Oracle-Related Facebook Apps and Twitter Updates

Yesterday, Aaron from Profit told me about his new Facebook application which provides in his words “a daily feed of non-technical content related to Oracle applications”; incidentally, Paul was in Profit a few months ago here and here. I had forgotten, since at the time these were published, we were up to our necks getting Mix ready for launch.

Aaron’s application reminded me that there are now several Oracle-themed applications available on Facebook. So, if you’re new to Facebook or if you’re already savvy and you want Oracle content baked right into your profile and news feed, here are some apps for you. Of course, you’ll need a Facebook account first, and if you’re on the fence, maybe this will be the push you need.

• Oracle Blogs
• Oracle Technology Network Headlines
• Profit: The Executive’s Guide to Oracle Applications

Eddie built the first two listed, and I’m sure he’s got more ideas on the way. Of course, if you really dig Oracle and not just the company, check out Oracle of Rock, which provides “advice in the form of quotes from rock songs” If you know of any others, let me know in comments, or as with the Oracle Tweeters list, feel free to start a wiki.

Speaking of which, Tim Hall, Andy C and Tim Dexter have all recently jumped (back) in to Twitter. Twitter’s signal/noise problem has been getting worse for me, so I’m going to start an experiment with Craig’s eventtrack. Because eventtrack aggregates all the tweets of anyone who sends the start command for a keyword, it could be used to create a stream of tweets.

For example, assume Tim wanted to aggregate and publish the tweets of his BIP pals on Twitter. They would each tweet @eventtrack start*bip to turn on tracking and then tweet as normal. Eventtrack then would aggregate all the tweets (on and off topic). To step out of the stream, all you would need to do is tweet the @eventtrack stop*bip command.

The advantage here is that eventtrack publishes a feed of all the tweets; check out the oow stream, which is still going, albeit not on purpose. Craig also aggregates photos, videos, presentations, events and bookmarks for a given “tag”. Up to now, eventtrack has been used for events (natch), but a never-ending stream of tweets on a given product could be a great support and information resource. Dan blogged a sweet example of this earlier this week.

One limitation for now is that eventtrack can only track your tweets in one stream at a time. So, choose wisely, or bounce around and try a few. So, anyone interested, give it a try and report your finding here. I’ll probably start with a non-Oracle stream to get a feel for how it will go.

FYI Craig works on eventtrack in his spare time, so it’s not production. I checked with him in advance to make sure this type of use wouldn’t crush his bandwidth. Looks good for now, and he seemed excited to get a load-test of eventtrack. Or maybe that was pain meds for his broken rib talking, ouch.

I almost forgot, Steve Clayton, a Microsoft blogger, had this to say about Oracle’s Twitterverse and Topper’s ora-click:

Oracle has a similar band of bloggers and social networkers and one area they seem to be more innovative then Microsoft is their use of Twitter – or at least they’re more visible and organised.

Nice to hear.