Avenue Magazine Edmonton

Male's success as a blogger and software developer is in part a result of social networking through sites like Facebook and Twitter. He believes that, more than any other technology, Twitter blurs the line between social and business networking, creating what he calls "continual relationship-building and cultivation" - meaning a place where people cultivate relationships over time.

Lynda Steele, whose instant messages are subscribed to by 2,700 followers, says: "I realized there's a really cool, intelligent group of people on Twitter. There's a real sense of community, and I've already interviewed a ton of people from Twitter that I either didn't know, or knew of but wasn't in contact with before."

Similar to Twestival, Edmonton Tweetup is another partnering event, organized every few months at venues throughout the city. Invitations for Tweetups are sent via Twitter. Obviously, if Twitter users are crossing the threshold from cyber space into public space, it shows Twitter's 140-characters-at-a-time speak only goes so far when trying to communicate. But "what Twitter allows you to do is meet and talk to these people after the fact," Male explains. "Twitter is particularly good at bringing people together across the city."

Twitter has its detractors, and not just people dismissing it as a trend. Some are concerned because any tweet posted is cached in Twitter's internal search engine, and is therefore on the Internet forever. The danger is that humans are fallible, so when mistakes are made on Twitter, they're irreversible. It was a lesson learned by MLA Doug Elniski, whose off-handed tweets regarding the Edmonton Pride Parade ("i am surrounded by bumping and grinding lesbians wait 20 then send help [sic]") raised the ire of Edmonton's queer community. Further digging into his Twitter feed and blog revealed more sexist and chauvinistic remarks, leading many in the country to wonder if he even deserves a seat in the Legislature, let alone a Twitter account.

"Obviously, you've got to be careful, but it's an interesting tool for holding people to account," says Rozenhart.

Lesley Primeau, assistant program director for 630 CHED and iNews 880, has no Twitter name. She won't get anywhere near social networking sites. "I think [using social networking] has the definite risk of being a mob mentality ... I find it almost offensive that people get onto these sites, and make dates and change lives without having ever met any of these people."

As for the criticism that Twitter is just a generational fad, soon to go the way of the Palm Pilot, Male disagrees. "I think it's going to continue and we're going to get a lot more of the public faces in the city to use Twitter, which will drive up the number of average users, too."

Mack's 10

Avenue Edmonton was admittedly late getting on Twitter, but now that we've set up @AvenueEdmonton, you follow our instant announcements on contests, new articles and upcoming events. Since we're new to it, we asked Mack Male: What are the best 10 accounts for new local users to follow? @mastermaq @davecournoyer @britl @jdarrah @CityofEdmonton @edmontontweetup @theedmontonian @edmontonjournal @edmontonstories @EPLdotCA