Ten things I love about Twitter

When I first heard about Twitter, I could not really understand why I’d even want to use it. I really didn’t see the point in reading or “listening” to everyone’s thoughts on any topic that crossed their mind. And to be perfectly honest, when I looked at the feed of tweets, I really didn’t see anything all that interesting to me, either. So, I sat back and I watched for a while…quite a while, in fact – about 6 months if I remember correctly.

I watched, I listened, and I learned from people I knew already using Twitter. I saw the good, the bad and the downright unmentionable. Then I finally took the plunge and joined. Even still at that point and time, I really didn’t “get it.” So, I continued to watch, shared a few tweets of my own, and weighed what Twitter might end up being for me. Then I decided to explore searching on Twitter, and that’s when I really started getting value because I was finding others who had similar interests, and that was cool!

Now that I’ve been using Twitter for a little over a year now, I’ve been thinking about what I love, what I hate, how I decide to follow or unfollow people, and some things that I wish I could do on Twitter. This is the first in a series of posts along these lines…

1. I can connect with people I wouldn’t have otherwise had an opportunity to meet if it had not been for Twitter. With few exceptions, I’ve met these folks (to name a few) on Twitter first, and in person second or not at all – yet! - @ChrisBrogan, @PeterKim, @JOwyang, @DavidAlston, @BryanPerson, @CFlanagan, @GiaLyons, @JimStorer, @RHappe, @JoanDiMicco, @PatriciaRomeo, @UnMarketing, @CBensen, @RobertCollins, @VicenteM
2. I can learn new things about people I already know - @PappasNick, @Stu, @LenDevanna, @Storagezilla, @ChrisFernandi, @NuzhatMKarim, @DanSchawbel, @SuzySpaatz, @MichelleLavoie, @KCornwall, @Beeks06, @DaveGraham, @JDowson, @Zirnhelt, @TheGoose2 
3. I can very easily learn about new interests and topics as well as who’s tweeting about them by searching hashtags or key words. I love that the tweets are all searchable.
4. Twitter is respectful of my time if I manage it correctly - 140 characters is a nice length to receive updates in an easily digestible format. It requires (for proficient users) that people be concise with their messages. It’s easy for me to keep up with people, new interests and topics in real-time in this format.
5. I like that people put their own categories and definitions on their posts. It helps me to understand more context about what they’re sharing and where they’re coming from.
6. I can use Twitter from anywhere I have access – internet, phone, or 3^rd party apps such as TweetDeck or TwitterBerry.
7. Twitter users are enthusiastic, to say the least. People who are on Twitter are on there because they want to be there, so they’re generally very happy to engage in conversation.
8. I can integrate my tweets into my other accounts like Facebook, FriendFeed, my blog, and LinkedIn, for example
9. I can leverage the collective wisdom of my network by joining in any conversation or asking questions, and I always get a quick response.
10. There’s no overhead to using Twitter, no crazy downloads, no crazy software updates, it’s just a plain and simple web interface. Put simply, Twitter’s easy to use.

So, what about you? Why do you love Twitter?

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Jamie
Blog: http://jamiepappas.typepad.com/ 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jamiepappas

Comments

[Kathleen]

I'm not certain if I actually love Twitter, but I am (somewhat reluctantly) respectful of it.

#askanagent and #queryfail/day have both been excellent examples of information sharing and I'm still blown away by #amazonfail.