One of the great things about Twitter is coming across wee gems that not many people know about. Here’s a list of 10 of my favourite New Zealanders on Twitter that you may not have heard of (they’ve all got less than 1,000 followers). In alphabetical order:
Alain Russell describes himself as the coffee boy at Blackpepper, but in reality he’s the genius behind the whole shebang. He’s a gadget guru and lover of anything techy and whizzy and he’s anything but a computer nerd. He’s my go-to-guy for anything tech and the first person I’ll talk to to get the lowdown whenever Apple release a new product.
#2 @anasamways
Ana Samways puts together the Sideswipe column in the NZ Herald (which is the first bit of the paper that many people read) and is the funny bone behind Spareroom, a blog where she posts her finds of all things weird and wonderful. If there’s something amusing on the internet, she probably found it first.
Larry Cat describes himself as “Robin Hood with whiskers”. His website Happy as Larry is a word-of-mouth experiment in random acts of giving where you can win cool stuff (recent giveaways ranged from tickets to CATS to an hour with a dating coach). He’s the genius behind New Zealand’s Next Top Cat Model (which my cat Misha is determined to win!) which has so far has raised over $2,000 for the SPCA and Lonely Miaow.
#4 @iChild
Monica Wales works in advertising and puts together a blog, Opinion Added, which is a delicious assortment of opinion, amusing finds and links to quirky websites.
#5 @idealogmag
Idealog magazine is a darling among the creative industry in New Zealand. You’ll find their Twitter timeline full of some of the most retweet-worthy content around and you’ll be asking yourself how on earth they come up with this stuff.
#6 @jordanpsky
Jordan Sky may be Canadian, but he’s been living in Godzone long enough to be considered an honorary Kiwi (he still talks funny, though). He’s a copywriter at Saatchi’s and describes himself on his Twitter profile as a “linksmeister, gadgeteer, technological pundit and reviewer of all things cool”. Couldn’t have summed it up better myself.
#7 @macnzmark
If you’re a Mac fanboy (or girl), then following Mark Webster is essential. He writes the Mac Planet blog on the NZ Herald and puts together the Mac NZ site. Especially good for keeping up to date with what’s happening with Apple products in New Zealand (like how behind the rest of the world we’re going to get the new iPhone).
Matthew Buchanan is an Auckland designer with a wry sense of humour and a knack for finding great eye candy (from the graphically designed to the geek inclined). His blog is a showcase of all the best bits.
#9 @peteinakl
Sometimes I wonder how Peter gets any work done as he must trawl the interweb all day to find all the weird and wacky stuff that he does. Virtually ever tweet of Peter’s is worth a retweet. You can check out all his finds on his Tumblr site.
#10 @scottbrown
Scott Brown is a talented Tauranga-based designer who has just had some work featured in the Asia Pacific Design Almanac and was a winner in the latest American Design Awards. He doesn’t blow his own trumpet on Twitter like some designers do. Instead he shares some of the coolest geek stuff you’ll find on the interweb.
P.S. The Helvetica Twitter icon at the top is from Halomomo.
