Network Security Blog

Feb 01 2008

Who are you calling a Twit?

Published by Martin at 9:14 am under Simple Security

I’ll be the first to admit I joined Twitter and Facebook thanks to social pressures from Jeremiah Owyang. I figure that when you’ve got a friend who’s a social media guru, you should listen to his advice once in a while. I’ve regretted signing up for both some, Facebook because of the privacy issues, especially Beacon, and Twitter because it is such a time and attention hog if you let it. Both are great social networking tools and have helped me get in contact with other security professionals and fans of the blog/podcast. If you keep in mind that everything you put on either of these tools can be read by your boss or potential boss, that is.

That being said, I’m still not a big user of either tool, though I monitor Twitter via Twhirl most days. I respond to invites in both tools and will usually follow people who are following me if they sound interesting, but I rarely go looking to add more friends. I look at Facebook as a good way to get in touch with listeners, while I find twitter to be a good way to keep up with events happening with my friends and colleagues. I also find twitter to be a good way to waste much of my day as I respond to fellow twitterers (?) and read the articles everyone posts about.

On the other end of the spectrum in the security community is someone like Jennifer aka Mediaphyter. Jennifer has gone out of her way to find as many security professionals who are using Twitter as possible and named us the “Security Twits“. I don’t like the name myself, partly because it sounds like an insult, partly because it makes me feel like we should be on a podcast with Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson. Leo’s a great guy, but sometimes Steve makes me feel like he missed his meds first thing in the morning. Not that I’d turn down a chance to be on their show, of course.

If you’re a twitter user and want to follow a bunch of security professionals, you need to take a look at Jennifer’s list. I’ve already found more than a few people I’ll be adding to my own list. I have this funny feeling that the list might get hijacked by a reporter somewhere and listed as the “most influential people in security” in the not too distant future. At least Amrit’s not at the top of the list this time!

Technorati Tags: security, twitter, social networking

2 Responses to “Who are you calling a Twit?”

# Jennifer Leggioon 01 Feb 2008 at 9:19 am

I didn’t name you guys the “Security Twits” — it’s just what it’s called! And actually, the name was actually Ryan’s idea in the first place. See, look at me deflecting.

Thanks for posting this, Martin.
# Jeremiah Owyangon 01 Feb 2008 at 12:21 pm

Thanks bud, glad to see you on there

Nice redesign, looks great!