Wednesday, August 5, 2009

13 Things You Can Do When Twitter is Down

How to Cope when 'Something is Technically Wrong'...It's an anxiety-provoking moment.

You have your tweet ready to go, your all-important thought to share with the world at large, and Twitter informs you that it's not accepting Tweets. When you're not enthused about seeing the giant Fail Whale sharing the bad news, and feel your excitement waning from the 'Something is technically wrong' message, here are thirteen other things you can do as you wait for the team at Twitter to fix the problem:

1. Write a quick blog post. Your blog, that other online publishing outlet you used to use before Twitter invaded the blogosphere. Elaborate on that 140-character thought and really share your ideas with the world.

2. Do some facial yoga. Bust out some yoga moves that will give those facial muscles a quick workout.

3. Place your order for a Fail Whale t-shirt. Consider it a justified purchase as you continue to play in Twitterville.

4. Check in with WhenTwitterIsDown.com. Helpful advice from this site (push 'refresh' for more insights) include: 'When Twitter is down, yell 'favorite' at attractive strangers,' and the ever so wise strategy, 'When Twitter is down, move on to the next thing.'

5. Clean up your desktop. Delete those extra images, files and other desktop clutter you no longer need and empty out the recycling bin. A quick desktop vacuuming can be very refreshing.

6. Find a new screensaver. Why are you still using that default screensaver? Find a cool and trendy screensaver to keep yourself occupied with some visual acrobats. At least for a few minutes.

7. Browse the Twitter Down Art Collection. This talented graphic designer has created an attractive set of pictures and messages to replace our joyful whale friend.

8. Get some fresh air. If you're in Twitter mode and rearing to go on that tweet, some fresh air could be all you need to keep those creative juices flowing. Step outside, take a quick walk around the block and return to Twitter in a few minutes for an update.

9. Join FriendFeed. If your compulsion to Tweet is getting the best of you, join this growing social community where you can comment, find friends and post your thoughts in real-time just like the good ol' days.

10. Consider sharing your immediate thoughts via video. Seesmic is leading the way in video conversations, encouraging people to show, not tell the world, what they're doing.

11. Give Pownce a whirl. Pownce is another application that makes it easy to share links, files and thoughts with a quick blast from your web browser. There's no character limit with this one, so you're free to micro-blog or write an anthology as you please . Go on, share because you care.

12. Take a power nap. Set the alarm on your phone and enjoy a quick snooze. Right at your desk, if you have to.

13. Call Mom. You know you haven't called her for a while now, so send her a quick message via Skype or communicate the old-fashioned way. Pick up the phone, and enjoy the freedom of no word limits.

So there you have it, thirteen things you can do when there's a Twitter outage. When your Tweet really can't wait, there are plenty of ways to cast that thought into the blogosphere...until Twitter returns.


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