhkala
> President
> National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts
> pyyhkala at gmail.com
> http://twitter.com/pyyhkala
> http://twitter.com/nfbma
> http://twitter.com/nfb_voice
> http://twitter.com/nabslink
>
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