I use twitter both personally & professionally. On top of being wildly entertaining to watch, I’ve found it be super useful for collecting user feedback & providing tech support to springpad users. But talking to friends & family, I’ve found that there’s still a bit of twitter befuddlement out there. So, let me break it down for you…
There are lots of ways to look at twitter. It can be a substitute for a blog, a way to collect feedback, a real-time message board, a useful search of other people’s ideas on a topic, even a command line for other applications. But, today I’m gonna break down the most taboo (and I think the most prevalent) use of twitter – it’s not so different from a 7th grade popularity contest.
Picture yourself in 7th grade – maybe at a school dance, a party, or just in the lunch room. You’ve just arrived & are standing alone – your only goal is to make friends, possibly even with with the cool kid who has a swarm of kids around him. So, there are a few things you can do:
1. Walk over & talk directly to the cool kid. Not knowing you, he’ll likely just ignore you. If you compulsively @message in hopes of starting a conversation with Dave Matthews or Shaq, it’s very unlikely that they’ll reply. Sorry.
2. Pay the cool kid a complement or do him a favor. He’ll probably still ignore you in public, but he might be nice to you in the bathroom or math class… If you send a helpful response to a very popular person on twitter, they might thank you via Direct Message, instead of sharing their clout by thanking you publicly.
3. Talk to one of the cool kid’s friends – tell a joke or make a scene, the friend will find you interesting & maybe tell the cool kid how neat-o you are. This often works in 7th grade & in twitter, but its definitely not the most authentic approach.
4. Start smaller – make friends with the kid standing next to you, do something funny & gradually attract a group of new friends. The cool kid might eventually notice your little group, or continue to ignore you. Either way, you’ve now got a group of friends & an audience. Now that we’re no longer in the 7th grade, most of us realize that being yourself & talking to the kid next to you is the way to go – find your own place to fit in, even on twitter.
Does using twitter simplify my life? Not really – But I’m not gonna stop. Follow me!
Tags: advice, explaining twitter, how to use twitter, twitter, web 2.0
I love this comparison. It’s so true. I’m still really torn about twitter. We’ve been talking about it in class and kind of came to the inclusion that it’s only really useful if you use it all the time. Otherwise, you fall really behind…So right now, I’m still trying to find that balance of spending too much time on twitter and completely ignoring it. Hopefully I’ll figure it out.