When i first signed up for twitter, it was around summer 2008, i cant remember how i heard about it, i remember it was during a spyble all night development day. I signed up and it then said “what are you doing now?” i said, doing finances. Logged off, and never looked at it for a few months….
Kept hearing about it, also from gillian from seomoz at the seo event in xiamen, so i tried again…..but none of my friends were using it, so…i didnt know how to get more followers.
This back and forth went on, and then i heard enough about it in early 2009 that i read into it. I was then asked to make a presentation on it to an internet marketing group in shenzhen, so i had to really figure it out!
But after i got all the 3rd party tools (i rarely even go to twitter.com, normally log into third party tools like socialoomph.com and dabr.co.uk , plus the fact that twitter.com is blocked in china!) then i could truly find the value of twitter, and here is the list:
- Quick to the point
- All my friends can see what im up to
- Promote new ideas
- Ask questions and share information
- Network and find like minded people fast
- Internet marketing
Quick and to the point – i have ranted about emails being too long, so with twitter you are limited to ____ characters, so there isnt much room for fluff and other bullshit in your message
All my friends can see what i’m up to – i guess the internet has put my life in the public eye and i dont mind, like this blog, my twitter account shows anyone who goes to it see what i am upto. Maybe that scares some people, but when you really think about it, what is so secretive about what you are doing.? By publiclly showing what you are doing, you cab save time telling each person in your life the same story. Plus you can get input and ideas from what you are doing. For example, i was looking for a new cell phone, so i posted (on facebook and twitter) that i was looking for a new phone and needed to get input. My friends replied with their suggestions, and one friend, guilhem from intouch quality, told me he had a used one he could sell me! Haha, that is the phone i am using today! Plus when i travel, people can see what im doing, real time, and almost feel like they are with me. Especially being so far from home and family….i just wish more friends and family used it, but i speculate more and more will over time
Promote ideas – being a businessman,,,,selling and pushing my latest ideas is crucial. On twitter, i can blast a message that im promoting something new, and my friends, who know and trust me, can choose to get involved or not.
Ask questions and share information – this is a bit overlapping with above points, but basically i can ask a question and get real time, human being answers! The idea is the new internet is real time search. Seeing what is hot now! And when you search, you search what real people are saying, and what they are thinking right now…..crazy, and we will see how this develops.
Network with like minded people – twitter is all about building a following, and many people (i have to admit, myself included) get wrapped up with getting a high quantity of followers….but reallly we should focus on good quality. If we build a good following of people who like “basketball”, then when we check our twitter account, we will only get information on basketball….and we can talk to people who are experts. Since actively using twitter, i have found cooperations, friend, and customers from it. The networking is amazing.
Internet marketing – being an internet marketing guy, I see the value in twitter in promoting keywords and products I am selling – not just on twitter.com – but on google and other search engines and social media platforms. Because twitter is such a popular site, and so easy for search engines to see, it ranks high for keywords the users place on it.
But really, using twitter on a daily basis has made life more interesting, killed dead time waiting for elevators (I have it on my mobile phone), and allowed me to meet new and interesting people all over the world! Check me out on twitter today – (@michelini – twitter.com/michelini )
Comments
hey, my twitter is twitter.com/dswei , follow me~~~
follow follow follow! haha, good plug there Kent.
i think its difficult for the english / chinese languages on the same twitter though…..as you have chatted to me about in the past, some people may not follow because they don’t want to receive chinese tweets sometimes.