What Is Twitter, Follow Me logo

The world is buzzing with Twittermania these days and if you truly understand what Twitter is really about you’re not surprised by all the attention it’s getting.  If you don’t understand what Twittering is or you think Twitter is just another stupid time wasting social network, I challenge you to continue reading as I am sure you will not feel the same way about it afterward.  I can assure you that Twitter is not a fad or a gimmick and it’s not just the newest breed of social networks.  Twitter is a powerful tool that can be used to do many things and it is unlike anything that we have ever seen before.
First Impressions
I must admit that my first impression of Twitter was not love at first sight.  In fact, I initially thought Twitter was quite silly and downright stupid. I mean, why would anyone want to know what I you’re doing right now and what kind of egomaniac really believes other people care about what you’re doing? Moreover, who cares to receive frequent updates throughout the day describing what you’re eating, what movie you’re watching, when you decide to brush your teeth, or when you are going to walk your dog? Despite my pessimistic attitude, I reluctantly joined Twitter in January of 2008 to see what all the fuss was about. I remember watching the Common Craft’s “Twitter in Plain English” video to get a quick introduction into the concept of Twitter and afterward thinking it was just as ridiculous and self-serving as I had originally thought.  During my first few months as a member, I used Twitter quite sparingly.  It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the Twitter search engine called Summize (now Twitter’s native search engine) that I caught a glimpse into the magnificent power that Twitter possesses.


What Is Twitter, Really?
In short, Twitter is a micro-blogging/social networking platform akin to an IRC chat client that’s searchable.  As you will discover however, Twitter is really much more than that.  To me, Twitter is an incredible live feed of information and resources that can be used for much more than just social networking.  Because it is so easily accessible (web, mobile devices, text messaging), you can often hear of breaking news on Twitter prior to it ever reaching the major media sources. Plus, because “tweets” are limited to 140 characters in length, the messages are visceral in nature; giving insight into how someone truly feels about something or someone (i.e. product, news story, politician). This kind of information is extremely valuable for such purposes as business marketing and political campaigns. Twitter acts as a sort of social barometer that can also be used to identify trends in the marketplace and in society as well. Another way of comprehending the value of Twitter is to consider this: what if everything you ever said was recorded and searchable? Well, Twitter does that for you; if you ever say it on Twitter. Search.Twitter.com allows you to discover and connect with others that share common interests or simply follow those whom you just find interesting.


How Is Twitter Different From Other Social Networks?
People sometimes ask me how Twitter is different from all the other millions of social networks out there. Personally, I don’t think of Twitter as a social network. I tend to think of traditional social networks like MySpace and Facebook as much more personal than Twitter in the sense that most people only allow friends or people they actually know into their “friends” network. Twitter, on the other hand, displays less personal information about the user and makes it much easier to add them as a friend (i.e. “follow” them). The Twitter community is more accessible and helpful as well. Whether it’s asking for WordPress assistance or recommendations for online storage and backup services, there’s always someone that’s tweeted about your topic of interest whom you can easily tap for help. You just can’t do that with social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook because you usually have to be introduced to them or actually know the person beforehand.  With a single stroke of brilliance, Twitter has in effect lowered the barrier to networking with others while at the same time reduced the potential for spamming by simply utilizing the less intrusive “follow” method instead of  the “add as friend” method.  The commonly used “add as friend” method requires obligatory reciprocal befriending/following of both parties involved whereas the “follow” method does not.  Thus by utilizing the follow method, you can still have just as many followers/friends without ever experiencing the spam risks that are intrinsic to the obligatory reciprocal befriending methodology.


Common Twitter Uses
Besides using it to communicate with friends and meet people, Twitter can be utilized for a multitude of things. The scope of its use is limited practically only by your own imagination. I know that sounds a little corny but it’s true. Given the hundreds of Twitter clients and applications available, you can usually find one that offers the features you are looking for. Here’s a list of some of the more common uses for Twitter.

