Robyn Bateman... or should that be @robynbateman... on why she loves the social media tool Twitter...
It told me Michael Jackson died before Sky News did, warned me to be aware of a sexual predator in my local area before BBC Look East did, and it made me more engaged with politics ahead of last year’s General Election than I have ever been. And it means I can publicly slate the contestants of [insert generic reality TV show here] at the same time as the rest of the nation. Always a bonus. So there are quite a few reasons why I love Twitter, not least because the first communication I ever made with my now husband was via a 140-character tweet.
Clueless
I enjoy hearing people describe tweeting, a hosting of t-words tumbling from their mouths… tweet, twit, twat (bet the swear filter picks that one up!), twitterer, tweeted, twitted, etc. Not everyone gets it and not everyone has to. When I first tweeted in October 2009 I had no idea what it was all about; I just didn’t get it. Why would anyone be interested in the fact I’m making a cup of tea or am bursting for a wee? And why would I want to share that with hundreds of random strangers? Well, they probably aren’t interested, and I probably don’t want to share it, but that’s beside the point.
After following people (just a random bunch in the beginning) and gaining followers (another random bunch), I discovered a whole new world of conversations. And that’s the secret, it’s not just about publishing your random stream of consciousness but about talking to people, helping people, asking questions of people and learning things. Actually, you don’t even need to talk to people, you can learn a lot of stuff just by lurking.
For me, it’s about a) being nosey and listening in on people’s conversations and seeing snapshots of their lives, b) chatting to people about anything and everything, some I do know and mostly ones I don’t, and c) opening up to a whole new world of info. Twitter tells me things way before anyone else does.
People, not products
And it’s delivered in bite-size chunks, each tweet no more than 140 characters, which really fits with our 24/7 news culture and the fact everyone is too busy, busy, busy to digest huge slices of info. Yesterday, for example, I had a silly conversation about identity changes with at least three other people all at the same time; I saw pictures of where my best mate is going on holiday this year; I united with countless others over a crappy piece of journalism from the Daily Mail; I got some useful leads on where to look for cheap insurance quotes; I found out that in 1818 18 per cent of women kept their own surnames; I spoke briefly to my brother-in-law who’s on a skiing holiday in Italy; I promoted at least three news stories or forum posts linked to my day job and I arranged a meeting with a colleague on the other side of campus. And all that from Twitter!
In a blog post, journalist Diane Shipley (@dianeshipley) – someone I tweet with - describes Twitter as her water cooler, checking it on breaks from her writing, reporting witty observations and connecting with people.
While Twitter may be a useful tool for self promotion, that’s not everyone’s first priority, she says. “The last thing I think about on Twitter is how useful people are: it’s nice if you tweet interesting links but it’s not a deal breaker. The idea that I would assess your worth to me (and vice versa) is something I find a bit icky — we’re people, not products.”
So true. Twitter is useful and so are the people who use it. Yeah, I promote my blog posts via Twitter and use it for work purposes, but for the most part it’s something I dip in and out of, have a quick chat, check a few links and then get back to what I was doing. In short, I love Twitter and there are loads of reasons why.
But don´t just take my word for it, there are more Twitter fans out there. I tweeted, asking my followers (oh, how grand that makes me sound!) why they love Twitter. On returning from lunch I had had LOADS of replies. Here are some of them:
And here´s some more:
Not yet embraced the Twitter community? Here’s how: watch the video
Picture credit: [F]oxymoron via Flickr
Comments
I know someone who met her husband on Twitter ;-)