The title of this post is the question I asked myself many times.. before I used it myself that is.
For the first months of Twitter being talked about I deliberately kept away from it thinking that ‘micro-blogging’ was a complete waste of time. Who the hell would want to know if I’m going for a coffee or what page I’m interested in at the moment?.. turns out, quite a lot of people do actually.
I’ve been using Twitter through an application called Tweedeck for a couple of months now and I’ve really grown used to it taking up almost all of my second monitor space. I’ve discovered many reasons to use Twitter and I thought I’d share my thoughts on twitter here;
It’s not an IM
I hate IM programs, msn, yahoo, gtalk and all the rest because they just suck time away from you while you wait for someone to respond. I’m a fast typist so it’s painful to wait 3 minutes watching the “soandso is typing..” only to get a “yeah, I know!” in the message window.
They’re distracting too, I hate having a “tiddly-dum” noise happening all the bleedin time while I’m trying to watch something. Even though I’m committed to the tv at the time, a “tiddly-dum” will cause me to come to the computer to see what it was. 9 times out of 10 it could have waited but like brown on finger, it had to be investigated.
I’ve switched off all my IM stuff now and my productivity has massively increased! That’s why I like twitter, it’s like a thought catcher. It allows you to put up in less than 140 characters what’s on your mind without needing an immediate response.
If someone asks me a question via Twitter, it doesn’t make a flashing button on the taskbar appear demanding immediate attention. Instead, I can see it when the tweetdeck window gets the focus on my many many windows open.
You can download tweetdeck here, I really recommend using it. This is what my screen with twitter window looks like.
I use 3 columns. One for replies, one for the whole tweet stream and one for direct messages.
It can change the world (in 48 hours)
I donated some money to an organisation that wants to build a new classroom for a school in Tanzania. It was set up by http://tweetsgiving.org during the thanksgiving run up in America. The whole point was to raise 10,000 dollars in 48 hours by using twitter to promote it.
It was an amazing idea and executed wonderfully, people were retweeting messages about it all through the 2 days and before the time was up, 10 grand was raised just from the kindness of tweeters.
It’s not full of spam (yet)
I have seen very little spamming going on with it which is such a change for a 2.0 web thingy. Usually the first thing any popular company does is switch on the money making adverts or get bombarded with cialis (ab)users.
There are a couple of advertising options open to twitter users but not by twitter itself. Magpie is one of them, I used it myself recently to promote some ebay listings using keywords like ipod and ebay. It generated a lot of click thrus and coincidence or not, I sold out of everything I advertised. Just before Christmas too! woohoo
It’s organic networking
I really like this part of it, it’s not like other places where you have to join someone and jump through some hoops to be part of their group. You can just click their follow link and get their tweets in your stream of all tweets. If you think they self promote too much, just unfollow and they’re gone!
You get to see what people are like a lot easier than by reading their blog, just 140 characters forces the person to not over-edit or revise their text.
From this you can see who you want to deal with and not be bowled over by a slick sales page or well crafted and heavily edited authority article. Straight to the brain is the game. I love it.
You find out what’s happening straight away
Just seeing a stream of tweets going by you can quickly pick up a repeated phrase, when the Mumbai attacks happened I knew about it before Sky news that was on in the background!
Shopper gets trampled on Black Friday sales in Walmart? I heard it on twitter first.
It really is a way to get a pulse on the world and especially useful if you’re a prolific blogger who’s hungry for news to post. If you’re early on breaking news or big things to happen then you’re on to a stumbleupon golden egg page.
If you need to know something, like, right now
This is fast becoming one of my favourite things about twitter. The ability to throw a question out there and have it answered within a few minutes or see it get retweeted (re-broadcasting the question to ones own network of followers) is just amazing.
My partner wanted to know how to attach a zipper to a home made woolen cardigan. I had no idea but I thought someone out there in the twitterverse (you’ll get used to these twitterisms) might know or at least, know someone who would know.
One of my followers saw the question and broadcasted it to her own network, within a couple of minutes I had a message with a link to a picture of exactly what to do. That’s the first time my pc has got some praise from ‘her indoors’ 
You can use the wp-twitip-id plugin!
Ok shameless self promotion here but you can take advantage of the wp-twitip-id plugin which allows you to add a twitter username field to your comment form on your wordpress blog and display a “follow me” link or image next to the comment authors name.
