Drinking the Twitterade

What is Twitter?

As promised, this is the follow-up post outlining my thoughts on Twitter. First and foremost, if you do not know what Twitter is, I highly recommend watching this 8-minute video of Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter, giving a talk at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference:

(thanks for sharing this with me, @tonytv!)

In 10 words or less, Twitter is a social-networking and micro-blogging service.  I had learned of Twitter a couple years ago in college through a start-up friend, but could never be convinced to try it back then.  I avoided it at all costs.  It seemed like a hyperactive version of Facebook status updates and was making my paranoid half cringe.  Yet another trendy social network to join right?  I just could not see a clear value for publicizing my every move throughout the day.

Hook, Line, and Sinker

Fast-forward to January 2009 and suddenly, Twitter is the talk of town.  I did not want to become sucked into the masses, but I eventually gave in when my friend/co-worker, @worldlyjohn, showed me the power of search.twitter.com.  Rather than feeling like another bandwagon member, it feels more like, “Wow, this is what I’m missing out on!”

I had been shown how Twitter could organize information, such as for showing up-to-the minute comments about the presidential election, but it still hadn’t appealed to me until I started playing with search.twitter.com myself.

Give it a whirl.  Type in anything and you will see the latest tweets that contain that keyword.  These are statements made from every day people (sometimes even celebrities).  They come in the form of opinions, replies (using the “@username” convention), and the sharing of content usually in the form of shortened links.  Here is an example of the results for “San Diego”:

Twitter Search results for "San Diego"

You can see that results vary from people who have tweeted about pre-sale NIN tickets to the news of a skin infection outbreak at the San Diego Zoo (with a nice link to the article).  The more you use Twitter, the more fascinating it becomes with the number of uses for the application.  By “use,” I mean contributing to the Twitterverse through tweeting valuable information/opinions, replying to other Tweeps, re-tweeting, and growing your network by following interesting people (if you’re getting lost with all the Twitter vocab, see: http://twictionary.pbwiki.com/)

Just as we’ve learned from the video above, Twitter is sometimes the first source of information, as was the case for the San Diego fires last year.  People have started using Twitter for so many other reasons than to just blurt out to the world that they’re scratching their butt.

Types of Users

It’s been about a month and a half since I first joined Twitter and these are the types of users I’ve encountered:

1. Online marketing entrepreneurs – I mention this first because one of my first followers fell into this category.  I was extremely excited to know a stranger was interested in what I had to say.  Don’t be fooled — my hunch is that they’re looking for high follower counts.  You can easily spot them with any combination of the words “online viral marketing entrepreneur” in their profile or with their ridiculous numbers of followers/following (usually in the high 1,000’s).  It still boggles me how they claim they’ve reached success simply by using online marketing and can share their tips with you for just $600.00!

2. Companies/Services — Let’s face it:  Twitter is ideal for advertising since word spreads so fast, hence the large presence of the aforementioned users.  You’ll see anything from @Starbucks to @woot to San Diego’s Metro Transit System (@sdmts).  This category encompasses a huge amount of users from big-name corporations to free-lance artists.

3. Celebrities/High-Profile Tweeps — Pretty self-explanatory category. @BarackObama, @BritneySpears, @RyanSeacrest, @THE_REAL_SHAQ just to name a few.  These are often included in the Suggested Users section when finding people to start following.

4. Non-Profit Organizations — Users that leverage the power of Twitter to lend helping hands, receive donations, and spread the word of reaching out.  A couple I’ve been following are @Everywun and @volunteersd.

5. Friends/Family/People You Actually Know — A great reason to join Twitter is to keep in tune with the lives of others!  I’ve mainly reconnected with RIT alumni, which allows me to live my college life vicariously through them.

6. Ordinary Everyday Users — The category title does not necessarily generalize all others to being “ordinary” — in fact, some live quite impressive lives!  This is simply the umbrella category for random strangers that are willing to share and connect with others.  There are true gem users that are worth following, users who inspire us to learn and do more with ourselves, making this last category my favorite.  On the flipside, beware of people who have absolutely stagnant accounts with little to no tweets, perhaps just a dummy account to view protected tweets!

For a thorough list of categories and users, see http://www.socialbrandindex.com/

Overall Thoughts

I’m content with my decision to join Twitter as I’ve found it to be pretty useful and fun.  My usage has dramatically declined from when I first joined though.  It was initially an addiction.  I was very self-aware and conscious of what was being said and how I would say it.  I constantly checked if I had a reply or a direct message.  Now, I’ve come to learn that my life shouldn’t revolve around Twitter because I’ve definitely lived fine without it!  Thought it has enhanced certain aspects of daily activity:

I’ve used Twitter to find out what events are happening around town (including free giveaways!), post a job opening, link to my blog, scope out movie reviews, and share opinions on current events with people whose opinions I value.  It’s a great hub for finding intellectual conversations.  You can play it safe behind the scenes and observe all that is going on, but you may find you’ll get a lot more out of it by immersing yourself in the Twitter culture.  Below are some tips I’ve learned from other Twitter-holics that may help with getting started.

Tips on Tweeting

• Use it. A lot of people don’t understand the power and value of Twitter because they don’t ever engage themselves in interesting conversations.  Yes, it’s overwhelming at first, but you will eventually find your groove and meet some cool people!
• Share as much or as little of information as you please. I am a very paranoid person sometimes, especially when it comes to publishing updates about my whereabouts.  I try to tweet them after the fact and usually consider the value- factor.  Ask yourself, “Would someone actually find this interesting or valuable?”  But let yourself have those vent tweets too, like “Whoo! I just aced my interview!”  It feels a little vain, but hey, sometimes the recognition is nice right?  Do keep in mind how often you have back-and-forth public conversations.  This can get annoying sometimes to readers who have to sift through these!  That’s what DM’s (direct messages) are for, Tweeps!  Keep in mind, every tweet you post adds to your brand image!  So be careful!!  You never know who’s reading, like b-school recruiters!  Ahh!
• Get a Twitter client. It seriously helps with the information overload, by allowing you to organize and manage incoming tweets.  There are clients for all platforms (iPhone, BlackBerry, G1, etc.). I’m currently using TweetDeck and am fairly pleased, though I’m open to experiencing other UIs.  Check out: http://twitter.com/downloads
• Don’t get discouraged by people who stop following you. Just as easily as you can stop following someone, they can also do the same to you.  It’s all fair in this culture and should not be taken to heart.  Not everyone says interesting things, so do yourself a favor by lightening up your tweetload and unfollowing boring tweeps!  If you’re curious to know who and at what point, users are unfollowing you, there is actually an app called Qwitter that provides this kind of info.  I’ve yet to get an email notifying me of my “qwitters” so I’m not sure about their uptime.  Either they’re overloaded or everyone who follows me is in it for the long haul!  (prob the former!)
• Observe how others are doing it. You can learn a lot of the Twitter culture just by reading tweets.  There are plenty of other sites that go into depth about the syntax of tweets (@, RT, DM).  Also, remember you’re limited to 140 chars so keep it short, especially if you want people to re-tweet your stuff.

And that wraps up my exhaustingly long “Thoughts on Twitter” post!  I now pass the Twitter shot-glass to you.  It’s your turn.  Now, take a swig!