How To Learn What Twitter Is All About

For a long time I’ve been avoiding the Twitter phenomenon. That is, until recently. A fellow associate of mine encouraged me to join and even explored some of the reasons why I hadn’t done so. I simply told him that I didn’t quite understand the need to Tweet and the real purpose of using Twitter. With some convincing, I signed up for an account.

Using Twitter starts with getting online and logging in every day. A friend turned me onto an application that allows me to leverage a number of different Twitter functions. By using these tools and having hands on experience, I’m finding that Twitter provides a number of valuable resources for my day to day activities.

After having some time getting used to Twitter and what it can do for me, I quickly learned the benefit of a far reaching social media tool. Having interest in tasks related to my job, hobbies, and other activities, I found large numbers of Twitter users who share the same interests. This is great for identifying a support group of other users who can discuss ideas and from whom you can learn a great deal. The other thing that’s so amazing is that you can get access to celebrities that are using the tool as well. They write about their lives and even share a personal anecdote from time to time. Twitter gives you a direct line to many people you thought weren’t within reach. This helps to make the world smaller and bring us all together.

As I explore my hobbies, I am finding others who are also learning about a particular topic or leisure area. They share great tips and information that save me tons of research. I’ve even built a small following of similar individuals and as a result can share what I know with them. Sometimes they respond directly and other times they pass on my tip or information to others. This is called re-tweeting and will likely be used by people in common speech rather soon.

You may be thinking to yourself that having an audience is a good thing, but it can also become a bit overwhelming at times. Twitter has a way to handle this as well. You can easily control who you follow and easily change your notifications. In essence, you can be very selective about who you communicate with and who communicates to you. This is a wonderful feature that helps you manage all of the messaging that happens on a regular basis.

The truth is that I was not an early adopter of social media for a number of reasons. Now that I’ve gotten some experience with Twitter and other social media tools, I better understand my initial reluctance to jump on board. I avoided social media because I simply didn’t understand it. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I’d never be able to fully appreciate it until I actually used it. Now that I have, I clearly see the value.

Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert with more than 14 years of marketing experience. He is also the President and founder of MarketingScoop.com which offers helpful marketing resources and SEO training.