[nysbirds-l] Twitter-based alert system for Manhattan birders
This post is a reminder to those birding Central Park or anywhere else in Manhattan that there is a system in place, designed by Jeff Bowen and me, that allows you to send and receive birding alerts via text messages (SMS). There is no cost to use it and it works on all phones, not just smartphones. You can put crowdsourcing to work and observe more birds while helping others do the same. Use it for any observation or comment you believe may be of interest to Manhattan birders. No species are off limits. It is Twitter, after all -- you are free to say what you want. The system works by using a re-tweeting service based on the hashtag *#birdcp*. *How To Use It* 1) Just follow @BirdCentralPark from any Twitter account. When you do, @BirdCentralPark will retweet to you any tweets sent by other followers who use the hashtag #birdcp, effective immediately. 2) Within a day or so, your Twitter account will be added to the re-tweeting service distribution list and @BirdCentralPark will request to follow you. You should let it, so that you can send your own alerts. 3) You can now tweet your own observations using the hashtag #birdcp. 4) Do NOT mention @BirdCentralPark in your tweet. Just use the hashtag, which can appear at the front of the message, the end, or the middle. [Note for those unfamiliar with Twitter: you can "tweet" by sending a text message to the Twitter short code 40404. There are also other ways to tweet -- see Twitter support for more about this.] *How to receive these tweets as text messages* The power of this alert system is that it is simple and fairly fast, allowing you the chance to reach a bird before it is gone. To take advantage, you want to receive these tweets as SMS text messages so that your phone alerts you as they arrive. For those who might not be familiar with Twitter settings, here is how to make that happen. 1) Log into your Twitter account, go to "Settings," select the "Mobile" tab, and enter your mobile number and check the box for "Tweets from people you've enabled for mobile notifications." 2) On your Twitter profile page, click "Following" and, for each account you follow, you will see a gear icon for "More user actions." By clicking on this icon, you can then turn on or turn off mobile notifications of tweets and retweets from the account. You will want to keep both ON for @BirdCentralPark. That's all there is to it. There is usually a delay of roughly of one to five minutes between when you send your tweet and when users of the system receive it. If you tweet before @BirdCentralPark follows you, your tweet may not be re-broadcast at all. Example: Yellow-throated Vireo in willow at Upper Lobe. #birdcp Tweets are assumed to refer to well-known Central Park birding locations unless you indicate a different Manhattan park. You may refer to these directions online by visiting my website. David Barrett www.bigmanhattanyear.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Twitter-based alert system for Manhattan birders
This post is a reminder to those birding Central Park or anywhere else in Manhattan that there is a system in place, designed by Jeff Bowen and me, that allows you to send and receive birding alerts via text messages (SMS). There is no cost to use it and it works on all phones, not just smartphones. You can put crowdsourcing to work and observe more birds while helping others do the same. Use it for any observation or comment you believe may be of interest to Manhattan birders. No species are off limits. It is Twitter, after all -- you are free to say what you want. The system works by using a re-tweeting service based on the hashtag *#birdcp*. *How To Use It* 1) Just follow @BirdCentralPark from any Twitter account. When you do, @BirdCentralPark will retweet to you any tweets sent by other followers who use the hashtag #birdcp, effective immediately. 2) Within a day or so, your Twitter account will be added to the re-tweeting service distribution list and @BirdCentralPark will request to follow you. You should let it, so that you can send your own alerts. 3) You can now tweet your own observations using the hashtag #birdcp. 4) Do NOT mention @BirdCentralPark in your tweet. Just use the hashtag, which can appear at the front of the message, the end, or the middle. [Note for those unfamiliar with Twitter: you can tweet by sending a text message to the Twitter short code 40404. There are also other ways to tweet -- see Twitter support for more about this.] *How to receive these tweets as text messages* The power of this alert system is that it is simple and fairly fast, allowing you the chance to reach a bird before it is gone. To take advantage, you want to receive these tweets as SMS text messages so that your phone alerts you as they arrive. For those who might not be familiar with Twitter settings, here is how to make that happen. 1) Log into your Twitter account, go to Settings, select the Mobile tab, and enter your mobile number and check the box for Tweets from people you've enabled for mobile notifications. 2) On your Twitter profile page, click Following and, for each account you follow, you will see a gear icon for More user actions. By clicking on this icon, you can then turn on or turn off mobile notifications of tweets and retweets from the account. You will want to keep both ON for @BirdCentralPark. That's all there is to it. There is usually a delay of roughly of one to five minutes between when you send your tweet and when users of the system receive it. If you tweet before @BirdCentralPark follows you, your tweet may not be re-broadcast at all. Example: Yellow-throated Vireo in willow at Upper Lobe. #birdcp Tweets are assumed to refer to well-known Central Park birding locations unless you indicate a different Manhattan park. You may refer to these directions online by visiting my website. David Barrett www.bigmanhattanyear.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Twitter-based alert system for Manhattan birders
There was some discussion earlier this morning on another board about the two text-based (SMS) systems for Manhattan birding, the NYNYBIRD alerts and Twitter-based #birdcp. You can learn about the former at nynybird.wordpress.com. It is ONLY for rare bird alerts. Jeff Bowen and I introduced the #birdcp system in May 2013. It is free, and if you can send and receive text messages, you can use it. Use it for any observation or comment (even a general one) you believe may be of interest to Manhattan birders*.* It is certainly the right choice for reports of birds not rare enough for NYNYBIRD. But no species are off limits. It is Twitter, after all — you are free to say what you want. The system already has nearly 200 users and it can handle practically unlimited volumes of messages, so do not hesitate to use it when you observe something interesting. Because the system works by using a hashtag-based re-tweeting service, it is essential that you follow these steps below in order to use it: 1) Follow* @BirdCentralPark* from any Twitter account. You will immediately be able to receive any alerts sent by other birders. Sending alerts requires another step. 2) Within a day or so, your Twitter account will be added to the re-tweeting service distribution list and @BirdCentralPark will attempt to follow your account. If your your account is private, you will need to remember to explicitly approve @BirdCentralPark as a follower. Otherwise, there is nothing more for you to do. 3) You can now tweet your own observation by including the hashtag* #birdcp*anywhere in the message. [Note for those unfamiliar with Twitter: you can "tweet" by sending a text message to the Twitter short code 40404. There are also other ways to tweet -- see Twitter support for more about this.] That’s all there is to it. There is usually a delay of roughly of one to three minutes between when you send your tweet and when users of the system receive it. If you tweet before your account is added to the distribution list, your tweet will not be re-broadcast at all. When you no longer want to receive the alerts, simply unfollow @BirdCentralPark. You can refer to the "Bird Alerts on Twitter" page of my website for a copy of the above directions along with example texts. David Barrett www.bigmanhattanyear.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
