Tuesday 15 June 2010

Are you a Twitter vuvuzela?

The vuvuzela has come under a bit of pressure of late. The abundance of the plastic trumpet during the World Cup, which when blown sounds like an angry wasp having a nightmare, has led to critisicm from armchair fans; many of whom dislike the constant drone of the instrument over the action of a nil-nil draw.



Indeed, this is the first time that many have had the opportunity to listen to the calming sounds of the humble vuvuzela.

These viewers have never been on Twitter.

Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has always been a haven for the vuvuzela. Sadly, these vuvuzelas aren't of the colourful trumpet variety, but rather profiles which have a number of similar qualities to the instrument; accounts which do nothing but repeatedly drone on the same dull note. One constant, dreary B♭ of self-promotion.

"Check out our services."

"Have a look at our fantastic services."

"Phone us to ask about our fantastic products."

"Our products and services are fantastic. Check them out."


It's enough to make you beg for a fail whale.

Twitter isn't the place for a vuvuzela. It's a channel perfect for a full brass band; a concert hall which begs for a medley of team news, blog posts, photographs and conversations. A stage suited for a cresendo of interaction and brand awareness.



So, put your vuvuzela back in the box.

Because unlike the World Cup, people aren't going to put up with the din just to see out the final whistle.

Friday 11 June 2010

How to: Avoid the World Cup on Twitter


It's the World Cup! A time for nations across the globe to come together and celebrate an aerodynamic sphere rolling around a piece of grass.

Naturally, Twitter is going to explode; feeds full of news, views and insight from the action in South Africa.

However, if you're concerned about World Cup fatigue, there are some precautionary steps you can take to avoid being deluged by a torrent of football-related news. But only if you're getting your Twitter stream from Tweetdeck. Which you should all be doing anyway.

Filters are fun

It's relatively simple to remove tweets from your stream. Simply click on the settings icon in the top right corner. It's the one which looks like a spanner.



Select the 'Global filters' tab and enter the words you never want to see from your Twitter chums.



Save.

And presto, any tweet mentioning your undesirable hashtag or word will no longer appear in your stream.

For reference, here's a list of the words and hashtags you probably want to avoid for the next month or so.

Hashtags

#worldcup
#worldcup2010
#Eng
#USA
#Bra

Keywords

World Cup
Vuvuzela
England
Goal
Andy Townsend (But most people already have this filter on anyway)