03-17-2011, 08:56 PM
I use it.... most people ( as evidenced by the aforementioned thread do not know how to use Twitter and for some reason proclaim to hate it or take some other extreme view.) Ironically, it reminds me of the narrow minded views that IT departments used to take regarding the Mac.
"bah, Macs are expensive and aren't customizable.. we're sticking with WIntel PCs!!!"
"Twitter is a waste of time and I block it and it's stupid and, umm.. what's it good for?"
Sound familiar?
you're question in the title of this thread should be, "How do you use Twitter and why?"
The way I use Twitter is that i follow many, many people but use TweetDeck and HootSuite to create filtered columns that search for key words. (I can search through all Tweets, not just followers.) This is how most power users use Twitter. I'm a busy person, just like all the huffenpuffs who commented in the previous post and I don't sit and read every single thing every person says. Instead, I let TweetDeck filter all content dynamically. For me, Twitter is the Google of the last 2 minutes.
There's plenty of people who would swear by Google as the defacto tool for finding out something on a given topic. For me , that is now Twitter.
If i want to see the absolute latest thing.. like a recent video.. or some breaking news story.. or the latest trend in my industry, or the top 10 things that a certain profession should do this month... i can get it on Twitter and find it with more relevant results than Google, faster than CNN. This is true of Apple events, tsunami videos hometown news, traffic reports, etc etc.
I bet many folks who come to the dealmac forum, do so because this community acts sort of like a filter of the internet itself. Sort of a depository of aggregated links of true interest that is pre-qualified and vetted by folks you know and not a bunch of threads containing complete garbage. I find almost all the threads on macresource interesting. (excluding the political side.)
Twitter can be made to do the same thing but across millions of users.
I do this same type of thing for clients... I can search for a few key words and show where someone is looking for a service in a given location and instantly connect them to my client. This happens a lot. I tweet for the world's largest manufacturer of a certain type of everyday thing. I connect them to people who are interested in that thing, RIGHT NOW.... That's powerful and results in gaining share.
Again, this is one small aspect of what Twitter can do.... and again I don't follow people in the sense most people think of... I let Twitter be a tool for me to find what I need, faster and more relevant than Google.
I also use it to engage with some very fascinating folks who are experts in their field. This has created some very good connections that have generated new business.
Personally, I don't really want to tout all the good things Twitter can do because I am fine with those who are not on Twitter staying off Twitter. It's not for everybody. Who it is for are people who are interested enough to engage in their community, read an article or two and give it more than a narrow-minded passing glance.
3p
"bah, Macs are expensive and aren't customizable.. we're sticking with WIntel PCs!!!"
"Twitter is a waste of time and I block it and it's stupid and, umm.. what's it good for?"
Sound familiar?
you're question in the title of this thread should be, "How do you use Twitter and why?"
The way I use Twitter is that i follow many, many people but use TweetDeck and HootSuite to create filtered columns that search for key words. (I can search through all Tweets, not just followers.) This is how most power users use Twitter. I'm a busy person, just like all the huffenpuffs who commented in the previous post and I don't sit and read every single thing every person says. Instead, I let TweetDeck filter all content dynamically. For me, Twitter is the Google of the last 2 minutes.
There's plenty of people who would swear by Google as the defacto tool for finding out something on a given topic. For me , that is now Twitter.
If i want to see the absolute latest thing.. like a recent video.. or some breaking news story.. or the latest trend in my industry, or the top 10 things that a certain profession should do this month... i can get it on Twitter and find it with more relevant results than Google, faster than CNN. This is true of Apple events, tsunami videos hometown news, traffic reports, etc etc.
I bet many folks who come to the dealmac forum, do so because this community acts sort of like a filter of the internet itself. Sort of a depository of aggregated links of true interest that is pre-qualified and vetted by folks you know and not a bunch of threads containing complete garbage. I find almost all the threads on macresource interesting. (excluding the political side.)
Twitter can be made to do the same thing but across millions of users.
I do this same type of thing for clients... I can search for a few key words and show where someone is looking for a service in a given location and instantly connect them to my client. This happens a lot. I tweet for the world's largest manufacturer of a certain type of everyday thing. I connect them to people who are interested in that thing, RIGHT NOW.... That's powerful and results in gaining share.
Again, this is one small aspect of what Twitter can do.... and again I don't follow people in the sense most people think of... I let Twitter be a tool for me to find what I need, faster and more relevant than Google.
I also use it to engage with some very fascinating folks who are experts in their field. This has created some very good connections that have generated new business.
Personally, I don't really want to tout all the good things Twitter can do because I am fine with those who are not on Twitter staying off Twitter. It's not for everybody. Who it is for are people who are interested enough to engage in their community, read an article or two and give it more than a narrow-minded passing glance.
3p