Saturday, September 22, 2007

Using the Twitter Trader App for Disaggregation

The Twitter application enables me to maintain a blog within a blog, with updates regarding markets and indicators. Many topics that might not merit their own separate blog post can be easily given their own Twitters of 140 characters or less. I've only been sending the Twitters out since July, but already there have been over 900 posts--almost as many as in a couple of years of TraderFeed.

The most recent five Twitters automatically appear on the TraderFeed blog home page under the section "Twitter Trader". To review prior posts, you can go to my Twitter page or sign up on that page for automatic updates.

I have mostly been using the Twitter app to summarize market indicators and review activity across various markets. The goal is to post information that will help traders prepare for the coming trading day. I will be expanding and refining these posts, particularly after my return to the U.S. in early October.

A second use of Twitter, however, is what I call disaggregation. If you have been around the blogosphere very much, you know that aggregation has been the rage. Sites attempt to cull material from across the Web, post it to their pages, and consolidate sufficient traffic to generate ad revenues.

The problem with aggregation--and the reason I choose to not participate in most aggregation efforts--is that it lumps everything into one pot. There are really good articles and writers represented, and there are some really poor ones. It's like taking designer merchandise, pooling it with discount wear, and hoping to get as many shoppers as possible.

It's also inefficient from the standpoint of the reader. How much time does the average trader have (or care to spend) scouring the Web for nuggets of information?

For this reason, I'll be using the Twitter app for disaggregation. I'll pull posts from the best of the portals and aggregators and link to those via Twitter. I will do my best to limit my links to those posts that offer distinct value and unique information. That will allow me to push the best information to you the reader, and will enable you to click on the links or ignore them as you see fit.

If I think a post is an absolute must read, I'll indicate that in my Twitter. And if you're a blog author yourself and put together a post that you feel is truly a must read, please email me (my address is in the "About Me" section of the TraderFeed home page) and pass along the URLs. No commercial material please; I have no commercial links to the sites I'll be linking via Twitter and accept no direct or indirect consideration for posting the work of others.

Why am I doing this? Disaggregation is a discipline that I need to maintain as a trader--culling out the important themes from the mass of news and writings out there. As long as I'm maintaining that discipline, I'm happy to share the fruits of that labor through a medium as convenient as Twitter and a posting mechanism as simple as Twitteroo.

RELEVANT POSTS:

Twitter Trader Introduction

Indicators Tracked Via Twitter Trader
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