Twitter As a Microblog: Suddenly Less Stupid
CNN and FOX news can’t stop talking about it.
You may have seen someone ‘tweet’ in real-life.
You feel like you might be missing out.
Despite all the hype, twitter seems unbelievably stupid…
I thought so too when I first tried out the service, but by taking a different approach it is starting to seem like a useful tool.
You should follow me on twitter (@shawnlankton).
If you’ve never used twitter: It is essentially the same technology as facebook status updates. Short messages from people you ‘follow’ get collected in a single stream for you to quickly review when you’ve got a spare second.
Twitter as a micro-blog
I keep this blog to write long-ish articles and posts about topics that interest me and that I think can help you, the reader. However, on a good day there are lots more ideas and discoveries than time. Enter, the microblog.
Twitter provides a medium to post very short ideas, comments, and links to interesting content found elsewhere. I endeavor to make each tweet a stub for a potential blog post… just without my elegant prose. That means every time I post something I want it to be useful to the reader, not just some pointless info about my life. This suddenly transforms twitter from a self-indulgent distraction into the realm of useful tools for recording ideas and adding value.
Lots of people I follow use this same formula.
Twitter as ubiquitous content capture
When you find a link, hear a quote, or get an idea that you’d like to remember and share, you may not be near a computer. Twitter can be your ubiquitous information capture tool in those cases. By sending an SMS or updating twitter via iPhone the content gets sent to a centralized, searchable, shareable place to be found or referenced later.
Twitter as a social tool
Right now my list of followers and follow-ees is rather short. To really leverage the power of the medium there need to be lots of connections between friends and colleagues interested in similar subject matter. This gives you the opportunity to get quick answers and collaborations by asking questions of your followers and responding to their questions.
If you want to see my microblog without joining twitter, an embedded version can be accessed via the μblog tab at the top of the page.
Any other ideas on how to use twitter? Leave a comment.
One of the smartest people I know commented to me a while ago:
“I don’t read RSS feeds anymore. Twitter is my RSS reader now”
Twitter has become the sole source of discovering information on the web for many smart tech people. Most people think twitter is just facebook status updates. Yes, the technology is basically the same. But how people use it is drastically different.
I totally agree. I think that is the advantage. Facebook status updates are just people bragging about their social life or whining about their problems. Because of the mindset of *certain* people on twitter, it transforms into a much more powerful tool!
I’m still new to using twitter the ‘correct’ way. Hopefully some more advanced users (like Blake) can enlighten us with other tips on how to do it right.
Excellent post! Glad to see that you’ve discovered the potential of twitter. It took me a while to figure it out too, but now that I have I wish more people I knew where on it.