Like a lot of what we come across, we search for nitche business purposes or meaningful twists on design communications and social media methods, practices and/or products to extend brand and help communities establish voice. Today I was talking about Twitter with some friends of mine that we work with. Like everyone else, they are looking for a meaningful spin on products like Twitter and how they could add dimension to their community. So, I am thinking about the Twitter phenomena as it lights up like a Texas prairie in a hot and dry summer…and I wonder what applications will be next and who will create them. Will we? I dunno… In another month or so we will reveal some pretty cool things that i am anxious to talk about…I digress.

The thoughts? Who is out there working on a filter widget, WordPress or Drupal plugin, or syndication method that will allow us to “tune in” or “tune out” to our Twitter community? When can we cast a wider net so we can add more “friends” to our Twitter profiles and then add tags, keywords, adjust sliders for content types, select drop downs or just create our own filters to key in on what our friends are doing that we are interested in? Who knows, maybe we are talking “Pipes” here.

Don’t get me wrong, I love all of my friends dearly, but this new phenomena could drive the most stable person insane. So, how do we capture what is meaningful and relevant? How do we do this where it feels like we have “less friends.” When I go home after a long day at work and my wife wants me to have dinner with friends or has some social activity planned, my most common line is, “but I really don’t need more friends, so can’t I just stay home and relax?” This never works. And, don’t get me wrong, I do need friends, but I am more interested in how I can “tune in” and “tune out” to what is going on allowing me to look through a more community oriented lens at what is going on. Then, when I am interested, I can refocus my lens when I am interested. Maybe this can allow me to have a more meaningful dialog with my friends?? We can get right to the point and discuss what is relevant to what is exactly on our minds at the moment.

So, who is out there thinking the same thing? There must be some mad scientist working on this little concoction already…