What is Twitter and Why Should I Use It?

If you are not already on Twitter, you need to be. You may have heard about Twitter from a friend, on the radio, the news, or even TV. Regardless of where you heard about it, Twitter is steadily gaining users that have something to say. Join Twitter at http://www.twitter.com.

The official definition:

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.”

Confused? Well, in layman’s terms, Twitter can be thought of like text messaging, but over the Internet. The biggest difference is that Twitter allows you to text your Twitter followers (people who have chosen to receive updates from you), all at once, rather than texting to each individual! Oh, and your message has to be 140 characters or less. This is why Twitter and similar sites are known as ‘micro-blogs’ - which is similar to a blog, except your character limit it rather restricted.

Although you can only post a text on Twitter, there are services available that allow your tweet (your message post on Twitter) to link to other content such as photos , music , video etc…

By default, Twitter shows you the updates for your followers (friends or anyone that wants your updates) only, but you can view all tweets via the public timeline (your profile).

Do NOT make the mistake of using Twitter as a place to be share secrets, as everyone can see everything you tweet, unless you send a direct message. Also note, everyone can see your "@replies"(when you send a public message to someone), so don’t make the mistake of thinking that these are private too! They're not. Rule of thumb - don't write anything that you don't want anyone else to know. If you want to speak to someone privately or send them your contact information , you may want to send them a direct message instead - but as far as communication goes, any electronic information can be accessed by others.

So why should you use Twitter?

After all, the more well-established Facebook has a documented 175 million active users, while estimates place Twitter (which doesn't disclose such figures) at around 5 million users. So why should you use Twitter?

There are numerous reasons why people are using Twitter. Here are 25 reasons to use Twitter:

1. Have Fun – You can stay in touch with friends and even make new ones
2. Share links to sites of interest to you and your followers
3. Network to get new contacts
4. Promote your products/services/content
5. Group Communications - the public nature of updates means you can update whole groups with one message
6. Communicate with your network
7. Project Collaboration – communicate with project members in real time
8. Crowdsourcing – Send out a tweet and get answers to your questions, about anything
9. Influence your network
10. Provide Customer Service - communicate with customers and send service updates e.g., we have x back in stock, your vehicle is ready for pick up.
11. Send updates from your websites/blogs/social networks
12. Newsgathering and reporting - the BBC came under criticism recently for using unverified Tweets as sources for reports during the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India. News often breaks on Twitter due to its’ real-time nature. Twitterers and Journalists on the scene often provide near real-time news.
13. Redistributing existing content
14. Try out new ideas, and get near-instant feedback
15. Live updates from events and conferences
16. Recruiting new staff - Businesses may tweet their latest vacancies
17. Looking for a job - jobs are often advertised by companies and recruiters
18. Political Dissent - the US Army recently identified Twitter as a potential terrorist tool
19. Replacement for Facebook and MySpace status updates
20. Flight information and updates e.g., flight delays
22. Complaining - people like to complain, and Twitter gives them a platform to do this (aka Twhiners!)
23. Discussing (Arguing about) Sports, Activities, Hobbies, Interests
23. Charm (or repel!) people with your online personality
24. Distribute a book, 140 characters at a time
25. Learn another language - by following foreign language speakers, or via a language micro-provider

I encourage you to use Twitter creatively and strategically, especially if you are using it to promote yourself and your business. Communicate with others by joining discussions and expand your interests. Just make sure to follow Twitter Etiquette and always add value to others.

Follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/siobhanbrown.