Two Days on Twitter

After hearing so much about Twitter I finally decided to give it a go (http://twitter.com/awc045). I have been a big fan of other social sites and loved reconnecting with friends and such. But Twitter is different. I am not making any groundbreaking statements here. In fact I am sure the masses that have been using Twitter would laugh at my puny assessment.

But back to Twitter. On sites like Facebook you join up, find friends, talk about how long its been since you last saw one another, post funny picture and generally waste a lot of time. That about sums up Facebook and similar social network sites. Twitter is an entirely different beast - at least from what I can see so far.

I signed up and found a couple writers I enjoy reading online - tech & fitness people mainly. I have seen them often reference Twitter accounts in blogs and articles. I thought it would be interesting to see what they post (if it is really them) and to see them in a different light. And you really do. Seeing Twitter posts (or Tweets) is very interesting when comparing that to some of the professional work these writers and industry individuals provide in blogs, etc. Some Tweet about the process coming up with a new blog/article, some entertain questions from followers, some shamelessly promote, some break news and events, some just Tweet about life in general and some do a combination of all the above.

These are people I would not likely request to be a friend in Facebook because I really don't know them. I guess this is a big difference with Twitter - it is downright acceptable to follow (friend) people you really do not know. And that cuts both ways. Within a few minutes of setting up my page a few people were following me. Weird. And a little creepy at first. Then a few of the people I followed reciprocated and were following me. That is pretty cool.

I sent out a few messages and found myself wasting a good deal of time looking at who follows who. You actually gleam a lot about the people on Twitter by who they follow - like political affiliations (many follow Obama), entertainment interested (lots of Stephen Colbert spotted), etc. Soon I found myself looking to improve my Twitter layout and really customize the site. I also had to search a few times to learn how to do things like respond to a message and all that jazz. And I made a few mistakes along the way. Then I lost some followers - maybe because I didn't reciprocate but probably because I was boring. But I moved on and soon found myself looking for a Twitter application for my BlackBerry (Twitterberry!)

One of the big reasons I jumped in to Twitter was due to an article I read by David Pogue of the New York Times. He discussed how, at a conference, someone used Twitter to post a question and get answers from followers in real time. Amazing. I tested the same idea - posting a question about Netbooks because of a blog article I was preparing and lo and behold a response came. Very cool.

I am a bit leery about the social aspects of Twitter - I am learning more about people I follow but I have yet to engage in any real conversations. However, I do not dispute the myriad of ways a business or individual can use Twitter to promote themselves. It is downright powerful and has the potential to change the way people receive and digest information.

Why? Events occur in real time - not to crib from one of my favorite shows (24), but yes, real time. A writer you like writes a new article and posts a Tweet with a link to the article and you are right there just after its posting. No hunting it down. No weeding through an RSS feed. You follow him or her and find out from the source. News breaks on Twitter too. I learned about a great utility tool today on Twitter - not from any blog or newsfeed - but Twitter. I may not have otherwise located that information. You can pose a question and get a variety and diversity in responses you many not otherwise find online. You can communicate with experts in various fields and CEO's of major companies. And you can do this all instantly.

So far I see that some people send out constant Tweets and others very rarely. Some automate the Tweets and others seem very authentic. Whatever the case it makes for great viewing.

I also see great potential for promoting and expanding my own business interests. I will not bore you with those details today and I will not pretend to be a social network guru - but my mind is churning with ideas how to best use Twitter for my business. I will say this - traffic to my site (http://www.acecomputernj.com/), which I link to my Twitter profile, surged in the last two days since joining.

Here are a couple resources to get you started and learn more:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/the-twitter-experiment/#more-651

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/twittering-tips-for-beginners/

http://www.socialtoo.com/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/24/ginx-helps-you-find-and-follow-the-experts-on-twitter/

http://blog.twitter.com/2008/05/how-replies-work-on-twitter-and-how.html

http://blog.twitter.com/

http://www.geeksugar.com/2850608

http://www.orangatame.com/products/twitterberry/