What is Twitter and Why You Would Use It

Twitter, what is it and who cares what I am doing right now? I have had this conversation with a friend of mine.  Who cares that I am taking my kids to the park right now. Well there is sooo much more to Twitter than finding out what other people are up to.

Twitter is a a free social messaging tool to stay connected instantly.  You need to sign up on the Twitter website to start your  free Twitter account.  There are thousands perhaps millions of people signed up on Twitter. You can choose to follow anyone on Twitter and they can choose to follow you. The way it works is that you type an  instant “tweet” or update that says what you are doing in that moment and it is instantly posted to your Twitter feed. The people who can then see that instant update are people who have chosen to follow you on Twitter. You can also see the instant updates(tweets) of the people you are following in your Twitter feed as well. Tweets or updates are not sent to your email you need to be logged onto Twitter to view the Twitter feed.  However, you are notified through your email when someone has started to follow you.

When you set up your Twitter acccount, you can choose to protect your updates (tweets)  and then an email is sent to your account notifying you when someone has followed you.You then need to approve whether or not they can follow you.  Another option you have when setting up your account,  is to make your profile a public profile so that anyone can follow you. You will only get emails saying that so and so is following you.  However with a public account, you still have the option to block or not follow back certain people who may not be a good fit for you. When you choose not to follow back, they will still be able to see your updates. So if you don’t want them to see your updates, you need to block them.

Now why in the world would you want a bunch of people knowing what you are doing all day long, or do you care to know what someone is doing all day long. Here are a few good examples of why Twitter is so much more than just being “nosy”.

• My neighbor’s son loves to skateboard, so she follows Tony Hawk a famous skate boarder on Twitter.  One night she got on Twitter late and noticed that Tony Hawk tweeted that he was coming to Colorado. She then went to his website and noticed he was making a free appearance the next day at a nearby skate park for which he donated money. As a result of viewing that tweet, she and her son got to enjoy a day together watching Tony Hawk perform his famous tricks! How fun for a boy to see!
• Another way Twitter is useful is for COUPONS!!! yes COUPONS!!! Often times I have noticed some businesses post coupons for their Twitter followers only- FUN!
• Twitter is also often referred to a bloggers best friend because it is a great way to let your followers know that you have made a new blog post which may otherwise go unseen because of the huge number of websites and blogs.
• Finally, if you own a business, Twitter can help you gain traffic to your website. Go out and start to follow people within your business niche. Usually when you follow, people will follow back. It is amazing the business connections you can make.

Changed your mind?

If you already use Twitter, who do you follow? How do you use Twitter?

Stay tuned for another post on free advanced Twitter Tools-yes there is more!

Tagged as: Skateboard, Tony Hawk, Twitter