With all the news coverage of how it's changing the world (and not just "cyberspace" to use a now somewhat dated term), I finally decided to create a Twitter account. I wanted to see exactly what you could do with it, not that I plan on starting to tweet regularly. Still, the whole "social networking" phenomenon is clearing gaining momentum, which overall has to be a good thing for getting people in touch (although also a potential time-waster!).
Much of what you can track by just browsing on the site is pretty mundane but then I did a search on Phrogram, and was pleasantly surprised to see some tweets. It's an interesting way to reach out to folks who have heard about (or are thinking about trying) Phrogram, although I don't want to sound like I'm pushing it on anyone, so I've been pretty low key, just responding once or twice to just say "good idea" or "go for it" if someone sounds like they're interested.
One recent tweet was just a person listing Phrogram along with other choices (SmallBasic, BlueJ, PairProgramming, colobot, phrogram) which is fine too. Phrogram deserves to be in the "consideration set" of anyone trying to learn programming, although there are plenty of options worth exploring. It all depends on what level someone is coming into it at, how much time they have, what they are trying to accomplish ... anyway, these are just some ruminations that probably deserve to be in a blog - ok, maybe that's next ... ;)
While the whole "social networking" thing in general may seem to be "gaining momentum", twitter in particular is starting to lose it. People are starting to wake up and ask "what's the whole point?" I don't think there is one.
The reason twitter is so popular is because it's new. People like to see what new things are. They tell their friends. It's a fad. Pokemon had the exact same kind of viral popularity for a few years, but then people started wandering off, wondering why bother wasting time with it. Now it's an empty franchise. Nobody is interested anymore. That's what is starting to happen to twitter.
Twitting itself isn't bad. It's probably one of the best ways to advertise a product, because so many people waste their time with it. The number of individuals who visit that site is astounding. But to reiterate, it won't last long. Fans of the twit are getting bored and tired of wasting time, so they are wandering off to other things.
So, yeah, twitting about Phrogram is a great way to spread the word, but be aware that it's a short-term strategy and won't work forever.