It's high time I put forth an official endorsement for Twitter.
WHY
Before you stop reading, and before you hurl assumptions at me about it being "just another facebook-like status update forum," please pause and consider the following:
- The dirty secret to using Twitter successfully is NOT to answer the question, "What are you doing?"
- It has a number of uses, depending on your communication style and your purpose in using it: Journalists, entrepeneurs, public relations specialists, marketing directors, family members, bartenders and techies alike join in the conversation and enjoy it.
- Its 140-character posting limits require conciseness heretofore foreign to the blogging world.
- You can easily find and follow people in your career field, sharing tips and information.
- It's a great networking tool, especially for job seekers.
- It's all about who you follow. Sure, if you follow mostly your friends, it's likely not going to be all that enlightening or exciting. I recommend sticking with only your closest friends, and following mostly those in your field who rock at what they do. They've got the winning tips for you.
- Own a business? Work for one? Two words: viral marketing.
- Lots and lots of supporting apps: everything from Twitterific to your cell phone's text messaging feature to TweetDeck. You can Tweet from just about anywhere in the world.
- Sharing. information. in its truest form, sans accompaniment of long-winded third-party opinions.
So learn stuff.
Widen your network.
Listen in on the thoughts of experts. Interact and converse with them.
Spread the word. Share the love. Pass on information. Start a buzz. Stay in the loop.
HOW
A number of blogs list the unspoken rules of Twitter, and I've found Jeff Blankenburg's most helpful for new users of all types.
My personal experience with Twitter has definitely been a journey. I started in late summer last year just following a few people I knew, and quickly grew bored with it (since I could read their statuses on Facebook if I was really that interested).
I honestly don't remember what drew me back in, but it was probably all the encouragement from Poynter and the Society of Professional Journalists, since most journos are doing a lot of their communicating via Twitter -- even live Tweetcasts from, say, WH press conferences (loved reading those).
I got lucky and stumbled on a couple of high-energy journalists who enthusiastically kept recommending and "retweeting" (taking a Tweet from another Tweeter and passing it along, with credit, to your "followers," who are the ones reading your Tweets) other leading names in the field who in turn posted helpful links, thoughts and advice. Ever since, I've begun increasing the number and quality of people I follow, discovering masters of my field I had never even heard of. I have thus ended up reading far more interesting, varied and in-depth coverage of both headline and off-beat news, as well as insider news and analysis.
(My favorites to follow, for the record, are @jayrosen_NYU, @problogger, @suzanneyada, @jemimakiss, @Poynter, @jiconoclast.and @jeffjarvis.)
I took the leap this week in unlocking my Twitter feed, which has increased my following exponentially. Leading journos from all over the world are now reading my feed, and mostly just because I'm following awesome people and sharing the love; the educational value of the information we're all passing along through our network is priceless.
The key, I have found, is in finding the people worth following, and doing just that. Don't join Twitter just to broadcast your daily activities and thoughts or rants. Read. Listen. Think. Share.
Twitter, for me, is like a many-faceted newsfeed, almost like watching stories stream in on the AP wire. Only it's more diverse, it's more personal, it's more tailorable and it's quicker.
It has made me a faster reader, a better sharer; it's opened my eyes to trends and encouraged me in my professionalism and continuing education; it's given me a plethora of news reporting resources I never would have heard of otherwise. It has finally, but not least of all, connected me with people who can help me do anything from getting driving directions; to landing a new job; to discovering keyboard shortcuts for a task I want to do more quickly; to finding a helpful article about any topic I can dream up.
Stephen Baker at BusinessWeek wrote more than nine months ago in awe of the Twitter phenomenon:
"Businesses such as H&R Block (HRB) and Zappos are now using Twitter to respond to customer queries. Market researchers look to it to scope out minute-by-minute trends. Media groups are focusing on Twitterers as first-to-the-scene reporters. (They were on top of the May 12 China earthquake within minutes.) Loads of new applications and services are growing around the Twitter platform, leading some to suggest that the microblogging service could become a powerhouse in social media."
It is a powerhouse now.
It's viral.
It's Twitter.
Posts
