Every day it seems there’s some new bit of Web 2.0 wonderment that’s supposed to blow the minds of everyone. Of course, most of these so-called “applications” simply turn out to be pure flash n’ trash. But I recently learnt of one such Web 2.0 thingie that’s so important, it may change the face of the Internets (and humanity) forever! It’s Foodfeed. Simply put, Foodfeed keeps track of what you eat. It’s integrated with Twitter, and it’s really easy to use. The Foodfeed Twitter account is found here. You follow it, and then begin a Twitter post with the clever “@having” tag, and whatever you’ve sent will automatically post to your Foodfeed account. That’s it. Take a look at my Foodfeed account to see how it works.

I’ve got no idea what Foodfeed can/will do beyond what it does now. There doesn’t seem to be any way to create an account there outside of the Twitter-based method described above. And beyond that, the Foodfeed site itself is rather lacking in features. But you could search the Foodfeed site for certain key terms and then, I guess, find new Twitter followers based on those searches. Whatever. I just find the whole thing to be rather amusing. Props to Wesley, whose Twitter account first lead me to the glory that is Foodfeed.

Like all web 2.0 social networks. Twitter has its fair share of users whose motives may not be on the up-and-up. Here’s some tips on what I do to limit my exposure to these ne’er-do-wels. Or as I like to call ‘em, Twitter scum.

1.) Spambots: Spambots are easily identifiable. They’re usually obvious-looking “fake people” who are trying to push porn sites, get-rick-quick schemes or other nefarious ‘net institutions. The best defense against these bots is to simply block them and move on.

2.) Human spambots: I couldn’t think of a better term for this class of Twitter scum. Unlike spambot accounts, these are Twitter accounts that are owned and operated by real, live humans. Problem is, all these accounts do is spew out endless, auto-generated links to blog sites, Flickr photos, forum posts and anything else that has an RSS feed. If I’m interested in someone’s content, then I’m probably already subscribed to it. If I’m not, using the human spambot approach won’t get me to. I don’t always block these users, but I never follow them.

3.) Numbers runners: Again, I couldn’t think of a better term for this final, and most vile class of Twitter scum. Numbers runners go on massive follow/unfollow campaigns, in the hopes of artificially boosting their follower counts. While there are plenty of valid reasons to follow/unfollow someone on Twitter, there is no good reason for any Twitter user to add hundreds (if not thousands) of followers in a couple of days, and then immediately unfollow 90% of them. Again, this tactic is used by Twitter scum who want to appear to be super-duper awesome, ’cause you know, they have like 10,000 followers but they’re only following 20 of them back. I figured out a way today to track down potential numbers runners. I clicked the “Following” link on the sidebar of my Twitter homepage. That showed me the list of all of the Twitter users I’m following. Any users listed there that didn’t have the “Direct message” and “nudge” links right under their names are users who aren’t following me back. I could then easily go through the list and weed out any who originally chose to follow me but have since unfollowed.

I understand that Twitter is a dynamic service, populated (mostly) by people. And people can and will change their minds. I don’t care if someone chooses to unfollow me. I do find it annoying when Twitter users try to buck the system by becoming numbers runners. To me, Twitter is best as a conversational tool, and I’m not interested in connecting with people who aren’t there for the conversation. I welcome any and all Twitter users to connect with me through the Twitter ID in the sidebar. But if you’re Twitter scum, don’t expect me to follow you back.

I’m going to be uploading a lot of stuff to Flickr soon. In the past, I’ve created blog entries on this site anytime I’ve added new photos to Flickr. But I’m not going to do that anymore. Sure, sometimes those Flickr photos will turn up here. I’m just not going to post here every time I upload something new. So, in order to make it easy for the world to follow all of my stuff, I created an “All Updates” page. This page will be updated anytime I post an update here at Shawnogram, Hyper Nonsense, Twitter or Flickr. Any future RSS-y projects I participate in will be listed there, as well.

If anyone’s curious, I created the page by making a combined RSS feed through xFruits and then ran that feed through the Grazr web widget.

Every time some new thing comes along that sweeps across the Internets, I always swear that I won’t get into it. I said the same thing about Twitter. Well, a couple nights ago, I succumbed and signed up.

For the uninitiated, Twitter is like a “hyper blogging” service. And while blogs can be used to provide timely information, Twitter is specifically designed to tell people what you’re doing right now. Twitter entries are limited to 140 characters, so it’s not the right platform for posting a 1,000-word diatribe on why “Mr. Belvedere” is the greatest sitcom of all time. But if you want people to know that you’re cooking dinner, it’s the perfect tool.

Really, the main reason I even signed up with Twitter was to add a little “supplemental blog” to Shawnogram. I’d like to update this site often, and if there’s ever a lag between posts, readers can check out the Twitter badge on the right-hand side of this page to see what’s going on.

And while I may have caved in when it comes to Twitter, I’m still not using Flickr. Not yet, anyway.

(If anyone reading this would like to add me to your Twitter friends, please feel free.)