NYT News Release: Twitter Is NOT a Social Network, Says Twitter Exec - NYTimes.com

• By SARAH PEREZ of ReadWriteWeb Published: September 14, 2010

Kevin Thau, Twitter's VP for business and corporate development, announced during a presentation at Nokia World 2010 today that everyone's favorite micro-blogging network is not actually a social network.

It's not, you say?
No, says Thau: Twitter is for news. Twitter is for content. Twitter is for information.
To those of us in the tech industry, proclaiming that Twitter's main focus is not its social aspects, but its news-delivering mechanisms, is a bit like stating the obvious. But it's important that Twitter is now publicly acknowledging how people's perception of the service have changed in this regard, not to mention how their usage patterns have changed too.
So Twitter Is "News"?
Yes, says Thau. Twitter is changing the very nature of news today. Journalists are sending their stories to Twitter and some are even publishing directly to Twitter. It's also allowing everyday users to become journalists themselves by providing them with a simple mechanism to break news.
"The guy who saw a plane land on the Hudson River right in front of him didn't think to send an email," says Thau. "He tweeted it."
Thau also wanted to assure Twitter users it's OK if you think you're not interesting enough to have your own Twitter account. Don't apologize if you don't tweet - just come to Twitter and consume content instead. After all, plenty of people already do just that. In fact, Twitter has 910,000,000 uniques, based on analytics from Alexa, which makes it the ninth largest website on the Internet, said Thau.
Twitter is not just its users (although there are 145,000,000 of those), it's also the everyday people who just visit the site and read tweets.
Besides breaking news, Twitter is also a network for discussing politics, global news, entertainment (Thau noted that Kanye's apology to Taylor Swift was one of the most re-tweeted of all time), sports, humor and more.
Twitter is still growing, too. Most of that growth (60%) takes place outside the U.S., specifically in Japan, Indonesia and Brazil. He then explained how the company's partnership with Nokia allows Twitter to reach to those and other emerging markets by connecting users to Twitter via the mobile phones they prefer.
His announcement goes hand-in-hand with the new features Nokia is launching on its N8 smartphones, which bring social news content into homescreen widgets that allow for simple interactions like reading updates and posting your status.
Just don't call them "social networking" widgets, we guess.

Copyright 2010 ReadWriteWeb. All Rights Reserved.

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The One Dollar Diet Project, How We Live and Compassion Children

This morning my inbox had some interesting information. I learned about The One Dollar Diet Project . It's about two Social Justice teachers have decided to start eating on one dollar a day. They're bloggers y'all, just like us. And they are doing it. The story is quite fascinating. They are blogging their diet, the recipes, etc.

The New York Times has published an article about the journey the couple took -"Money Is Tight And Junk Food Beckons."

Better yet, they are collecting donations so that they can give to help others through their efforts. Here's their donation statement:

If you think what we’re doing is interesting, inspiring, or just plain nutty, consider SPONSORING our efforts. Simply enter in an amount, click “update total” and follow the prompting. If you don’t have PayPal, it will let you use a credit card. At the end of the of the month all proceeds will go to the Community Resource Center (here in Encinitas, CA). We will post evidence of donations at the end.

Anyone can donate to the cause. It is a fascinating concept. And poignantly points out the high cost of fresh fruits and vegetables even in this country. Another reminder my girlfriends who are gardening their own produce are more than onto something here.

My family has had sort of a reverse conversation lately. How much are we throwing away each day? I made a game of it. I would tell them in dollars and cents the amount of food they were throwing away. This rang home to us and it seems to help.

As a mother raised on the 'clean plate club,' I know those habits are hard to break. And so Mountain Man and I try to let the children eat what they need and want not dictating the amount of food they consume. On the other hand, we find ourselves throwing away a fare amount of food. Half eaten this and that.

Honestly, it is simple to toss it. Yet, is it a good steward to constantly thrown out when so many are without. And we are making a reasonable effort to not be wasteful.

We try to encourage them to only take the food on their plate that they want to eat. I try to serve reasonable servings and let them go back for as much as they need. This is tricky, because a small portion for a child looks so small. I never want them to think that is all. Yet, giving a child an adult portion and throwing it away is wasteful.

As I have read all week about the Compassion Bloggers in the Dominican Republic, I have shared with my Tigers how other children live, through their eyes for now because one day we're bound for a family mission trip to live, learn, see and share ourselves. For now, Compassion International is doing amazing things in supporting children around the world. Go find your child.

As a mom, how do you teach your children? What is your practice with their half-eaten plate? Is there a way to avoid this? I'd love to hear your ideas. Or more, has anyone taken the challenge of eating on a certain amount a day?

With Thanksgiving three weeks away, it seem fitting to discuss this now because Turkey Day is no time to start the Dollar a Day Diet. :)

Warmly,