Why Twitter? Part 1
Ok, so my wife and I have been debating the use of Twitter. I use Twitter all the time, along with several other Social Media Sites. My wife, on the other hand, enjoys Facebook, but that’s it. According to her, it’s just another site that she’ll have to check and keep updated. And, while that’s partially true, there’s a whole lot more to consider. So this post is for those of you who enjoy Social Media sites (i.e. Facebook, Myspace, etc.) but haven’t quite connected with Twitter.
First of all, Twitter has a great FAQ on the subject. But, it’s a bit long, and most noobs (Newbies) won’t take the time to read it–especially if they’re really not that interested to begin with. So instead, I’m simply going to explain why I use it, and what it does for me personally.
I tweet, therefore I am
In the Twitterverse, you “follow” people. When you follow them on Twitter, their updates, or “tweets” show up in your timeline. Of course each tweet is limited to only 140 characters which forces people to be brief and get to the point-which I love! And of course, anyone following you gets your tweets in their timeline as well.
It’s important who you follow though. I haven’t figured out yet exactly how it is practical to follow hundreds, even thousands of people, which many Twitter users do. That’s so many people that their tweets are only on your timeline for moments before they are bumped by new ones. And since i’m actually reading people’s tweets, that makes no sense to me. But, if you limit yourself to following people that you are actually interested in what they say, you can keep up and Twitter is actually useful.
So who should you follow? Well, again, I can only tell you what’s useful for me. I follow a few local folks to stay in the loop about local activities I’m interested in. Here’s a few examples: The Valdosta Daily Times, the local newspaper; The Valdosta Daily Times Varsity, which keeps me updated on local sports (since football is a way of life in Valdosta…); and Wild Adventures, the local theme park, who sends out updates, special deals, etc. I follow a few preachers, such as Andy Stanley, Ed Young, and my Uncle Lamar Hahn. All three of these guys tweet out church updates, links to articles that they find interesting, and personal updates. I follow a few folks that do things that I’m interested in, such as sound and video production, church planting, tech stuff, and social media. These include A Sound Church, Behind the Mixer, Phil Cooke, and Leo Laporte. And of course I have a few friends on there as well, such as Clayton Gregory, and Nick and Kandyn Mathes. These, among many others, are folks that I find interesting and, well, useful to follow. I can’t begin name off all the things I’ve learned following these guys.
Well this post is getting long and I haven’t even gotten to the neatest parts yet, so I’ll finish that up in another post. Stay tuned!