@gadgetvirtuoso’s Twitter Profile

Name Matthew J Stevens

Location Fort Worth, TX

Blog:  http://blog.matthewjstevens.com/  Currently telling about becoming, with his wife, the legal guardians of his neice and nephew. 

Bio A techno geek that needs to win the lottery to buy all the geek toys he really wants!

Followed by: a little over 1300 people; follows 800

The interview: We talked with Matthew by email. 

How long have you been on Twitter? I can’t believe I’ll be on Twitter two years in just a few months, my how time flies when you’re having fun.

Who or what got you started, and why? I don’t know who or what got me started on Twitter. I most likely saw a mention of Twitter on a forum somewhere. I checked it out and signed up. I can’t believe it took me almost a year from Twitter’s launch to find it. Since joining Twitter I’ve joined a number of Social Networks (SocNets) but Twitter is one of the few that has stuck. Twitter has stuck with me because of its ease of use and the variety of people I’ve met from around the world.

How did you come up with your Twitter “handle?” For more than 10 years I’ve been known around the Internet as “KrazyKritter,” but that name no longer fit my online persona and I went on a hunt for a new handle. Gadgets and technology have long been a passionate hobby of mine so I began hunting for names that weren’t in use. Its a lot harder to find a unique name online today than it was when I began using KrazyKritter in 1996: GadgetVirtuoso is what I came up with. It can be a little bit of a tongue twister, I can onlyimagine the trouble some of my foreign friends have trying to pronounce it, a few even complained about the character length.

What twitter applications do you use? I have never been a big fan of Twitter applications and until recently. I almost exclusively used Twitter via SMS (Short Message Service commonly known as Text Messages. ) In recent months I went on a hunt for some new Twitter friends which made SMS impractical for the number of contacts I was trying to manage. (editor’s note: just imagine getting updates from over 1000 twitters on your phone. You better have unlimited texts!)  Another reason for the change was my switch from a Nokia N95 Smartphone, a mobile phone that performs PC-like functions using S60, an operating system like Windows, but for a mobile device.  S60 is a great platform but, surprisingly, lacks a decent Twitter application. I’m now using the T-Mobile G1 phone. Given the press lately I doubt many haven’t heard about this phone. The G1 uses Android, a version of Linux for mobile  phones. The G1 has a few respectable Twitter applications of which I prefer Twitli.

What is your long range goal with Twittering? That’s a really good question. Up to this day my time one Twitter has mostly been for fun and entertainment. I’m seriously looking to make a change and develop a clear defined purpose for my Twitter for the new year. Of course Twitter won’t be the only change, my blogging will be changing also.

Any advice for newbies who want to grow their network? The key is to find people with whom you have something in common and which can engage people. Posting a lot of links is OK from time to time but won’t gain you many followers in the end. When you tweet, tweet something of interest to you and people will find you as well. When first starting on Twitter it can be tempting to follow everyone but I’d avoid the temptation instead use twitter search to find people discussing a topic of interest to you. Other Twitter-centric sites such as Twitterlocal.com can help you find local Twitters. A site such as tweetbeep.com will help you find discussions mentioning keywords; I use this one specifically to alert me to tweetups and meetups in my  area. Above all of this the most important thing is to use and check into Twitter itself regularly. People aren’t likely to follow someone who posts once a week much less once a month.

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Need to know more about local social networking?  More on joining Twitter, Twitter Twends and social networking in Fort Worth