Week 9 Assignment, Part 2

Like my previous post for the Week 9 Assignment, digging into Twitter took a bit a work on my part. Did it take others as much work? Surely there must be one student in this semester's CSIT 155 class that is the Twitter guru?! Anyway, I tried my best, but this week got the better of me and I didn't get a chance to put as much effort into the second part of the assignment as the first. I hope you can follow along with the work I did do. Enjoy!

First off I created a couple of lists. The lists I created were labeled: Motorbike Gearhead, A list for people looking for comfortable, yet protective motorcycle gear (one of my passions). The other was called Flat Track, a list for people that like to go fast and turn left (a catch phrase for people in the motorcycle flat track race community).

For the five people or accounts on Twitter I found using the Advanced Search feature, here are the accounts:
@gustomotorbikes (looks like their Twitter is an Instagram cross feed account)
@RJHBikeSchool (a British Motorcycle Training school)
@MB_Safety (a Twitter account that promotes motorcycle safety)
@Silodrome (an account for modern gentlemen to get updates on gear, gadgets and gasoline culture)
@watersflattrack (a sponsor of several Pro Flat Track Racers)

I chose them because their individual content seems to lie with my interests. They have a similar passion for motorcycles that I do and post enough varied content to want me to interact with them. I did not take into account their current audience size. I will be doing that in the future. One thing I have learned from my current use of Twitter is that I have to interact with people using my business handle in order to get people interested in my content. I have not done that very much in the last year and my Twitter traffic shows it.

For the search terms I used with the Twitter Advanced Search, I first started with a bunch of words. I found that using too many search terms focused the search to be overly specific and resulted in too few accounts to choose from. I settled on Motorbike, and Safety as one set of searches and Flat, Track, Motorcycle, and Race for the other list. These are very basic and it was only because of the need to get the assignment complete that I chose these words. My unfamiliarity with Twitter's more advanced features made this a challenging task to find people on Twitter to connect with in the time I allowed myself to complete the assignment.

I used the results of my Advanced Search to add people to my lists. The people I added were: @RJHBikeSchool and @MB_Safety to my Motorbike Gearhead list. I then added @Silodrome and @watersflattrack to my Flat Track List. The reason I created these particulars lists was that my specific focus in the realm of my motorcycle interests resides in Flat Track racing and Proper Motorcycle Safety gear. I just started racing this year in amateur flat track and find that the people in this community seem to be some of the most generous and awesome people you could meet. The camaraderie within this group of motorcycle riders is unparalleled. I believe it comes from our shared interest in riding motorcycles with no brakes and a traction compromised surface against each other makes for a tight knit community.

I chose to concentrate on motorcycle safety because I wear full gear when I ride. I do this for myself and for my family. I want to ride as much as I can for as long as I can. I then gave a friend some recommendations on proper gear. He followed them to the letter. Eight months or so after buying a motorcycle from me and getting all of the gear I recommended he had a very bad accident. He survive thanks to the gear I suggested. From then on trying to get others to understand proper safety gear has been something I focus on.

And that is what I was able to do for Week 9, Part 2. I hope it makes some kid of sense. Thanks!