Understanding Twitter
Twitter, twitter, twitter, even the name sounds funny if you say it three times fast. But if you’ve heard of Twitter you have probably heard either a love or hate relationship with it - or perhaps a simple, “Why?”
Twitter is a microblogging site that took off after widespread use at the South By South West Interactive festival in Austin Texas in 2007. Its interface is as shockingly simple as your first glance at the Google search engine form - just a single field with “What are you doing?” above it. You enter up to 140 characters in that field, click Update, and your update is sent to all your followers.
I had a six-month-old baby preventing my attendance at SXSWi the year that Twitter caught on, but I sure heard about Twitter afterwards. Even with such rave reviews from people I knew and respected, I reluctantly joined because to me, it was just another social network that I’d have to maintain. I wrote a blog entry after joining, asking the question, What can you do with Twitter? In that post, I talk about some of my findings about uses for Twitter. But let me also share what I’ve found about Twitter after using it since May 2007 at twitter.com/annegentle:
Followers Matter
Who you follow dictates its usefulness to you, and who follows you also matters. Robert Scoble talks about this at length in his post, The Secret to Twitter, and Lionel Menchaca of Dell summarized it well by saying “The quality of the people you follow is what determines Twitter’s usefulness” in the comments. I completely agree with their assessment, and have changed my list of followers regularly based on my interests.
Even if the Scobelizer is “a beast on the service“, he has a point - your connections and conversations are what count on Twitter - people count.
What Happens Between the Blog Posts?
Twitter for me really is what happens between blog posts, and I embed my twitter feed on my WordPress blog because I think it’s a great re-use of web content. Check out this Common Craft video explanation of “Twitter in Plain English” at http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter. It’s about 2 minutes long, and a great introduction.
Mobile Tech and Instant Messaging Addicts, United!
While Twitter hasn’t scaled well for the IM and cell phone crowd (but they are working on it!), its potential for mobile computing and as a presence application is really amazing, answering not only “What are you doing?” but also “Where are you?” While I don’t have a data plan for my cell phone, people who follow me do, so they get my Tweets on their cell phone. Mobile technology is rising and Twitter is the type of application that can showcase mobile content.
You Can Work Twitter into Your Overall Social Scheme or Scene
A great point from PC World’s Techlog in a post titled “How to “Get” Twitter” - if you already have a favorite social network like Facebook, you don’t have to post your updates directly into twitter.com - you can use the “status” posting of your favorite social network and have those automatically sent to Twitter.
So, what is Twitter - like a faculty lounge for teachers? A place mostly for “selectibitionists?” A sales platform as DellOutlets has found? I think Twitter can be what you make it as you use it.
I’d like to know - what can Twitter mean for you personally, professionally, or for your business or organization?
Hi Anne,
Thanks for this post. Everybody else was twittering except me, and didn’t know if it was something I really wanted to be part of. We’ve spoken in the past about how I didn’t see the benefit of following someone’s navel-gazing—how could it have any impact on my life? But you summed it up really well. It’s just like blogging, in that what matters most is:
• The quality of the people you follow
• The quality of the content you post
Also, I really appreciated your take on Tweets being “what happens between posts”. I’d venture to take that a step further and suggest that the unspoken space between tweets is also mildly intriguing. With my friend’s life so public, it makes what she is not saying sound a lot louder.
Just like my post on Facebook statuses, Twitter is a fascinating space for people-watching. I signed up and in one night followed eight and attracted four followers. I’m sure it will become infinitely more interesting when I follow as many people as you. Twenty-four hours and only eight tweets.
Anyone on the blogosphere? Follow me: http://twitter.com/techcom
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funny t-shirts…
Other scheduled SXSW 2007 speakers, thus far, are: Jeffrey Abramson (Gen Art), Paul Bales (SAGIndie), Steven Beer (entertainment attorney), Eamonn Bowles (Magnolia Pictures), Michael Burns (The Documentary Channel), Anne del Castillo (POV), Sean Farnel…
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