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I mentioned my growing interest in social media in a previous post. It started with Twitter a couple weeks ago. I had heard the name, but didn't know what it was good for so I decided to check it out. Well, you can't see what's going on unless you sign up, which I did. Since then, they have posted a video explaining what its all about (here). My twitter account can be found here. As you can see, it seems to be an instant messaging service - but who needs another one of those? No one, that I can see. So there has to be something more to it...
Well there is, and there isn't. It truly is just a site for posting messages under 140 words. Micro-blogging, it's being called. I can perhaps best explain it's appeal through some examples.
Twittendipity
I heard a number of stories about how Twitter facilitates communication faster than any other medium. Do I mean it's faster to tweet your buddy than call him? No. What I mean is, twitter was the first medium to have first hand information on the Mumbai attacks out to the world. Another story to illustrate: when Guy Kawasaki forgot his power supply, he posted his need on Twitter and had 5 replacements offered in a few minutes. The best example, though, is how Terry Jones got an impromptu interview with Robert Scoble. Terry explains how it happened better than I could, here. Terry also coined the phrase Twittendipidty. In my own special case of twittendipity, I've been looking for an organization working in Haiti to support. So I randomly posted a question out there, and I think by chance someone saw it and pointed me toward Mission MANNA.
Interesting Stuff
Twitter is also useful for finding interesting content online. Some users specialize in finding and broadcasting links to interesting stuff. In the week I've been on Twitter, here are some notable examples:
Three of those four items came from @timoreilly's feed. I recommend following it.
I might try and get my family to join...
We'll see.
This is just my little take on it, but to me the internet is a huge opportunity to build social capital, and resources like twitter facilitate that.
I don't see why this type of communication is so highly valued by some. The gagillion streams of Twitter a day are mind numbingly wortheless. Broadcasting one's moment by moment thoughts simply because you can is an irritant to those that listen instead of speak (or type).
pardon the typos. . .
I've recently joined twitter and I find myself addicted to it. I can't explain exactly why. I like getting direct streams of info - like a person-based RSS feed. I've learned tons of random things, some important and some not. And I've gotten breaking news before it hit the airwaves.
I've got to agree w/ Jessica Bahr. It is about connections, and the strength of weak ties.
I have found two keys to getting value out of Twitter:
1.) Be selective in who/what you follow, as well as what you post yourself. Now is actually a good chance to search out some quality Tweet sources, because it is the end-of-year awards, called The Shorty Awards (http://shortyawards.com/). It's the "People's Choice Awards" of Twitter, so a lot of great content you might not otherwise know how to find is listed, so you can check it out.
2.) Use a Twitter app for managing, filtering, sifting and grouping content. TweetDeck is particularly popular, and I've found it especially helpful. I organize things by topic: personal friends, business/commercial, political, news/current events, hobbies, etc.
The content on Twitter isn't the key. It's access to the dialog about content, which usually happens on blogs elsewhere, that is really of value. Like most of social networking, it's about the dialog itself. That's the value. And participating gives you access to people with whom you wouldn't ordinarily have access.
Instead of focusing on what I had done professionally in the past, I focused on what I wanted to do in the future. More...
Andrea V. Lewis to All Fans
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