Inside View from Ireland

Trying to Fit into Twitter

FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, I have used this microblogging platform called Twitter and I've tried hard to fit into its demographic. But as Time Magazine now suggests, I'm not the Prius-driving, iPhone-drooling, Facebook-addicted 30-something who fits the target user. The statisticians at Hitwise say that males comprise 63% of those tweeting. And more than half of Twitter's visitors come from California! The largest age demographic sweeps through the 35-44 year old part of the population, since that segment makes up 25.9% of Twitter's users. Although I think I'm part of the H03 "stable career" segment, I'm not young or ethically diverse, nor do I live in a big-city metropolitan area. However, I consider myself cosmopolitan, so that should count. Upon further examination, someone with a "stable career" also tends to work in the arts and entertainment industry (Hey! I listen to podcasts, take photographs and go to art galleries!), drive small cars and espouse very liberal political views. Another 12.3% of Twitter's visitors are H01. They are the "Young Cosmopolitans" and are very likely to drive a Prius, earn household incomes over $250,000 per year and also identify with very liberal politics. I am not in that segment. I don't know if it's worth my while trying to fit into Twitter.

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So I'll just monitor the most talkative twits in Ireland, enjoy the Blip.fm flow, subscribe to the Twitter blog and read Time Magazine below.
Bill Tancer -- "Even Gen X is aTwitter" in Time Magazine, 20 August 2008.
Nick Burcher -- "Latest Twitter Usage Statistics Illustrate Twitter's Global Reach"

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Coworking Imperatives

I HAD TO LEAVE DUBLIN before checking into Team Contrast and their centre city premises. James Corbett points to the Dublin-based web development as "a direct product of the modern Irish web scene." Corbett followed the genesis of the idea from its roots in the coworking scene.

I spent a year on a career break inside a makeshift incubation centre that's nothing like the digs Eoghan McCabe and the crew have in Merrion Square. And fair play to them--they knew what they needed and just did it. That's what they're telling others--just set up your coworking space and it you've got the right mix, you'll attract a cluster of like-minded entrepreneurs.

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James Corbett -- "Contrast-ulations (on a co-working success story)"
Evert Bopp -- "Coworking center in Tipperary"

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Thoughts from Stephen's Green

MY NOKIA E90 beeped me awake this morning as its fully-charged battery politely affirmed it was ready to be unplugged. The Nokia BP-4L is one of the largest batteries on the market, its 1500 mAh powers me through most work days as long as I constrain my data usage to no more than 90 MB. Beyond the 100 MB threshold, I forget to turn off the signal searching and that can mean a battery swap before my 10 hour duty day is finished. No worries--I carry a spare battery and swap-out is a doddle. I'm thinking about these things while listening to FIR over a 3.5G antenna array alongside Stephen's Green in Dublin. The O2 over-the-air speed feels faster than the BT Broadband offered in the Mercer Hotel, my centre city hotel of choice. I like the place because I watched it being built. And I like the history under the place as documented in Beaux House across the street. Lots of unfortunate bodies are deep under the structures here, remnants of the live surgeries performed by the Royal College of Surgeons on impoverished Irish centuries ago.