DISQUS

Mashable - The Social Media Guide: 2008/12/14/baby-twitter/

  • Stephanie - Home with the Kids · 11 months ago
    7 months pregnant and I think I'd get bored reading that. On the other hand, what a way to handle kick counts if the OB is asking for them!
  • Stef · 11 months ago
    Along similar lines but without the electronics, @tweetlet sends you personal direct messages of how your baby is doing during pregnancy. (plug!)

    My partner's due any day soon so I doubt we'll get a chance to try kickbee out but it looks wild!
  • Pete · 11 months ago
    Heh, plugs are totally permissible when they're so relevant - thanks for the heads up!
  • Ari Herzog · 11 months ago
    I don't know about you, but I will NOT be mentioning this when people ask me about the benefits of Twitter.
  • Pete · 11 months ago
    I, for one, welcome our tweeting baby overlords.
  • Lucretia Pruitt · 11 months ago
    Only geek moms would truly appreciate this - but I totally would've worn it during pregnancy - for a couple of days that is... then i would've probably gone hormonal and declared a loathing for it that bordered on psychopathy. But it would've been cool for a little wile.
  • Lucretia Pruitt · 11 months ago
    while even... stupid typo
  • thekateyouknow · 11 months ago
    I'm not sure I'd label it as solidarity so much as empathy, perhaps, or even just techno-curiosity and ingenuity, but I would say a worthy endeavor and not to be considered "too much time on his hands."
  • golfgirl · 11 months ago
    If they're both really into Twitter, it'll be great for them. Any ambiguity on her part and it'll end badly. Great if they want to tap the Mom-to-be market for some reason. Pregnant women generally can't get enough of other pregnant women.
  • Brandon J. Mendelson · 11 months ago
    I showed my wife this post. Her response: "I wouldn't wear that!"
  • john dimatos · 11 months ago
    hi there. I go to school with corey at the ITP program at NYU.

    Corey addressed a lot of the internet conversation going on right now with the kickbee project in this post on his blog:

    http://bit.ly/kZJW

    my own thoughts on this...Too much time on his hands is a non issue, believe me we don't have time to spare with the amount of work we do. It's part of our agenda and curriculum to explore new areas of interactivity. As trivial and silly as something like this might sound now, you don't get new big ideas without experimentation and play.
  • Mary · 11 months ago
    Having been pregnant three times, there's not a chance I would have worn that for longer than an hour. As if pregnant women don't have enough poking and prodding on both sides of their bellies. And when it comes time for labor, many women have to wear a big elastic strap with a heart monitor in order to keep tabs on the baby. Say, why not hook that up to Twitter and you can hear the baby say, "Ouch, ouch, ouch! Get me out of here!"
  • Jennifer Gosse · 11 months ago
    Please people, let's stop harming helpless children before birth in order to entertain ourselves. Doesn't anyone read the recent studies about wireless, EMF radiation and even ultrasound waves and how they can harm anyone, much less a developing fetus? Technology is fantastic but we really should collectively think about our actions on the health of our children - and ourselves! Check it: http://tinyurl.com/5owlmw, http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-23-..., http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9999188-1.html.

    Specifically, mothers who used mobile phones were 54 percent more likely to have children with behavioral problems. When the children also later used the phones themselves, they were:

    * 80 percent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behavior
    * 25 percent more at risk from emotional problems
    * 34 percent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers
    * 35 percent more likely to be hyperactive
    * 49 percent more prone to problems with conduct
  • Shawn · 11 months ago
    Or parents are just getting lazier. Everybody wants to put the blame on something else. "It's not that I don't tend to my children enough, it's that people used cellphones around me while I was pregnant." Behavior modification isn't hard, especially in young children. Don't take those stats as solid, either. I doubt any of those studies were longitudinal, and you never really can trust statistics.
  • Jessica · 11 months ago
    It seems like a fun idea, for a short period of time...but I want to how sensitive those sensors are? Like would they pick up movements from the mother's digestive rumblings? Tummy growlings? That would be an...interesting...chronicle of pregnancy...
  • Willem Kossen · 11 months ago
    hmmm. I guess this baby is not going to follow anyone back. This baby is not going to react to any tweet you or I make. I doubt this baby will respond to DM's or @replies.

    Interesting as it may be from a technology point of view, I don't think that this really has anything to do with communication, the basis for twitter in the first place.

    However, I feel the need to follow @kickbee and see what will happen 'after birth'....

    I guess this is one in the same category as @pothos (twittering plant) and @MarsPhoenix

    Cheers
  • RE Ausetkmt · 11 months ago
    wowww.. now you really have me.
    so a baby tweets eachtime it kicks.
    that's taking communication to a whole new level.
    so why are these parental units making this lil baby a part of an electric field so early in pre birth ?
    sounds mean as the Twittering Plant. are you serious about this Plant ?
  • Willem Kossen · 11 months ago
    Sure.
  • Amy · 11 months ago
    Wow - that's pretty interesting, and clever. I hope it's not too heavy!
  • Richard · 11 months ago
    wow, makes you wonder what comes next. The single guy contraption.
    Got up late, ate cold pizza for breakfast
    Had a beer for lunch, made a pass at the waitress and got shot down. Again.

    The potential users are limitless!
  • Steve · 11 months ago
    another humorous twitter baby account: @jensevilbaby
  • Michael · 11 months ago
    My wife thought it was fun, unfortunately we're due in 2 months. I think it's pretty cool since I can't be around my wife's pregnant belly all the time to enjoy the kicks. I got a mixed reaction when I told our birthing class, mostly when I tried to describe Twitter!
  • Willem Kossen · 11 months ago
    I guess describing Twitter is a problem for lots of people.

    I feel a competition coming up: Best description of Twitter in less than 30 words wins a free twitter account.....

    Cheers
  • thekateyouknow · 11 months ago
    As of today, while following kickbee on twitter, I'm finding it to be a fine incentive for birth control. Ouch.

    Look forward to checking this out in person at the ITP show tonight!
  • Adam · 11 months ago
    This is a cute (if not penultimately geeky) idea, but I'm going with more of a "mars rover" approach with @minimerlot (a play on my own twitter name "mrmerlot"). I created the account and I'm going to send out updates on behalf of our percolating little one. I'm also going to use twuffer.com to schedule typical development status updates, but written from the perspective of the baby. Streaming the twitter feed to my personal web site will obviate the need to constantly write blog posts to keep friends and family updated on the baby's status!