To Tweet, or Not To Tweet…

As Twitter has become more popular and added more users, I’ve found it interesting to read about Twitter naysayers and why they feel that way. .

Michael Arace column, Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2009/07/09/arace_7-9.ART_ART_07-09-09_C1_R6EDV4O.html

Kid Rock comments about Twitter:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/29/kid-rock-twitter-is-gay_n_246818.html

The N.F.L. Has Identified the Enemy and It Is Twitter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/sports/football/04twitter.html

Celebrity Twitter Overkill: SuperNews
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHAZt-Exuaw]

Typically someone who is voicing their opinion about why they don’t use Twitter starts and ends the opinion with the words, “I don’t want to know what someone ate for lunch today.” For those of us who use the platform, there couldn’t be a more ignorant statement. Although Twitter offers all users the opportunity to share their experiences on a minute by minute basis with millions of people daily, the true benefit of the platform is following people, events, organizations or news sources that a user finds interesting. If all you have to tweet about is what you had for lunch, you probably shouldn’t tweet.

However, I know of no one who wouldn’t benefit from the information that is now available on Twitter. In order to understand the vast information available it helps to understand some of the basic functionality of the platform. Sign Up!

Search– this function allows a user to search for people, brands or companies to see if they tweet? Type in what you are looking for and Twitter Search will show the results based on number of followers which allows you to determine which are legit or not.

Trending Topics– On the Twitter home page this tool allows you to see, in real time, what topics are being discussed most often. By clicking on a particular topic you can monitor what people are tweeting.

Hashtag– This tool allows you to essentially have a group discussion about a particular topic. By ending a tweet with the pound sign and a particular topic (#playnetwork) and typing that “hashtag” into a search you can immediately see who has been referencing the particular topic in their tweets.

The Twitter naysayers clearly have to try the platform to understand it because, as you know, we can’t explain it. We just know that once we accept and interact via Twitter it is the most fascinating and fast paced community we have ever been part of.

LettermanKevin Spacey Tweets with Dave:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z1aZ7Gs46A]

Kelly
Strategic Account Manager
www.playnetwork.com