Strate SQL

I changed my twitter name from h4ppyd4y to StrateSQL earlier this week.  This shouldn’t have made much of a difference to people that are following me since twitter now allows for name changes without having to create a new account.  Very cool!

Hopefully this change doesn’t confuse anyone.  If you aren’t using twitter, I do recommend it as a way to network with your SQL Server peers.  The videos below provide some insight into twitter.  Of better yet, check out Brent Ozar’s twitter posts.

I am putting this together mainly to introduce Twitter as part of social computing to some of co-workers.  Only a couple of us at my consulting firm utilize Twitter and I am hoping that this blog will inspire a few more people to give it a try and “feel the flow” of the twitterverse.

When asked to describe Twitter, I usually tell people it’s like hanging out near the water cooler at work everyday.  You can hear all the conversations going on and jump in at any time – and the best part is that when you jump in people don’t necessarily consider it rude.

Of course, when jumping in it is quite easy to put foot-in-mouth.  But the technology doesn’t really exist now to prevent anyone from doing this so this really isn’t a Twitter thing.

Another way to look at Twitter is this…

I used Brent Ozar’s Twitter 101 article when I first started using Twitter to get a handle on lingo and figure out what I was supposed to be doing.  I currently use twitter to update my facebook status and feed into my friendfeed.  My facebook friends though do get a little confused at times with the some of my twitter status’.

I’ve enjoyed a lot of the “connectedness” that twitter provides.  I was able to help a few peers at the PASS Summit find an open bar and some jager.  My blog postings have increased slightly since I now feed my blog posting directly into my twitter feed.  With the increased blog posting I’ve also seen an increase in the number of views and comments on my blog.  The greatest benefit has been seeing blogs posted in my twitter feed favorite and re-linked by peers.

Some Twitter tools that I use:

• Twhirl: a desktop client for Twitter
• Twitpic: post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, our API, or through the site itself.
• Twitterfeed:  feed your blog to twitter.

References I’ve used:

• Twitter 101
• SQLBlog on twitter
• ‘A New Look at New Technology’ Or ‘How Brent Ozar Made Me Buy A New Phone’
• DBAs on Twitter
• Befriend Twitter users on the sqlserverpedia.com list