1. Getting advice and feedback
2. Promoting your business
3. Content sharing and discovery
4. Entertainment
5. News source
6. Deal notification
7. Taking notes
8. Marketing research
9. Finding help
10. Reputation monitoring



A Powerful Communication/Distribution Platform
Like most non-Twitter users, I initially didn’t “get it” and was very hesitant to start using Twitter. I once thought that Twitter was a gimmick and at its very best it was a feature that would someday be integrated into social networks like Facebook and MySpace.  However, part of the genius behind Twitter is that it basically permits unrestricted live commenting of any topic without localized boundaries. Twitter has effectively removed the shackles that bind conversations to articles and empowers its users by giving them the ability to spread ideas and conversations farther than any single article-driven commenting system can. As I am sure the Twitter founders know quite well, the real power lies within the comments not the articles.  While articles are indeed a great way to propose and stimulate ideas, it is the comments themselves that drive participation, further discussion, and the advancement of new ideas. Twitter has effectively tapped into this concept and tied it to the most popular and readily accessible real-time communication mediums (mobile phones, internet).
It never occurred to me that Twitter would be such a thriving communication platform that has a real shot at becoming one of the most influential web based technologies we have ever seen. It’s also very likely that someday Twitter may be the most valuable internet property on the web. My thoughts concerning Twitter nowadays are such that it wouldn’t even surprise me to see Twitter’s visitor traffic surpass that of Facebook’s within only 1-2 years.  You may find that hard to believe right now, but it’s a fact that Twitter traffic is exploding, it’s just started to go mainstream, and it has no real competition, unlike Facebook.  Twitter’s capability as a primary source for breaking news is unmatched and it’s capacity for content growth is staggering. Considering that each Twitter user creates new content just about every day, we are looking at one hell of a library of information and it’s nearly impossible to comprehend the extent of its reach and its impact on the web. The result is an incredible amount of new SERPS for Google and massive amounts of traffic for Twitter. We are just beginning to catch a glimpse of this in its infancy as many Twitter profiles are already topping the number one ranking position on Google for a given user’s name.
The concept of Twitter reminds me of the episode of the Jerry Seinfeld show where Jerry and George are pitching their show about “nothing”. In some sense, Twitter fits that description. That is, if you look at each individual tweet alone, it seems very insignificant. But if you take into account the fact that Twitter as an entire network of millions of people, that nothing quickly begins to appear like something enormously powerful and huge. The same may be said for tweet distribution in that, when you tweet, it may seem like you are shouting into a blackhole in which your voice will never be heard by anyone. In contrast, your tweets are saved and therefore made available for everyone to discover and share them. The distribution of tweets is powerful because it is exponentially determined. That is, when you tweet something that is not specifically addressed to someone, the potential number of people that see your tweet is only limited by the popularity of the terms within the tweet (how many people are searching for that word or phrase on Twitter) and how many followers you have to see the tweet. If someone retweets (shares/redistributes a tweet) your tweet, that increases the number of times your tweet appears by 1 (appearances within Twitter search), plus it introduces that tweet to all of your friend’s followers. There’s also a possibility for greater distribution in the case where a non-follower is viewing someone’s Twitter page at the time of the tweet, sees it, and chooses to retweet it. That scenario, however, has a very low probability of occurring and it’s effect can therefore be considered negligible.


Final Thoughts
In closing, I hope this article helped describe to you what Twittering is, how to use Twitter, and why it is so powerful.  I must warn you, however, that in order to fully understand Twitter, you must actually use it yourself.  So if you are not a current Twitter member I suggest you register now and try out some of the common uses for Twitter mentioned above.  Furthermore, if you liked this article please revisit it after you have registered and retweet it (see retweet button below) and follow me. If you have any thoughts on this article that you would like to share with me, or any questions about Twitter, please feel free to leave your comments below or contact me. Thanks for visiting, I’m looking forward to reading your tweets!