- “Why wouldn’t I just use MSN [messenger] for quick conversations?”
- “I don’t see the point.”
- “It’s too much of a bother to update and read.”
- “I don’t have time.”
When you first see Twitter, it may be hard to see the point. Some people tweet about daily inanities like breakfast and the weather. But Twitter really shines when you forget about chatting with your friends and up the ante. The real value lies in the professional realm.
Find a big name in your industry who links to a Twitter account from their blog. (To be fair, this is easiest in the web space, from whence Twitter was borne, but other areas are gaining ground).
From there, check out their lists of Followers and Followees. You’ve just hit a goldmine of names to follow on Twitter, and chances are they’re all tweeting about conferences, trends, news articles, research and other people in their space. Guaranteed most of them have blogs, too.
If you’re really lucky, some of them will start following you as well, and you can initiate discussions with formerly inaccessible analysts, CEOs and gurus. You can also help out others who are looking for answers or connections.
I can’t enthuse enough about how much I’ve learned from my Twitter network. As more people follow me, I can start sending questions into the Twittersphere and see what responses I get. I can also post information I feel would be helpful to my network. It’s all a big positive feedback loop!
Tom Barrett has written a fantastic post about Twitter as a learning tool - highly recommended read. http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/03/29/twitter-a-teaching-and-learning-tool/
