How I use Twitter, and you?
At first glance, many are afraid of the minutia within Twitter. While the conversations may be more granular, I use Twitter in a few different ways:
1) As a ’shared feed’ reader. I’ll post up links of what I’m reading that I find is interesting in near real time, and give some commentary.
2) As a chat room. We collectively work out problems, issues, and I gain insight to other people’s viewpoints
3) Event capture: Lately, when I attend an event (like Mark Cuban’s presentation at BlogWorldExpo, or Teresa’s webinar on Facebook yesterday) I’ll fire off the top nuggets I learn/
4) Listening tool: It’s interesting to find out what others are sharing and talking about, from very personal to big concepts.
5) Traffic driving tool: I use it to direct people to this blog, sometimes (I’ll admit) a bit too enthusiastically. Google Analytics indicates this is one of the largest referrers of traffic.
If you’re a Web Strategist at a company or agency, read Web Strategy: What the Web Strategist should know about Twitter.
I hope to see you on Twitter, if you add me as a contact, I’ll add you back. Also, one of the keys to Twitter is to add people you know, it then becomes more like a chat room. Following me alone isn’t sufficient, see a list of active twitter accounts on Twitter Poster.
So, how do you use Twitter?
32 Comments so far
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Although I think it’s great for all the reasons you outline, I find it the most interesting when it’s used for action (http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/09/09/twitter-day-for-kareem/), and experiment (http://twitter.com/imwiththepress).
All the things it hasn’t been used for yet are the things I’m looking for. Where does the border of its utility lie? We haven’t crossed it yet, I don’t think?
Curt
I’d like to see it mashup so we could separate voices by location or other type of genre. Maybe by industry etc.
Is it open in such a way that people can do that on their own? I don’t know no tecknologies but I think not. Hopefully they’ll open it up so that can happen.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the most important Twitter application of all, as what this guy called “poetry” and I might call a “dada engine.” http://blog.nowpublic.com/2007/11/twitter-poetry/
That’s a pretty good summary of how I usually use Twitter. I think I find it most fascinating as a chatroom and as a listening tool.
I keep seeing news on Twitter before it shows up anywhere else (duh - mobile & practically no barrier).
Weimin, Twitter might be a good traffic driving tool if we know how to use it.
oops I didn’t even know how to use commenting.
I thought I was emailing this post to someone.
I use twitter as a sharing, learning, promotional, and entertainment vehicle. And I learn a lot from you.
The odd thing is that it is not a community. Each of us have followers but they don’t all form a community because there’s disconnect. But we can develop our own community if our followers are passionate about, well, following us.
Here at Buydomains.com and Afternic.com, two of the leading domain name aftermarkets, we started experimenting with Twitter for purely commercial reasons. When I see an attractive domain for sale that one of our members has listed, I tweet it.
So far 3 of the domains I’ve tweeted have since been sold. It’s unclear how many of my customers are active on Twitter, and how attributable Twitter has been to those sales. But it’s not much of an investment of time to tweet, so there’s no risk to jumping in before my customers do. I’ve blogged about Twitter to spread the word: http://afternicdlsblog.com/2007/10/25/use-twitter-to-sell-domain-names/
Much experimentation needs to be done ( tweeting single pieces of inventory, rather than promotions, knowledge, creating conversations, etc. is admittedly a “throw spaghetti on the wall” approach ). But it’s promising.
Our Twitter feed is http://twitter.com/buydomains
Adam
Promote much?
[…] ambient intimacy, the social sixth sense, amongst others. I’ll take a quick turn at trying to define the essence and why I think it […]
LOL - you got me, Jeremiah. Thanks for posting.
Adam
Good sense of humor (I’ve got one too) thanks for participating regardless. I hope you can continue to join the authentic conversation.
The question in my mind, is not “how do you”, but “why don’t you.” Twitter is a great opportunity for news organizations, from building online audience to branding and distribution, Twitter should be an important part of their online arsenal.
Yes! I enjoy and learn a lot by following you all on Twitter. Thanks, as you have said, recently, it has started driving traffic to my blog. Thought it is about Pune (India) real estate!
[…] Jeremiah Owyang lists the many ways he uses Twitter: […]
Jeremiah: I don’t use Twitter yet, but I love seeing how you strategically thought through how you can best leverage such a simple tool. You’ve pushed me one step closer to giving it a try.
Have a nice evening.
-Dan
Hi Jeremiah and thanks for the post! I use Twitter to meet people in my area who also work in the Internet industry. Twitter is also a neat educational tool to stay up to date on industry trends. Follow me at http://twitter.com/shonnoll.
I’m finding things serendipitously through Twitter. I’ve stumbled on insights and people that have had a major impact on my business. In the social media world its become a big part of ’showing up’…
I am still trying to find my way on Twitter, but I just finished doing some research on how others use it - http://thebutterroom.com/2008/02/11/twitter-what-is-it-good-for/
[…] Thanks, Jeremiah. […]
[…] leaving valuable information for you along the way. My suggested reads: -Jeremiah Owyang on how he uses Twitter -Shana’s awesome post about 26 reasons why I love Twitter -DoshDosh put together a fine list […]
[…] Jeremiah Owyang asked on Twitter the other day: “By you sending me an email (and me responding) we’re in a social contract. Can I use the content of an email without your knowledge?”http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/11/29/how-i-use-twitter-and-you/ […]
[…] my twitter profile page, I have a link to a post that indicates how I use Twitter. I try to be forthcoming on what to expect. It’s also no secret that I tweet links to just […]
I wrote a comment here this morning, and answered very honestly, but you removed it.
What a poor show.
Jason CH
Huh? Your comment is still live to me.
I signed up for Twitter a few months ago, but didn’t get it. Then I read a few blog posts about it recently and decided to take another look at it.
I’m now hooked. I use it for much of the same reasons you do. Like Dean, I find alot of things serendipitously through Twitter. Things that are quite useful.
On my Columbus centric blog, the270, I have encouraged my readers to start using Twitter and hastags. I’m even inciting a hastags war with Indianapolis.
Follow me on Twitter: Wyliemac
I would like to talk to you in detail about this issue, but I find myself in a constant conflict. I have over 3000 contacts and I like most of them… but this week is doomsday and I’m going to start picking value added again. I just wish I could keep them all an filter certain words out or something. there has go to be something @Jack can do about organizing our contacts into some kind of friend template that could change over time. I might start creating multiple accounts just so that I can follow certain feeds.
(hell I even like some that aren’t contacts that blocked me…. enemies are always of interest and I always bookmark people who block…. what is it about people who hate us that are just so fascinating? hmmmm ;-p)
[…] and went to his Twitter profile page. On the page at the end of the obligatory bio was a link to an entry on Jeremiah’s blog entitled “How I use Twitter, and you?.” I had a look and it got me to […]
[…] what da peeps on twitter are saying about your brand. Some more links from Jeremiah about twitter here and […]
Jeremiah,
I also recently blogged about this: http://pamelog.blogspot.com/2008/04/twitter-my-favorite-social-media.html
I use Twitter in some of the same ways!
Pamela
With so many followers and others that you follow, how do you manage to keep up in the conversations? Its like a a big chat you can never get a hold of, no? I applaud you for managing this kind of massive information stream!
[…] http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/11/29/how-i-use-twitter-and-you/ […]