TechnoTrotter » Twitter

Current gadgets and web tools testing

TechnoTrotter — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:37:27 +0000

Just to update what I’m currently using and testing at the moment.

Garmin Forerunner 50 watch. Am getting to grips with watch and loving it and am just getting into using the heart rate monitor. Will keep you posted on that.
Flickr – continuing to use Flickr for my visual food diary and have got into the habit of automatically photographing my meals on my camera phone.
Twitter – tweeting about my runs and the occasional word of running wisdom.
Fetch Everyone – another web tool for logging training, planning runs, connecting with other runners, More info on this to come.
Dailymile – have just started to use www.dailymile.com for recording my training (similar to Gyminee) and will blog a bit more about that in the next day or so.

Guide to: Twitter

TechnoTrotter — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:28:49 +0000

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. More detailed info on Twitter on Wikipedia.

To sign up for a free Twitter account:

go to http://twitter.com

you will see the following set up screen. Fill in details – the username can be whatever you want (mine is technotrotter).

Twitter sign up screen

once account is set up and you are logged in you will see a screen which at top right hand corner of page are menu options
under settings you can add as little or as much info as you wish
useful to at least choose correct Time Zone and fill in the one line bio box
under settings you can also upload your picture by clicking the ‘picture’ tax and change background under ‘design’

***Help page for Twitter is available at http://help.twitter.com

How to use Twitter

To use Twitter you need either a mobile phone or an internet connection.

Mobile Phone

instructions on using Twitter using a mobile phone
note the info on charges levied by different networks for sending messages

Web browser

to use on a web browser go to http://twitter.com/yourusername and click login at top right or login on main http://twitter.com page
login using the username and password you chose when you set up the account
click “Home” on menu at top right of page
type update in box titled “What are you doing?”

Following other people’s updates on Twitter, @replies and direct messages

The FAQs on the Twitter site provide information on how:-

to receive other people’s updates
how to direct one of your updates at a specific user
sending a direct message to a specific user

Read how the TechnoTrotter is using Twitter to plan and update on her runs (and related things!)
TechnoTrotter is currently testing Twitter to see if keeps her motivated to be consistent in running. A review and rating will be posted here in due course.

The key to success? ..

TechnoTrotter — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:28:34 +0000

One of the major problems I find when trying to improve my running and my diet is consistency. Yes.. we’ve all been there… starting, restarting, designing and redesigning schedules, training logs, food diaries etc. Sooner or later…we miss one day, don’t quite fill in all the snacks… you know how it goes.

Which got me thinking – part of the problem is that I am only accountable to myself. Would I be more consistent if I felt I was accountable to a wider group?

Which is where social networking tools come in very handy. With a few clicks of the mouse or phone keypad, you can make yourself feel accountable to potentially lots of people.

So, I’ve decided to experiment with Twitter using it to update on all my running. I will tweet in the morning declaring my intention to run in the evening after work (so it’s harder to change my mind if it’s raining or I’m tired or don’t feel like it) and then update once run complete. Also if any profound thought about running occurs to me (might happen occasionally – you never know!). I will let you know in due course if I think Twitter has helped keep me motivated to be consistent in my running.

Follow my daily tweets

How to…Twitter (guide to setting up your own free Twitter account)