Apple & Twitter Team Up in September, Just in Time For Back to School

This past week I was following the WWDC which is Apple's World Wide Developers Conference. The conference took place between June 6 - June 10th and Apple uses the conference to introduce all of their upcoming products. Apple seems to have plans to take over the computing world and will be partnering with twitter to do it. I'm not yet alarmed since Apple has the most stable and safest operating system on the market and twitter is a much safer social media platform than facebook but just the same I have my eye on these two companies.

Twitter Plug: You can follow me on twitter for daily tech updates at @DVDaniels but be forewarned I also tweet during Met games. :)

Due to these two Tech Titans working together I recommend you have the "Social Media Talk" with any youngsters in your family sooner rather than later. I discussed the Social Media Talk on .

Here's Why I recommend Having the Social Media Talk, and soon

Apple is releasing IOS5 for the iPhone sometime in September while all your kids are busy going back to school. This new operating system will have twitter integrated with every "Twitter Friendly" application purchased and used on that phone. If you take a picture you can instantly tweet it. If you play a game you can instantly let your friends know on twitter what game your playing, if your shopping on mobile Safari you can tweet a web page showing the world that cool new widget you just bought.

The amount of information that Apple and Twitter will be able to gather about iPhone users just blows me away and it will all be available publicly on twitter for anyone to search through. Think marketers, identity thieves, stalkers and even your mother. ;)

And that's where I'm worried. As a longtime iPhone and Twitter user I've developed my own personal policies on what to tweet and what not to tweet. The implications of tweeting incorrectly can be devastating. But not everyone is educated as to the proper way to use twitter. A great example of tweeting incorrectly is our esteemed Congressmen, Anthony Wiener. Need I say more?

Come September there will be millions of new users tweeting through their iPhones. And let's not forget the iPod Touch will also have the same capabilities. That being said, Here are some tips to help prepare for the September Twitter explosion... 

Go Over What Topics Are Tweetable

If your the parent of a kid who just got an iPhone it's time to talk about how to use it when it becomes completely integrated with twitter. You may need a "No Pictures Tweeted" policy in your household. Pictures are not stored on twitter but on 3rd party sites like twitpic and many others. I use Posterous to post my twitter pictures and videos. These sites are open for all to see.

No tweeting locations! Yes, the iPhone knows where you are, using it's built in GPS, and will tweet your location. That option may need to be turned off if possible. I actually will tweet a location once in a while but only AFTER I leave that location. Don't tweet a location you frequent daily. Yes, if someone wants to stalk you they can if your offering up the information. Twitter location sharing makes stalking so easy to do especially if your tweeting your in the same Dunkin Donuts every morning. (I prefer Starbucks) ;)

Create a Tweeting Policy

Twitter is a microblog. Just like any blog you should stick to a few topics and try to stay on topic.

My personal tweeting policy is I tweet about social media, technology and the NY Mets. I limit my topics to that. They're pretty safe. Everything else can be done over email, text or the old fashioned phone call.

No using twitter for flirting. Your romantic musings can be taken to another platform, like text messaging, that's a little more private. Trust me, this may save some embarrassment in the future.

Make a tweeting policy and stick to it.

Learn How to use the the Direct Message function (DM)

Twitter users can use the direct message function to send private messages to each other but I would advise being careful there too. In the many years I have used twitter the DM function has been hacked many times and many a private DM has been make public. Random glitches in the system have also been known to expose private DM's as public tweets. The DM function is there so you can send another user your email address privately. That's really all I use it for.

Benefits of Having Twitter Deeply integrated with the iPhone

Yes, there are some benefits! I'm looking forward to being able to easily tweet videos I like on youtube, articles I find interesting on some of my favorite News Apps and, yes, pictures I deem twitter acceptable. I can even directly tweet the videos I take on the phone. These are huge time savers for someone like myself who lives on twitter.

 So add the Social Media "Talk" to your list of things to do for Back to School. Just the same I will be sending reminders out from my twitter account @DVDaniels.