A lot of friends ask "What's the point of Twitter?" I didn't understand either until I spent some time trying to figure it out. Once I dug in I realized that Twitter, and the other microblogging sites, can be a great resource.
There is a good video about common uses of Twitter here. However, it doesn't address some interesting ways in which you can use Twitter. Here are a few others:
Market Research
I started using Twitter because I wanted to keep tabs on our competitors. Social gaming is a pretty new area so it was a great way to see what people were saying about it. I started discovering new competitors, learning who was running the companies I already knew about, and finding the bloggers who were talking about it. It helped give me a much better picture of the marketplace.
Travel Updates
The most common use of Twitter is for regular status updates. However, Twitter becomes a lot more useful in situations where you don't have access to other tools. A lot of people use Twitter when they're traveling so that they can let everyone back home know how things are going. You might not have time to send a mass email to all of your friends and family. It's a lot easier to do short updates that everyone can follow when you're out of town.
Branching Out
Twitter is a great way to find experts in interesting fields. Following their updates and reading their blog posts is a great way to learn new things. While my company is doing social gaming I am also interested in entrepreneurship, blogging and professional development. I would have never learned as much about these topics if it wasn't for Twitter.
The Local Community
Twitter is a great way to find people in your area that are interested in the same things you are. I use it to connect with the tech community here in Madison. Maybe you want to find everyone who plays golf in your city. Whatever your interest, Twitter can be a great way to find others close by who also share it.
News
Did you know that a lot of media outlets are using Twitter for updates? Chances are, a local TV station or newspaper in your area is using Twitter to post new headlines. You might have to search a bit though. Even though it's not on their website, the Badger Herald student newspaper here has a twitter account.
So how do you get the most out of Twitter?
1. Start with a purpose
As I mentioned, there are a lot of ways that you can use Twitter. However, if you start poking around aimlessly, chances are you're not going to get a whole lot out of it. Decide what it is you're looking for before you jump in, even if it's just a hobby or your favorite sports team.
2. Follow the leader
Twitter's a bit of a popularity contest. Still, for the most part, people have amassed their followers for a reason. Once you've picked a topic that you're interested in, go find the people that are saying a lot about it.
When tracking was working this was a lot easier but you can still do it. Head to http://search.twitter.com and enter some search terms. Start clicking on people and see who they're following. If someone has over 1,000 followers, most likely they have something interesting to say. Click on the "Follow" button to track their updates. You can always un-follow them later.
3. Search local tweets
For any search query, you can find out who's talking about it locally. Using the search above, just add "near:city,state" (e.g. here). It's a great idea to keep track of what's happening in your community and this makes it incredibly easy.
4. Create RSS Feeds
For the searches that you're really interested in, create RSS feeds for them to see when they're updated (I track what everyone's saying about Sharendipity here). This is a lot easier than going back to the search page every couple of days. Look for the icon on each of those search pages. Clicking on it will get you to the RSS feed, which you can then add to the RSS reader of your choice.
5. Engage in the Conversation
I see a lot of people on Twitter that are following just a handful of people and have a couple following them back. This is great if they're the only ones you're interested in. But Twitter is really all about the conversation. To get the most out of it you can't be a passerby, you have to take part.
Great post Dale. I agree with all of your points except for one.
I do think twitter is something that you should just poke around in aimlessly for awhile, only because it's such a unique platform that it's hard to see how to get value out of the conversation at first.
Once you start using it regularly, you realize some of that value. For example, I get a lot of my news from twitter now, because if I were to read the newspaper I would just look at the headlines anyway. If I want to know more on a topic I can do a quick Google search.
I think this scenario is hard to imagine if you don't use the tool regularly though. Does that make sense?
Again, great job! It's cool to see your work evolve so quickly.
Posted by: Monica O'Brien | August 12, 2008 at 08:54 AM
@Monica very good point. I do use Twitter regularly and have forgot about the days I spent poking around.
The "unknown" aspect of Twitter can turn people off from it as well. For those of us that are used to engaging in social media, I think it's less overwhelming. If I was to describe to my Dad how to use Twitter, there's no way it would stick if he was just poking around (my Mom would get it though :) ).
So I think it just depends on exactly who you are, but I'm sure you're right that some people will be able to begin by just exploring.
Posted by: Dale Beermann | August 12, 2008 at 09:04 AM