2007 – Twitter Year
December 18, 2007 at 12:44 pm
For those of you who don’t know, Twitter is a microblogging tool. It enables you to post short messages of 140 characters to your friends and followers. It’s like texting, but public and online. And it’s greatly enhanced my life in 2007. Here’s a Fast Company article by Robert Scoble that explains why he thinks so too. While I wouldn’t be going the way of some American commentators who refer to Twitter as ‘contributing to the evolution of Connected Consiousness’ or ‘when they day comes to take to the streets, time will be of the essence, and perhaps Twitter will light the way…’. No I wouldn’t go that far!
But I would like to share with you why I like Twitter and why it is the most positive addition to the business tools I use.
I use Twitter everyday, one of the first things I do when I switch on my computer is turn on Twitterific. There I get an update of who I follow and what they’re up to. The people I follow are not clients, nor are they from my real life social circle. They are people who are involved in the web, people who are as passionate as I am about things online. Some of them I would deem to be the smartest people I know; on top of their game, and generous with it too.
Why I like Twitter
- First and foremost, it’s an outlet where I can be real, honest, and share my thoughts. It allows me to connect with a group of like-minded people on a daily basis.
- Sometimes I use it to push out a recent blog post. For example, when I was complaining about being spammed by the Golden Spiders, I popped a note on Twitter to say that I had posted something really important on my blog… (and there’s a happy ending to that story!)
- It’s a great place to get quick answers from your network. On work or non-related issues!
- And I really enjoy when some people post links to good articles they’ve read.
- It’s also interesting to get to know people I’ve collaborated with in a whole new light. That smooth professional who has really cheesy taste in music. The usability expert who’s secretly a closet wine buff.
The people I follow are made up of activists, bloggers, cheerleaders, developers, easy listening fans, French migrants, Google workers, hip people, Internet lovers… When I suffered data loss back in October, I got such great support from my Twitter buddies. Advice, assistance, and phone support. These are people I didn’t know this time last year, or I knew their names and they were ‘competitors’.
So if you are reading this and you’re thinking you could do with a bit of this in your life too, then sign up to Twitter, start following people who write about things you are interested in, get your friends on board, and before you know it, you’ll be twittering!
Comments (2 responses)
ooh. It’s gone all festive ’round here. Nice summary of the benefits of jaiku ;-p
How could I forget to mention that Jaiku is actually a technically superior microblogging tool that the Serious Movers and Shakers are all using. But like the way Bebo versus My Space proliferated in schools, it’s all about where your friends are at and what they’re on. I find Twitter just that little bit more fun….
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