Tris Hussey's Lifestream

These days if you aren’t using social media, you’re doing something wrong. Don’t believe me, here is a list of companies using Twitter. The great thing is you don’t have to have deep pockets like Starbucks, Coca Cola or American Airlines to successfully use Twitter. Up until a few months ago, it was enough to just be on Twitter. These days you need to know how your going to use it before entering the fray. To ensure you see a return on your efforts and that you get the most out of your energy,  we recommend following these 10 tips for taking your business into the Twittersphere, and pretty soon you’ll find yourself on lists like this.

The December holiday lull might just be the perfect time for you to experiment on twitter. If not for your company, for yourself.
What would you like to do on Twitter that you haven't tried yet?

The big problem with Twitter is asyncronous following without limitations on the number of connections, which means that a single account can theoretically have a number of followers limited only by the total number of Twitter users. This adds massive complexity to the system. Other services solve the problem by forcing both sides to agree to friendship, a one-to-one relationship. Others, like Facebook, limit the connections to 5,000 as well. But Twitter has no limits on complexity. And since they are a centralized, bottlenecked system, it is both hard to scale and easy to attack.

The short messaging format is popular, and it is now part of the web. It should thus be designed and implemented as a decentralized service like most other core web services (email, DNS, blogging etc.). The Internet was built to withstand a nuclear attack, and it is a platform that can’t be owned, attempting to completely centralize a new core service has never worked.

As Twitter grows, it needs to be architected more like the Internet.

I know I've been saying the same thing for months now. Maybe with attention from TC that maybe, just maybe something might come of it.

Shel Israel and I have known each other since 2005, when he interviewed me for his seminal book on blogging, "Naked Conversations", that he co-authored with Robert Scoble. Since then he's been running around, writing books and consulting with large companies on all things to do with social media. His second book, "Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods" is launching September 3rd. As he and I have the same publisher, they sent me an advance copy to read, which I was really impressed with. I asked him ten questions, and he kindly agreed to answer them below.

Can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book. Good thing Shel will be here in Vancouver shortly.