Here’s an article from Wired about how the Twitter “Bird” was purchased from iStockphoto for $10 – $15. Apparently some graphic designers aren’t happy about sites like iStockphoto and crowdsourcing in general. This sounds to me like the same whining coming out of the mouths of developers upset about 99-cents iPhone applications. With respect to this, the Twitter artist, Simon Oxley said:
“I believe a designer can only be ‘hurt’ when they stand in line — instead of constantly seeking new inspiration and producing new things with their ever-increasing experiences.”
I couldn’t agree more. Sell your creativity. However, I do believe Twitter needs to credit Mr. Oxley for his design on their website.
At least somebody has something to look forward to this year. Garter expects with the new smartphones coming out of various manufacturers, sales of smartphones will jump 28% this year, despite an overall contraction of the cellphone market. I imagine given the tight economy, people who just want a basic cellphone are sticking with the ones they have (like my parents). However, as alternatives to the iPhone come out, it’s always nice to splurge a couple hundred dollars on yourself, even during these tough times. I imagine, also, that as people replace their cellphones, a good many of them will be upgrading to smartphones. With the exception of the cost of the handset, the cost of service isn’t that different and with a smartphone, customers really get a noticeable boost in the capability that makes up for the increased cost. Here’s a link to the Washington Post article with more details.
I’ve decided to use the “Tweetie” application to Twitter on the iPhone. The application is pretty straight forward. You can post to multiple accounts, reviews replies, get messages, save favorites, search, see global Twitter trends, and see the Tweets of folks nearby your location. I get a lot of joy out of looking at the trends and the Tweets of the folks near me. As for the value of Twitter in my life … it’s the same as blogging. I’m happily expressing myself to who ever cares. It’s a nice way to track my thoughts and activities for the day, but so far I’m not using it as a means for “useful” communication of status. As for following and followers — so far I follow NPR and CNN and I have two followers. I don’t personally know my followers and that’s cool. Others have tried to follow me, but all of them have been Twitter spammers and I’ve blocked them or Twitter has banned them before I get the chance to block them. The spam is annoying, but anywhere there’s a crack, the scamsters will squeeze their way in.
I’m not looking forward to the time when Twitter sells our Tweets to advertisers so we can be Tweet spammed every 5-secs …. sigh …
More Rambling 