What is Twitter for? [ Edited ]

[ScottD]

So I've been using Twitter for a bit now and I find it useful in many ways, but not yet compelling. There's lots of blogs and such out there proclaiming its virtues, but I'm interested to hear what this community's experiences have been.

Are you using Titter? What specific uses do you have for the tool? Who would you recommend it to?

Update: some relevant info on this topic posted today on WSJ: Twitter Goes Mainstream

Message Edited by ScottD on 10-27-2008 03:14 PM

[#2]

Here's another useful post on Twitter, this time how to use the service effectively:

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/guest-post-twitter-to-converse-or-to-broadcast-that-is-the-question/

Message Edited by ScottD on 10-30-2008 12:22 AM

[#3]

I've seen twitter use for several things, some of which I like and others which I don't.

One of the uses I like is companies/individual that post updates. I use an IM/Social Networking/Email client called Digsby and being a person addicted to Betas and Alphas I tend to run the latest and greatest version. So every time the guys and Digsby release an update they tweet it and I can immediately go download it!

[#4]

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JohnB wrote:

I've seen twitter use for several things, some of which I like and others which I don't.

One of the uses I like is companies/individual that post updates. I use an IM/Social Networking/Email client called Digsby and being a person addicted to Betas and Alphas I tend to run the latest and greatest version. So every time the guys and Digsby release an update they tweet it and I can immediately go download it!

---

That's a good point. Twitter is a very effective broadcast tool. Nice example!

BTW, here's another article I came upon today (oddly enough, because it was broadcasted on Twitter): Tweeting Your Way to the Top

[#5]

O'Reilly recently came out with a Radar Report entitled, "Twitter and the Micro-Messaging Revolution: Communication, Connections, and Immediacy - 140 Charact.... They'll be holding a free, live event based on the report entitled Twitter for Business tomorrow today at 10AM PST.

Message Edited by Ei-lunT on 11-13-2008 01:17 AM

[#6]

More interesting information about Twitter I found through Twitter: Twitter PR Strategy

Two things I think from this:

1. Twitter is a great way to broadcast your message to those who are interested in the topic.
2. "Strategic approach to using Twitter" seems wrong to me, like having a "Strategic approach to using Email" or a "Strategic approach to using the Telephone". Are we confusing tools with strategy?

[#7]

Another great vid from commoncraft. Thanks Will!

Commoncraft does a great job with those videos. If you haven't seen them before they have a great reference library of short videos for making complex concepts easy to understand.

[#8]

I would like to offer my oppinion as a forum member following a community twitter page. Comcast forum is now using twitter. I liked the concept at first. It seemed there were lots of varied thoughts and topics that would increase my interest in looking at the various topics offered in the forums there. Some days though, the tweeting would go so fast it became a blur of topics, and I would just exit without reading much... it was simply too much information! Seems things are back to a slower pace at the moment, which is nice. Just something from my perspective that people might consider if they are curently using, or are considering using a twitter page for promoting a community.

[#9]

I was thinking about setting up a Twitter accout for myself next week--in order to promote communication and such within the community. I was asking myself this very question: "What is Twitter for?" I haven't yet decided on how I'll use this Twitter account, but I'll post about it once I get it ready.

[#10]

I haven't been a big enthusiast of Twitter as a business tool, but one person in our B2B company has been using it effectively.  She has an ongoing search for Tweets about the company, then sends out immediate responses to negative tweets and offers to help. The result has been a couple of great "wow - what great customer service" tweets.

I don't know if it's a power tool or a tweezer, but it doesn't take her much time to do it....

Message Edited by Mike_Hardy on 02-10-2009 08:30 AM

[#11]

CIO magazine had a good article recently about the basics of Twitter for business folks that I thought I'd share: Twitter: How to Get Started Guide for Business People.

Jeremiah Owyang was interviewed for the piece, and followed up with a link to the article on his blog, with some links to other things he's posted on the subject as well:

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/02/08/for-the-professional-how-to-get-started-on-twitter/