Another reason for people to leave good comments on your site!
You can download wp-twitip-id plugin here
It’s got a really cool api
API or Applications Programming Interface is how so many cool widgets and gadgets get made by the geeky. It’s a way for developers to interact with the twitter server and pull loads of interesting information about the twitterverse.
There will be more and more applications coming out for twitter in the near future, there are already some incredible 2.0 web applications that give a sneak peak of what the internet of the ’10s will be.
Follow me on twitter if you haven’t already and get up to the second updates on my plugins and offers
Follow Me@commentluv
Took me awhile to see its value, but I’m hooked! Twitter is just plain fun.
Chris´s last blog post..Get Serious About Your Business
Twitter: psychicgeek
I think I’ll just keep a twitter tab open on my browser. When I went to install Tweetdeck, the originator was unknown, and the application has unlimited access to your files. I cancelled the installation.
witchypoo´s last blog post..I’m Not Worthy
I used Twitter quite a bit but I don’t use it as often. It does help you converse with some of your readers though. Otherwise, I’d rather promote myself other ways.
Blog Expert´s last blog post..3 Ways to a Popular Blog
chris: it doesn’t take much to get hooked once you get over the idea that people would want to follow what you’re having for breakfast
witchypoo: yes I had the same thing with winXP , it had access to EVERYTHING , I uninstalled it but couldn’t use the pc without it. [/sarcy remak]
There is a site called peoplebrowsr that has a web2.0 version that can run in a tab which works quite well if you’re nervous of desktop applications having too much access.
blog expert: it’s a wonderful way to let a lot of people know about something you’re doing. I can’t think of a more quick and efficient way of keeping your brand or name out there.
Andy, last night I wrote a guest post for Barbara Swafford (not published yet) about how I started off thinking Twitter was stupid, and came to love it. However, I didn’t see the value until I got off the web interface and started using Twhirl (now I use TweetDeck). The real time aspect makes all the difference in the world, IMHO.
Hunter Nuttall´s last blog post..Deos Splnielg Rlaley Mteatr?
i too wondered why anyone would care what i was doing or why i would care what they are doing, but the tweets have been fun to read. even if i don’t tweet anything, i like reading them. it’s a thought catcher just like you said
about to go try out the plugin. i hope it will work well with my theme
Natural´s last blog post..The Day of the Fight
Hunter: I agree, I thought twitter was a waste of time until I tried tweetdeck after seeing @styletime talk about it. it’s the realtime nature of it that makes it the awesomes compared to all other social things
Natural: let me know how the plugin works out, thanks for the comment
Boy I can’t wait to start tweeting. LOL
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Your Link Just Got MORE Valuable!
Dennis: you should try following some people, that would get you some exposure everytime someone replies to you or you reply to them.
I am yet to get hooked but the more I read about so many people twittering, may be I too will give it a try. Your reasons seem interesting enough.
Nicole Price´s last blog post..Offbeat Gift Ideas
I don’t know twitter just sucks up so much time. But on the other hand it is a great way to break news. I guess it depends on the person, whether it’s worth it to you or not.
Simon´s last blog post..Home Finance Software
Andy – I’m shocked that you didn’t mention the fact that I don’t have any tweets since I opened the account last December! LOL
Actually I just unfollowed the few I was “following” when I opened it, to start over. I plan to bust out on twitter in the new year…..there will be an upcoming post explaining my madness before the end of the year.
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..How Do You Check For Incoming Links?
tweet! tweet!
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I really don’t have Twitter account until finally you have convinced me because of this article…
Marketers have been getting ahold of twitter and trying to distort it to their own purposes. That said, most will fail because most marketers have yet to figure out that social traffic wants to be entertained, not sold to.
Just my 2 cents though.
Leo´s last blog post..Internet Marketers- Web2.0 Traffic Does NOT want to be sold to
Wow! i didn’t realize Twitter is that good. I guess I’ve been missing a lot ! going to open an account right now.
Anti Scams´s last blog post..Acai Berry + Colon Cleanse Scam ?
Nice Post! I can use twitter for sharing my doubts to other person. finally i get a idea for my doubt.so i thing twitter is important tool for SEO .I agree your post.Thank for your post .
wow, i have been using friendster and it sucks (makers of yahoo made it lol) so i might check out twitter for my sites.
