The G’Day World Guide to The Top 5 Ways to use Twitter
Posted on 26. Dec, 2008 by Cameron in social networking, twitter
As someone who has been using Twitter on a daily basis now for a couple of years, I thought it was time to add my voice to the existing collection about how to use this terrific service.
I use Twitter in the same way, and for the same reasons, as most people – for entertainment, news, distraction, and to promote what I’m doing.
However there are a bunch of really useful ways that I’ve learned to use Twitter and it’s those ways I’ll concentrate on in this article.
First of all – for people totally new to Twitter, what is it? I usually describe is as an instant messenger service that allows you to communicate with hundreds or thousands of people at the same time. When you write a message on Twitter, all of the people who follow your feed (and happen to be logged on) see that message at the same time. Conversely, when you are logged on, you will see a constant stream of short messages (Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters at a time) from the people you are subscribed to. You can also send and receive ‘direct messages’ went you want privacy.
How many people should you follow? That’s entirely up to you. I know lots of people who have a ‘real friends only’ policy with Twitter and Facebook and that’s perfectly fine. The recent Hubspot “State of the Twittersphere Report” tells us that 35% of Twitter users have ten or fewer followers. Personally, I like to have a big online social network (for reasons that will become clear below) and so I have a couple of thousand people that I follow and who follow my “tweets”.
Apart from the Twitter site, there are a bunch of different tools that you can use to manage your Twitter account (by ‘manage’ I mean post your messages, read messages from others, subscribe and unsubscribe to feeds), and at the moment I am using Tweetdeck on my MacBook and Twibble on my Nokia.
So – why and how do I use Twitter?
As I mentioned earlier, apart from just the general amusement and distraction during the day of hearing what a lot of interesting people are doing and thinking about (useful for people like me who work in total solitude), I have found Twitter to be indispensable for a number of reasons:
- Tech Support: I often ask my followers for help with technical issues and I usually get plenty of instant assistance, from issues with my laptop to issues involving TPN’s servers. I’ve found people on Twitter to be extremely generous with their time and knowledge.
- Comparing Notes: I ask people what they think of a range of products before I buy/use them, including software, hardware, mobile phones, phone plans, films, music, books, scotch, cigars, etc. For example, when I needed to buy a new laptop a year ago, I asked my followers what to buy. The majority told me to get a MacBook Pro and so I did. It’s like having a permanent focus group ready to give you their feedback on any subject.
- Contact Network: I’ll often ask my followers if they know someone at this or that company and via the principle of Six Degrees I’m usually put in touch with someone. When TPN had issues with Google recently, I had lots of people shoot me details of people they knew at Google or SEO experts to help with our issue.
- Human Contact: As I’m someone who works from home, lives by myself, in a city where I don’t know many people, human contact can be hard to come by. Especially in times of extreme frustration and challenges, I have found Twitter to be a source of solace and support. Example: during TPN’s recent server issues, I had hundreds of people on Twitter send me messages of support and offers of assistance. I can’t put a value on how much that buoyed my spirits each day.
- Serious Debate: The one area where I think I use Twitter differently from most people, is to debate serious subjects. Regular listeners know that I’m interesting in discussing “the big issues” – religion, politics, etc. I’ve found myself in regular debates on these subject on Twitter over the last couple of years and I’m often scolded for it. I get told that Twitter isn’t the correct medium for debate. It’s too hard to compress an argument into 140 characters at a time and it’s too noisy for people following your feed. Personally I disagree. I don’t think Twitter can only be used for shallow subjects. And quite frankly, if you don’t like my feed, unsubscribing is one click away. The great thing about debating on Twitter is that it forces you to be succinct with your arguments. You have to compress each statement into 140 characters and, if your argument is flawed, the hundreds or thousands of people following you will weigh in to correct you.
If you haven’t tried Twitter yet, I recommend you start getting your head around it. I confess that it took me a while before I really started to feel comfortable with it. Even if Twitter as a company/service doesn’t survive in the long term, this kind of communication service is bound to become increasingly popular as our lifestyles continue to become more and more connected via online communication tools. Personally, I’m looking forward to the day when I have a Twitter-style service integrated into my vision through some kind of heads-up display, Rainbows End-style.