How To Twitter And Why You Should - Video 1 Part 1
Written by ESTV
Friday, 30 October 2009 17:04
I don't know what the inventers of Twitter were thinking when they created it or what they thought people would do with it but I am pretty sure it has developed in ways they never imagined.
However as the conversation below illustrates not everyone gets it! But as this article will show it has passed the point where you can afford to ignore it or just brush it off if you are serious about marketing your business or web site. The conversation below is a real one from which I copied an excerpt. You can see all of it at http://hubpages.com/hub/Twitter--twitter--tweet-tweet.
Comment:
Feline Prophet says: Seriously, I haven't understood this whole Twitter business...who needs to know what you're doing all day anyway...and what kind of person needs to broadcast it to the world?
Dianacharles says: errrr...obviously millions of people dont agree with you FP. It's like 25 random things about yourself on Facebook/Orkut where you are telling utter strangers things about yourself, which maybe they are better off not knowing. Today's world is all about being in the face. We are from a different generation.
Nancy says: Hmmm! But twitter does sound more like a canary? :D
Ravin says: The SMS of internet indeed... :-)
Uma says: I joined Twitter to follow some news reporters when they were reporting on a major storm. However, I find it most confusing. Facebook which used to be the exclusive domain of certain college kids, now open to everyone, is far less user-friendly than our dear Orkut! :P :D :) But its Twitter and Facebook which is growing by leaps and bounds, not Orkut. Makes me curious.
The only thing I see is Twittiering umm chirping ivolves using a few words saying even less. Sign of the times? 10 sec sound bites?
Dianacharles says: anyone know why they decided to call it twitter?? and yes Uma I think it is like I would like to hear what you have been doing, but keep it ...SHORT
Logical Spark says: Brevity being the very soul of wit, I guess, to be a effective twitter one has to be a sharp wit ! Hence I quit !
As you can see ease of use does not necessarily mean it is easy to use or understand. So what is twitter?
Twitter was the first micro blogging platform and is still the most used and to put that into perspective there are over 20,000,000 Tweets posted every day (to see the statistics go here: http://popacular.com/gigatweet/analytics.php)
More importantly it is experiencing a huge growth rate (it grew by 752% in 2008 and so far this year its growth rate is over 1382%). In an article earlier this year Nielsen Wire said:
Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month. Zimbio and Facebook followed, growing 240 percent and 228 percent.
Note: In June 2009 Nielsen Wire reported that the growth rate increased to 1,444%)
In fact when people talk about micro blogging they are usually referring to Twitter. So what is a micro blog?
Well just as a regular blog has no limit to the length of each blog post a micro blog has one and in the case of Twitter, it is 140 characters.
And therein lies the beauty, the simplicity and the conundrum (puzzle, challenge, problem). What the heck can you say in 140 characters that is not banal?
Well obviously a lot of people haven't worked that out yet but a great many have and that's why Twitter has gone stratospheric. And the fact that over 7,000,000 people use it every month (in fact on average 14 times a day) is the only reason you need to learn why and how you should be there too.
In this series on Twitter Ric Vatner, our editor and publisher and Social Media consultant, will show you how to open an account (these two videos cover that) and how to use it effectively. We'll look at some of the pitfalls and some of the great Twitter tools available to help you get the most out of it. And we will answer your questions. So if you have a question or a comment post it in the comment section below and we will cover them as we go.
Oh, and when you get on Twitter or if you are already there, go to www.twitter.com/estv and follow us. We will follow you back and we look forward to sharing Tweets with you.
A Short History of Twitter Twitter was conceived as a last ditch attempt to save it's parent company Odeo Inc. a once leading Podcast company struggling to survive an attack on its traditional turf from Apple and other heavyweights.
In this short history Ric Vatner traces the rise of Twitter and the fall of its parent company. It was not an easy birth and some of the original team were sacrificed along the way. Read this interesting story with quotes from the actual participants.
I don't know what the inventers of Twitter (Link to the History of Twitter story) were thinking when they created it or what they thought people would do with it but I am pretty sure it has developed in ways they never imagined.
Twitter was conceived in 2006 by a team of engineers working at a podcasting company called Odeo, Inc. which was based in South Park, San Francisco. Odeo was facing stiff competition from Apple and other heavyweights and the board was not feeling optimistic so the company was put on notice to reinvent itself.
Share Link: 