Twitter can be an asset to any business if they know how to use it correctly. Currently, I think @stevepavlina has reached a nice balance.
And thanks for mentioning TweetDeck. I’ve been meaning to get that for a while now. Thanks for reminding me!
byteful traveller´s last blog post..7 Things to Know Before You Visit Sears Tower
I currently use Twitter, but I don’t think I have been giving it the attention it deserves. I will DEFINITELY be downloading the plug-in.. Thanks
LaMystique´s last blog post..Seven Deadly Sales Sins
Not to try to spam, because I’m not, but I think I figured out one reason.. I had my wrong twitter ID..lol
Hmmm I dunno, guess I’m still a bit of a Luddite with social media! I only joined Facebook a couple of months ago… Twitter is on my list of things to look at in the New Year, but your reasons are making me think I should push it higher up the list Andy
Cheers, Jon
Jon´s last blog post..Beauty News – Botox regulations tighten in UK
I think it is a great social tool. Very Powerful!
WP Cult´s last blog post..Offer: Premium Theme for Free
Thank for the sharing, will download the tweetdeck~
but I use Plurk more…
DSvT´s last blog post..Hitachi Warehouse Sales 2008
Yep. I am loving Twitter after initially being totally exasperated by it. A great way to interact with people with the same interests and brilliant for new traffic and subscribers.
It took a while to get in to it but now it is a great way to interact.
I love commentluv by the way. It is such a great way to let the community know of your latest/best post.
the three dog blogger´s last blog post..The Greatest Dog Story In The World. Be Part Of It.
I love twitter. Find some very interesting reads and it’s also good for marketing.
I personally don’t use twitter. But my impression of it is that it is used more for tell your friends know what you are doing. For instance if say you are going to Club So and SO, you would put that on your twitter so if your friends can’t get a hold of you they know where they can find you.
I feel that twitter is more for the extremely socially active people, that are always on the go and hard to get a hold of. But that is just my opinion.
Sarah´s last blog post..Lululemon Boxing Day Sale
I can’t remember why I started using Twitter. Feels like I have always had it somehow. I usually sign into it every couple of days, and leave a few Tweets in each sitting.
Some people seem to use it like IM though, @replying all over the place, every few seconds. I like to throw out a Tweet question to my followers every now and then, but then nobody replies….[sniff].
Roy Nottage´s last blog post..Holy Briefs Batman? Another Walk Cycle?
twitter is great as long as you find quality people to follow. every once in a while i start following a spammer and end up with a bunch of junk
kyudo´s last blog post..Cell Phone Pistol
Twitter is so fun! I’ve made some incredible contacts there. I use it for everything from movie reviews (via the search) to seeking help w/technical problems, to general socializing with bloggers in the same genre as myself. Highly recommended!
Heidi / Savory Tv´s last blog post..Hot food trends for 2009!
I like twitter. I think it’s a great way to meet new interesting people. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s only available in english. I would like something like that to get huge in my country.
Mr utorrent´s last blog post..Allt om Rock band till xbox 360, och rock band 2
Actually, Twitter is also available in Japanese. If you access Twitter.com from an IP originating in Japan, you get a Japanese version.
Small world.
byteful traveller´s last blog post..Vegetarian, Raw, and Vegan Web Badges
I already use myspace, bebo & facebook. I hear twitter is the more technological social networking site though.
I am using Twitter to promote my blog. I don’t much get into the whole “I am having a cup of coffee thing” but I do use it for research from time to time. I bounce ideas off of my followers and they generally come back with great advice.
Dental Marketing´s last blog post..Is Your Dental Website Well Connected?
I’m definitely with you on this one, I didn’t get it at first at all, but now I love Twitter!
Gini´s last blog post..Top 10 Fantasy Art Sites – Fairies, Mermaids, Dragons, and More
online education is the best idea for people who have teacher experience. they can make money out of it but how far student will improve his knowledge is doubt.
Twitter is awesome…I am addicted to it.
Lululemon´s last blog post..Lululemon Athletica announces fourth quater earnings
Thanks Andy for sharing TweetDeck, I am downloading it and let me try how it works.
ahh, i’ve recently joined twitter and i have yet to use it. you’ve made some good points though… especially the organic networking you’ve mentioned. could be pretty useful after all.