I felt like one of the last people to start using Twitter, even though I know there are so many people who still don’t know about it. Most of my friends and family have a MySpace account though. I don’t have a MySpace account and they don’t have a Twitter account, because they don’t really know about Twitter (or don’t understand it) and I don’t really care for MySpace.
Since I’ve had a Twitter account, I started to understand what it can be used for. I don’t have a lot of followers, but I don’t feel that I need a lot of followers. Although, that may say “Hey! I’m popular!”, but that’s not why I use Twitter.
I first started to use Twitter to see what all the buzz was about and then realized I could follow the same people who blog that I subscribe to in my RSS reader. Then, I found out I could also use Twitter to update whenever I published a new post on my blog, possibly grabbing more interested readers. (I don’t get a lot of traffic through Twitter this way, but it’s still worth a try.)
Twitter is also a great way to get help for anything like WordPress, computer problems, etc. I kind of think Twitter could possibly take the place of RSS feeds, because you can also hear about things in the news and a lot of bloggers use it to announce when they’ve published a new post on their blog.
Check out this video that explains what Twitter is. Video by leelefever.
I think Twitter is what you want it to be.
Now it’s your turn. Why do you use Twitter and has it helped you in anyway?
Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I have had a twitter account for a while, but recently I have just started using it more. I am still trying to figure out why I use it. I am a rather introverted person. Twitter helps me to be a little more extroverted. It has helped me to follow people that I listen to on podcast and read on blogs. I still have not decided if I will continue to use twitter for the long term or if twitter is just another fad. Time will tell.
Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Hi Ali,
Great post. This is the review I wish I had read BEFORE using Twitter for the first time! Like you, I am not a fan (or user) of myspace but find Twitter extremely useful.
Like Big Ed says in his comment, it remains to be seen if Twitter will be here for the long-term or not, but with around 15 million users, most f whom are active, it certainly could be.
Thanks for a great post!
Jim Connolly
The Ideas Blog
Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
@Ed
Thanks for commenting. I also wonder the same thing, if I will continue using Twitter for the long term. If Twitter is just a fad, eventually people will stop using it because they either grew tired of it or moved on to something else. Without those people, I would have no reason to use Twitter.
@Jim
Thank you. I initially had this post sitting in the drafts and just ran with it yesterday and completed it this morning.
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Hello,
You’re article s great and last week I sign up Twitter because everyone
talking about it and I realy don’t know nothing about it.
The more important how this can help me in business?
Thanks
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hi Jon,
Twitter isn’t guaranteed to help your business, but can potentially bring you more traffic, which can in turn help your business. It depends on whether or not the visitors coming from Twitter are interested in what you have to offer.
Twitter can be used in many ways, it’s all up to you. Just don’t expect Twitter to deliver a large amount of traffic.
Good luck with Twitter!