Finally, a new Twitter app that’s worth the mention…..
ParaTweet debuted at Catalyst West Coast and was so well received, those of us in the Green Room & VIP lounges were coming out to see it on the big screens in the Mariner’s Worship Center. Here’s what it looks like (click on the photo to enlarge it):
ParaTweet is a practical Twitter tool for live experiences. It enhances any live event by filtering the tweets hashtagged for that event. It operates on a delay system so it can be moderated. Most importantly, here are the brainiacs responsible for the service (photo courtesy of @benarment) as well as several other great web ideas. Can you guess who they are?
Yep, you got it – the ROOV gang in all their glory! If you take Ben Arment out of the photo you will note that these guys are barely old enough to vote. And they are responsible for some of the coolest ideas the web has seen designed to serve the Church.
This is a shot of ROOV’s @chriscapehart and @mdavis trying to bribe me with cupcakes in a cup – so unnecessary, since I’d buy practically anything from them. I’m including their twitter links because if you have any interest in web technology and the Church, I recommend you follow them.
Our ParaTweet discussions covered the fact that the service hasn’t launched publically yet and that the way the filtering/moderation system works is via delay. The guys told me it’s about 6 seconds before the tweets appear so there is time for both manual and automatic moderating. That way, anyone using an event’s hashtag code can’t hijack, spam, whatever, the service.
Oh boys, if you build it, they will tweet.
Now, I’m hoping we’re using it at Q Conference next week. You will hear more, much more…..
Can’t wait to see ParaTweet in action. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. For sure will be following @chriscapehart and @mdavis.
Looking forward to your tweets, or paratweets, from Q!
And isn’t ParaTweet a great name?! Love it.
Thrilled to see Paratweet.com in action, and can’t wait for it to launch soon! I’ve heard rumors it may launch as soon as next week. This will undoubtedly make the displaying of live twitter feeds useful in conferences, events, gatherings, and even church services. I saw them use it for Q&A with the speakers, almost live and visibly so. I could also see a live twitter feed as a “chat room” running commentary along side of a session. I know I sometimes feel that hearing only one person talk at a time is too slow for me, and this’ll give me another outlet.
Thanks for the writeup, Cynthia! And, ha, barely enough to vote! I just found out the other day that I am the oldest guy on the team, and, at 26, that’s kind of amusing!
As to that delay system, that’s definitely one of our favorite features. We found it to be super useful while managing the #catwest hash tag, which found its way into the top ten trending topics as soon as the “Where are you from?” prompt went onto the screen. You’d be surprised how much noise comes in on those trending topics!
Too bad we couldn’t get something worked out for your conference starting tomorrow, but feel free to keep in touch with Micah and Chris about setting something up in the future!
Loved seeing Paratweet in action. The addition of any crowd-sourced content like live Twitter is risky… it is powerful but risky. Because of this risk, I love the idea of a delay for a live moderator to *delete* the inappropriate nonsense before it hits the monitors.
Good work, Micah, Chris and all the Roov dudes. Can’t wait to see it around.