Fun Things #2 - Discovering a New Community (Part 2 - Twitter was Fun While it Lasted)

Once I listened to several SQPN podcasts (e.g. Daily Breakfast, Rosary Army, ipadre, Saintcast, Technopriest), I discovered the "SQPN groupies" A.K.A. the dedicated fans of SQPN podcasters. A whole community of podcast listeners from every continent of the world communicates with each other using internet social networks. Initially Facebook was a common connecting point (I myself never got into Facebook; not sure if it was the interface), but once the podcasters began to speak of Twitter frequently, Twitter became a primary connecting point. Indeed, it was Twitter which introduced me to the broader SQPN community.

The term "microblog" best describes Twitter. Members give 140 character "status updates" to the question: "What are you doing?". Whoever you invite to follow your tweets as a friend receives a continuous feed of your status updates.

Eventually I got to "meet" several members "one way" via Ustream, as several podcasters would compile their podcasts while also Ustreaming. Father Roderick (Daily Breakfast), for example, often left his Ustream camera running for a 24 hour period, and SQPN fans would watch him go about his day podcasting, organizing bills, assembling IKEA furniture, cooking, eating lunch, moving furniture, unboxing computer gadgets, playing video games, or whatever.

Those planning to Ustream post the upcoming time on Twitter, and whoever receives the notice "gather" in the Ustream chat room of the moment. Once the Ustream session begins, the host of the Ustream responds verbally to the scrolling text conversation of the chatroom audience. Ustreams can be recorded for others to see later.

For a 2-month period I was an active poster on Twitter, following the tweets of ~20 twitters. Twitter use curtailed in July 2008 when Plurk became (and continues to be at present) the favoured social networking tool of the SQPN community. This of course, is frequently supplemented with Ustream gatherings. Twitter was nifty, but during a one week period at the beginning of July 2008, most SQPN'ers migrated to Plurk en masse. Some still passively Tweet using tools such as Ping.fm or hellotxt which post status updates to many social networks at the same time. Because Plurk allows each status update to be a conversation thread, this feature has made Plurk the most popular way to communicate (along with its library of emoticons to add pizzazz to the conversation). Plurking is addictive and one can pass several hours a day on it if not careful! Occasionally sleep patterns are altered when one stays up too late plurking with a friend halfway around the world!

SQPN'ers who live close enough geographically visit each other at a "meet up" (occassionally Ustreaming to others). In June 2008, SQPN held a Catholic New Media Celebration and many SQPN'ers met each other in Atlanta, Georgia. (I hope to go in 2009 to meet many of my online friends in person).