Following Stacey Infantino’s recent blog post on Twitter and its relationship to the mobile lifestyle, it is appropriate to visually showcase the hashtag convention that she described with an innovative tool from Twitterfountain. In the example below, you can follow what people are currently discussing in preparation for CTIA Wireless 2009 in Las Vegas through the hashtag #ctia. Try it for yourself by selecting “copy widget” and entering the event you wish to follow.

- Dan Fisher

Whether you’re a fan or not, Twitter has become one of the most talked about websites of the last 12 months. For those of you who are not familiar, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

 

                                          

 

Along with more than six million users, everyone from the CEO of Zappos (@zappos) and the Dutch minster of foreign affairs (@MaximeVerhagen) to Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) and MC Hammer (@MCHammer) have taken a liking to the service. While its functionality is simple, its uses vary and include keeping in touch with friends, networking with colleagues and industry influencers, and tracking news and events. And unlike other social networks such as LinkedIn or Facebook, its popularity spans both professional and personal use.

 

Twitter has certainly grabbed our attention because it lends itself so well to the mobile lifestyle. The 140 character limit on “tweets” reminds us very much of SMS, and dozens of apps (Twitterific, Twitterfon and Jitter) have been developed to give mobile users access to the service on their mobile devices.

 

In addition, Twitter has gained significant traction in the mobile community, with companies like AdMob (@admob) creating profiles and tweeting regularly, media outlets like Wireless Week (@WirelessWeek) utilizing the service to promote stories and influencers like Michael Gartenberg (@Gartenberg) interacting with community members on a regular basis.

 

If you’re not already on Twitter, we recommend trying it out. Get started by first following people, reading what they have to say, and then by beginning to engage with the community. Tweet your opinions on industry news or trends, re-tweet (post a copy of someone else’s tweet on your own account, for example: inafried: RT @Gartenberg 2 El-Al business class seats for $400. It’s not quite what you think.) things you think are interesting, and tweet at folks if you have a reaction to something they’ve posted (include @ and their user name in your tweet, for example: sarahcuda: congrats to @tewy on the popjam launch!).

 

Who should you be following? Below is a list of influencers, executives and other random players from the mobile ecosystem that are active Twitter users. These aren’t folks that are just on Twitter, but those that we feel offer value to their followers.

 

And don’t forget to follow us (@bytemobile) for all the latest news and updates from Bytemobile as well as highlights on what’s going on in the mobile and wireless industry.

 

Mobile and wireless technology

@andreascon - mobile industry analyst and founder of VisionMobile

@AndroGeek – mobile, wireless and gadget news feed

@antonymd – QR code founder, mobile tech expert

@engadgetmobile – mobile focused industry news, gadget reviews and coverage

@Gartenberg – Interpret analyst and technology strategist specializing in personal technology

@gizmodo - online reviews dedicated to gadgets, gizmos, and cutting-edge consumer electronics

@GSMA_MWC_2009 – mobile and wireless industry commentary from MWC

@ilicco - mobile and emerging media products manager at Thomson Reuters

@intomobile - mobile phone news, information and analysis

@MobHappy - mobile technology news and commentary

@mobienthusiast - blogger and consultant, writer and speaker on all things mobile Web

@mobilesquared – London-based blog providing mobile industry analysis

@mobilepulse – Austrian-based mobile 2.0 news

@mtrends – next-generation mobile enthusiast and advisor

@phonescooper – Eric Zeman of popular mobile site phonescooper.com

@pocketinfo - mobile Web 2.0 news

@pogue – New York Times personal tech columnist

@ryanblock – gdgt founder, Engadget editor-at-large

@saschasegan – PC Magazine’s mobile and wireless guru

@talkingmobile - telecommunications news with an Israeli perspective

@telecomtv2go - news and updates from TelecomTV

@Thomas_Husson - senior analyst, Forrester Research

@waltmossberg – Wall Street Journal personal tech columnist

@windowsmobile – the latest official news regarding Windows Mobile

@WirelessWeek - the latest on wireless news, trends and business analysis

@zpower – Chris Zeigler, mobile editor for Engadget

Mobile advertising, marketing and search

@admob – commentary and analysis from the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace

@AndrewGrill - mobile advertising evangelist based in London

@benaroberts - founder GoMo News, president of venture backed SEO biz visibilitymobile.com

@ciangomo – GoMo News writer

@gomonews - breaking news on mobile web and mobile services

@guyglover – Australian based mobile marketing and advertising evangelist

@KimDushinski - author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook

@mobileech – daily stream of mobile marketing news

@peggyanne – founder of mSearchGroove, and blogger on mobile search, mobile advertising and social media

 

Hashtags on Twitter

Twitter also allows users to ‘virtually’ attend tradeshows and events with the #hashtag convention. Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. Some recent event examples are MWC Barcelona and TED.

 

Sign up for the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2009 conference at #CTIA and experience it for yourself.

 

-Stacey Infantino

In Stockholm, Sweden, Bytemobile honored TeliaSonera Sweden as the site of its 100th customer network deployment.  Bytemobile Executive Chairman Hatim Tyabji presented Kenneth Karlberg, president of Mobility Services at TeliaSonera AB, with an engraved Steuben Glass memento commemorating the centennial installation.  Bytemobile’s first network deployment was at Vodafone UK in 2001.

Today we announced the 100th deployment as well as Bytemobile’s group supply agreement with TeliaSonera AB.

-Tod Bottari

Bytemobile recently presented its new products at the annual SurfPort Interactive Awards, hosted by TeliaSonera AB in Stockholm, Sweden. Because of TeliaSonera’s mobile market leadership in the Nordic countries, the awards dinner is a major industry event that draws customers, content providers, solutions providers, and the media, in addition to TeliaSonera’s key decision-makers and recommenders.

The launch ceremony for TeliaSonera’s new SurfPort portal and SurfOpen off-portal web browsing service was held at Stockholm’s Grand Central Station on February 4. Presenting partners of TeliaSonera included EMI Music, IDG Sweden, JumpTap, SK Telecom, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Bytemobile. The awards dinner followed the launch ceremony at Berns Salonger, an 18^th-century palace converted into one of Stockholm’s oldest and most prestigious nightclubs.  

Saurav Chopra, Bytemobile’s director of Internet Services, EMEA and Latin America, presented the Content Adaptation, Widget Bar, and Advertisement Targeting and Insertion applications of Web Fidelity™ Suite, with an emphasis on how these solutions will change the ways in which wireless network operators communicate with their customers. The mobile data industry’s reaction to Bytemobile’s new products has been enthusiastic.

In 2005, TeliaSonera launched the SurfPort Interactive wards as a festive evening event at which the most flourishing companies and mobile content businesses could be recognized. In 2008, TeliaSonera extended the SurfPort Interactive Awards with Emote, a conference for the mobile content industry, aimed at strengthening the role of the content provider through networking and knowledge.

To learn more about TeliaSonera’s SurfPort Interactive Awards, go here: http://www.teliasonera.com/surfport_interactive/2008/surfport_interactive.page

- Adrian Hall