Attention tweeters: Your chance to win undying GLORY

Have you ever dreamed of having your name mentioned in the same breath as the titans of the tech world? Ever aspired to see yourself alluded to in the company of such colossi as dead cult idol Steve Jobs, chair-flinging pottymouth biz tyrant Ballmer, lovable shill dunderhead Stephen Fry – even the very BOFH himself? Then yearn …

[stuartnz]

Longtime loyals? Sod you!

Rewarding some Johnny-come-lately for being 10Kth, while consigning the 9999 who had the taste and good sense to follow you first sounds like a shallow, self-serving exercise in the manipulative use of a social media outlet long-derided by El Reg and your denizens. To which the only possible response is "Huzzah!" and "capture the moment in Playmobil, please!"

[jai]

i'm intending to unfollow and then follow over and over again when it gets really close, so even though i've been following for ages, i still get a chance at being the #10k :)

[stuartnz]

Genius!, it put me in mind of the late great Gooner himself: "Bloody hell," said Majikthise, "now that is what I call thinking. Here Vroomfondel, why do we never think of things like that?"

"Dunno," said Vroomfondel in an awed whisper, "think our brains must be too highly trained"

[Anonymous Coward]

thhgttg

The really really weird thing about this is I listened to that VERY EPISODE yesterday whilst in the car.

This is really true.

[Anonymous Coward]

".......had the taste and good sense to follow you first..."

Eh? Confused! How, when why?????

Since when do Witter followers have taste or sense? 16 year olds would say that, till their balls drop! or some other "cool" social network becomes more popular.

[Alien Doctor 1.1]

What's twatter?

The post is required, and must contain letters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently....

..it a medium for not famous people to pretend they are friends with famous people who in turn, are desperate for any sort of attention so will accept non famous people to be their friends.

[Anonymous Coward]

And here I was thinking tweeters were those funny little speakers I install in my cabinets..?

[jake]

::yawns::

I'll pass.

I'd add a "ta", but I'm not sure why exactly, outside politeness.

[Anonymous IV]

It beats me why a supposedly intelligent organisation such as El Reg should have anything whatever to do with twitter. A more pointless waste of time has yet to be invented.

Could we ask the BOFH to set up some opposing AntiSocial Media mechanisms?

[dotdavid]

I had a quick look at the Twitter feed in question, and might be missing the point, but isn't it basically a curated set of links to articles that already come up in my El Reg RSS feed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well - we don't interact with the RSS, but mostly, yes.

A growing number of people consume their news by twitter - and we are meeting this demand for RSS to Twitter via @regvulture

[BristolBachelor]

@Drew

Only 140 chars per article? What will T. Pott do now?

[TeeCee]

I take it you've not seen the old "Saturday morning cinema" serials then?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, now. Play fairly.

[geekclick]

Cheerful bunch aren't we!?!

Jebus it's only twitter guys!

[david 63]

Bored now...

...stopped looking when it got to 9989. I have chainsaws to play with.

[Spanners]

How about

Some social media for grown ups - that is not Twatter or FaceBook for a start...

[the-it-slayer]

Just saying...

At least you don't get ridiculed with stupid apps, stupid pointless photos and stupid 'i took a poo' status updates like Facebook. There is some sense of creativity and point to Twitter with the hashtags and what not.

Anyway, your chance to create an adult social network spanners. Let me know when it launches. Have a nuke while you're at it. Cheers.

[tempemeaty]

me so ludite....

I'm so proud to not have a TweettwitFacefriend anything.

That said, best of luck and fun to all on this challenge.

< goes to slip on his, just out of the laundry, winsocks >

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Twitter

Its embarrassing. Like admitting to driving a BMW.

[Chronos]

BMW?

You mean Audi, Shirley?

http://livesniffpetrol.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/LetterFromAudi.jpg

[TeeCee]

You mean as in:

<Clarkson>

"All the cocks drive Audis these days."

</Clarkson>

[miknik]

Congrats, you are our 10,000th follower.

Will you be offering to enlarge my penis next week, or telling me about all the hot horny singles in my local area?

[Mr Young]

Take it easy guys!

Judging by the CAPS in the headline I'd say the Reg gets the irony - but what do I know anyway?

[mhoulden]

Currently up to 10,104 followers

So what's the guessing follower #10,000 was a pornbot with a name like @FloozyX43532? Twitter has its uses (a lot of companies' accounts are run by their PR departments and they sometimes actually listen if you have a complaint) but it does take a bit of time to clear out spammers and people who follow you just because you once posted something that matches a keyword they were looking for at the time.

[Geoff Campbell]

Needy, much?

That is all.

GJC

[Admiral Grace Hopper]

I'm always amused

by people who want to tell me using the medium of a comments thread on a website that they don't use Facebook, Twitter, FriendFace, Friendster, Bebo, MySpace ...

[Anonymous IV]

@Admiral

Perhaps because they feel that a comments thread is a rather more intelligent communication mechanism that the others you list? Remember what happened to Citizens' Band when all the idiots got to use it...

[Admiral Grace Hopper]

@Anonymous IV

I remember when CB radio arrived, but I can't ever remember a time before the idiots got hold of it, sadly.

The comments on ElReg are by and large better informed and more intellectually engaged than many other communication streams that are available, they are still just people lobbing statements at each other over the internet.

[jake]

I don;t remember when CB arrived ...

... but I remember when the idiots got hold of it. Late in 1975, to be exact, with the release of C. W. McCall's "Convey". CB went from a usable communications tool to gross stupidity practically overnight.

[handlemegently]

TOO LATE

*DRUM ROLL* Tweets 25,465 Following 44 Followers 10,157 Listed 526

[Annihilator]

Slow-witted curmudgeons

"Given the general nature of our beloved readerbase, there are those in the office who now confidently anticipate our follower total hanging paralysed for months at 9,998 - but we're sure these curmudgeons have misjudged you all."

<cough> because none of those curmudgeons figured that someone would have had the nous to create two Twitter accounts. Either not so bright, or massively underestimate the average Reg reader..

[Dick Emery]

Meh...

I've already had my name splashed on El Reg and it was a fleeting moment of well...not a lot actually. On the internet everyone is famous (or infamous) for a moment if you post long and hard enough. It did not accrue me any financial gains nor a following.

There are 7 billion people on the planet. Do you really think you make one iota of a difference? You'll be forgotten at the next page click.

/Miserable old git mode off.

[J P]

It's even worse than you thought....

http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=dick+emery

"Sorry nothing found"

Fleeting is the word alright...

[Parax]

Ahh yes @RegVulture that'll be the one that thinks its an RSS feed.. unfollow.

[pullenuk]

whats the prize?

A story on the 10k follower?

[Ken 16]

Twitter was the Facebook of 2011

Just as Facebook was the MySpace of 2010

When does El Reg launch it's Tumblr account, maybe next October?

[Craig 12]

Wow

People browse el reg on a Sunday?!

[jake]

Well, Craig 12 ...

... I browse ElReg when I'm in the office waiting for an event to occur that I have to give my undivided attention to. Calving, foaling, whelping, the Vet to arrive, the farrier to arrive, a new horse coming into the barn, feed delivery, etc. So yes, I read ElReg on Sundays.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is anyone else here old enough...

... to remember what happened when Telecom Gold made a similar offer to whoever posted the 10,000th message on their forum?

[jake]

I never used Telecom Gold ...

... but I remember expiring Usenet articles at 10,000 in the early 1980s ... and getting yelled at by the RA for archiving over 100 emails at Berkeley in the mid 1970s. It was considered a waste of disk! :-)