Social Media - Why Use Twitter?

Last week we looked at some tips on how to use Twitter, but not why. There are four main reasons, which we shall explore in turn:

1. Broadcasting
2. Following
3. 1-2-1 messaging
4. Searching and discussing

1) BROADCASTING

Whenever you send a message on Twitter, called a "tweet", this is a public broadcast (unless you send a private Direct Message, discussed below):

• People who follow you can see it
• If they "retweet" it to their followers, they can see it
• People who look at your profile can see it
• Anyone searching for a word or phrase in your tweet can see it

I say "can see it" as it is best to assume that a tweet will only be read by people who are logged into Twitter and reading their tweets within one hour of a tweet being posted. Regular tweeting, without being excessive or too repetitive, is therefore a good idea if you are trying to get a message across.  

Tweets are simple, short text messages no longer than 140 characters (140C). But you can include a link to a web page, a blog, a photo or video, or indeed anything else that can be linked. This makes it a powerful form of communication.

This is of obvious interest to any business or celebrity wishing to promote a product, book, show or blog. It is also a cheap, simple way of organisations such as IT companies or emergency services to alert the public to important information.

Individuals may also wish to broadcast their thoughts, photos etc to the world. Clubs, societies and families may wish to provide information to members, in which case you can restrict followers to people you approve.

You can set up multiple accounts for different purposes if you wish.

2) FOLLOWING

Many people have little to tweet, but may do so occasionally. For them the main point of Twitter is to follow interesting people, be they celebrities, organisations or other individuals.

Anyone can follow anyone else, though each account holder can "block" people they don't want, or can set their account to approve follower requests.

By following someone, this typically brings your existence to that person's attention, so can be a useful business marketing tactic.

3) 1-2-1 MESSAGING

Anyone can send a message to anyone else, unless they have been blocked, by putting their @username in the tweet. This can be someone you know, or a total stranger. You can send the message to more than one person, subject to the 140C overall limit.

Provided you talk in a similar way as you would to someone you'd just met in a pub, and don't overdo the number of tweets, most people will respond. Even well-known celebrities will respond on occasions, which can be interesting.

If someone follows you, you can send them a "Direct Message", which is private between you. Follow each other and you can hold a private conversation. Just start each tweet "DM @username" followed by your message. However the recipient can retweet your DM publicly, so privacy is not guaranteed.

Note also that non-DM messages sent to someone will appear in your profile. Also, if someone is following both you and the recipient, they will see the conversation in their main “timeline” listing of tweets. 

People use different software to access Twitter, and each has a different way of accessing their DMs and other tweets mentioning their username. Some software makes these tweets very obvious, others less so. Also not everyone accesses their account regularly, just like email, so don't expect an immediate response.

4) SEARCHING AND DISCUSSING

You can search for any word or phrase in tweets, if there is a topic you are interested in. You can also search for @usernames, which will display all tweets except DMs sent by that person and to that person. You can therefore see the tweets being sent into a radio/TV show or celebrity.

To aid searches, people put "hashtags" starting with the # symbol in their tweets. This could be their comments using #bcs10 for a conference called Business Cloud Summit 2010, or #scd for a TV show such as Strictly Come Dancing. The shorter the hashtag the better. Hashtags can be placed anywhere in the tweet, though often tagged onto the end of a message.

By following hashtags using a search, you can see what’s being said and contribute as much or as little as you wish to the debate - be it frivolous or serious.

IN CONCLUSION

So Twitter gives you the opportunity to broadcast, follow, communicate privately and join in discussions. As it is currently a free service, it can be a powerful communication mechanism.

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