DISQUS

I agree with Bradley. This is just a "who's who" of the "cool" in hopes that they Twitter, comment or further spread the article around (all a part of the ego'ness Bradley had mentioned).

Carson doesn't mention why any of the above mentioned are worth following and some of the above mentioned are actually not that active on Twitter at all and provide no professional insight -- mostly personal.

Carson just listed "hey, here are really cool people and their Twitter accounts" -- not much of an article to me. The "what" is easy, but where is the "why" or the "how" you got to this list?

I think the overwhelming Twitter plug on this is what is making me more and more agree with Bradley.

Oh man, if only it were top 45, I know I would have made the list (is what I tell myself to sleep at night).

Wasn't there already a Blub part on the 16th at the Tap room and a Mashable Party on the 16th at Six Lounge? Are you just combining the two parties? Because having one less party than we were going to have doesn't sound like good news at all.

I like that you polled your audience, I think, like speaking at a conference, hosting a conference is about knowing your audience. Position yourself accordingly, set expectations and success will come from that.

I think the conference collapse is only in relation to this "social media"; which is proving to be less and less of a sustainable business model for these "social media experts" ... An Event Apart in Chicago just sold out; in record time.

When you have events like InterAct2008 hosted and presented by individuals who don't yet understand the industry their conference appeals too; failure is imminent. When conferences are more about being social and networking and less about learning and education; is it even a conference anymore?

I remember "AddThis" back in 2006; it definitely started to become a recognizable standard ... but the organization ultimately let it die and didn't have the relationships to have it implemented in the main stream at a fast enough pace to keep up with the evolving industry. I wonder if Clearspring can save it.

ShareThis is by far the new king of the hill within this space; that little green icon has become recognizable industry wide. Should be interesting for sure.

Good domains don't make a good business plan.

Great round-up of panels.

Also, that is awesome about co-working at SXSW -- I am excited to hear what you guys come up with. Let me know if I can help out in any way; I'm so envious of what you guys are doing up there in Philly.

"If I piss off a few people like you along the way - so be it."

That is exactly what the Twitter spammer say! Walk like duck, talk like a duck, must be a?

I see all sides, I know you have good intentions, but it is like protesting to stop protesters. Or sending hate mail to stop someone from sending hate mail ... just adding to the problem.

Good luck in stopping Twitter spam -- it will be around longer than telemarketers. And people will keep picking up the phone and buying crap.

@stopthespam is the problem. Using a "personal" social conversational tool as a loud speaker for their own organizational agenda. Regardless of the intent or subject matter; you are less about the conversation and more about self-promotion (promotion of anything is still promotion). You are using Twitter as a marketing/promotional forum. It isn't "what are you doing" ... it is "what are you complaining about that you want as many people as possible to know about"; which "sucks".

You want the masses to change user behavior and are upset because it "sucks" you have to change your behavior to help combat "your issue". Stop asking the masses to change and reach out to Twitter. They can help; perhaps adding an RSS feed for followers will keep you informed and not having to use email notifications.

Twitter Spam sucks, but the people with the largest voice are often times the largest problem.

I am with Kathleen -- well... I want to be believe that is the case, but the pessimistic side of me tells me she is legit.

I recently wrote about this very topic, The Social Media Expert Plague.

It seems more and more there is this emergence of two worlds colliding: those that are social on the web and those that profit from social activity on the web. I at least like that she is both building connections and using Twitter in the way it was intended. I get annoyed with the spammers that essentially use Twitter as an RSS feed and auto-twitter everything.

Hell, i am waiting for the application that auto-Twitters when I've twittered.

@mediaexpert represents a decline in the social web and this emerging force could be the death of open social media with a push to more closed door, invite-only applications that are slowly becoming more and more popular in the forum world. Forums will one of the first social media outlets and for the past decade have become so over saturated with noise that the best are now elitist invite-only environments.

Yeah ... in response to your title. The only lives that twitter is saving is that of the geek that can't "live" without it.

Andrew makes a great point ... if Twitter can't survive Jobs, how is it going to hold up against a real disaster.

People have been talking about the implementation of a Twitter like app since the UVA shootings ... again, worthless thought until there is some sustainable execution strategy. But hey, it gives us a reason to use the word "Twitter".

What is a "brilliant" idea worth if there is no realistic strategy for execution? Hey, how about a magic pill that stops disasters from happening in the first place?

Isn't one of the largest hurdles to this concept the issue of connectivity? Granted it was almost 7 years ago, but during 9-11, having a cell phone would be a great thought but was relatively useless to anyone in NYC and many in the Washington, D.C. area. The service providers can't sustain emergency disaster scenario where large amounts of individuals are trying to access at the same time.

Twitter during a school shooting is interesting (assuming the students use twitter), but Twitter for disaster on a large scale -- useless not because of Twitter but because of connectivity.

This is awesome! The DC community has been growing at a ridiculous rate and events like this being in DC are terrific! Can't wait.