When people find out I use Twitter, many of them ask the same question: “What do you use it for?” – usually in a tone that suggest they’re puzzled more than curious.
After all, how valuable can Twitter be given you can only communicate in 140 characters or less? On top of that, the widespread belief is that Twitter is used by people to talk about inane and highly personal things such as what they had for lunch or whether they didn’t get enough sleep or when they plan to go for coffee.
There’s no denying Twitter is used an awful lot to talk about nothing and everything, which would have made it ideal material for Seinfeld, which was, after all, a show about nothing. But if you take a closer look, Twitter can be used in different ways depending on how you want to use it.
Personal: In many ways, Twitter is an off-shoot of instant-messaging, which is used by many people to send and receive quick and short bursts of information rather than calling or e-mail each other. Compared with writing an e-mail, Twitter is faster to do, it doesn’t clog someone’s inbox and usually involves a quick response.
Personal/Business: In addition to being a valuable way to communicate quickly, it can also be used to effectively reach a wide audience. This makes it a great way to distribute news and ideas, and ask questions. It is also a useful tool to build brand and establish a presence in a community.
Business: A growing number of companies are using Twitter as yet another way to interact with customers. Much like many companies have blogs and Facebook accounts, they’re using Twitter as another social media tool within their PR quivers. Nortel, for example, has been an enthusiastic and active user of Twitter to the point where it’s earning kudos from the media.
Going back to the original question of why I use Twitter, WebWare has a good article, Newbie’s Guide to Twitter, while Michael Hyatt offers an in-depth article on how to get started on Twitter, while Pistachio has a series of articles on how to get started. I also really like this video made by Common Craft, which explains it in layman’s terms:
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Twitter: Different Strokes for Different Folks
When people find out I use Twitter, many of them ask the same question: “What do you use it for?” – usually in a tone that suggest they’re puzzled more than curious.
After all, how valuable can Twitter be given you can only communicate in 140 characters or less? On top of that, the widespread belief is that Twitter is used by people to talk about inane and highly personal things such as what they had for lunch or whether they didn’t get enough sleep or when they plan to go for coffee.
There’s no denying Twitter is used an awful lot to talk about nothing and everything, which would have made it ideal material for Seinfeld, which was, after all, a show about nothing. But if you take a closer look, Twitter can be used in different ways depending on how you want to use it.
Personal: In many ways, Twitter is an off-shoot of instant-messaging, which is used by many people to send and receive quick and short bursts of information rather than calling or e-mail each other. Compared with writing an e-mail, Twitter is faster to do, it doesn’t clog someone’s inbox and usually involves a quick response.
Personal/Business: In addition to being a valuable way to communicate quickly, it can also be used to effectively reach a wide audience. This makes it a great way to distribute news and ideas, and ask questions. It is also a useful tool to build brand and establish a presence in a community.
Business: A growing number of companies are using Twitter as yet another way to interact with customers. Much like many companies have blogs and Facebook accounts, they’re using Twitter as another social media tool within their PR quivers. Nortel, for example, has been an enthusiastic and active user of Twitter to the point where it’s earning kudos from the media.
Going back to the original question of why I use Twitter, WebWare has a good article, Newbie’s Guide to Twitter, while Michael Hyatt offers an in-depth article on how to get started on Twitter, while Pistachio has a series of articles on how to get started. I also really like this video made by Common Craft, which explains it in layman’s terms:
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