The pub called twitter

When I start using twitter, a few months ago, I did not understand the advantages of twitter or actually I did not understand how to use twitter. Although twitter is becoming more popular these days, twitter already arose in 2006. More than 25 million people are using twitter, there has to be a big advantage of using twitter. What is the power of twitter and how do you have to use it?

First, I thought the purpose was sharing what you are doing with your friends. That is similar like the function: ‘who, what, where’ on Hyves. I was enthusiastically twittering about all the things I was doing. When I used twitter more and more I found out it was more than socializing with your friends.
A few days ago I was on a birthday party and the subject we were talking about was twitter. ‘I think people who start using twitter, use it the wrong way, said someone. I wondered what the right way of using twitter was. ‘Well, first of all you do not twitter about what you have done, but what you are going to do or are doing’ she said. Therefore, twitter is up-to-date.

‘Twitter is always and everywhere sharing information’, said Erwin Blom, one of the first ‘twitteraars’. I like the idea of sharing information, but the idea of always and everywhere is a bit scary if you take this literally. This means that you take your computer or phone always with you and that you always have to check your twitter account. Luckily for me Erwin Blom gave another example: Twitter is like a pub, where you can always find acquaintances. You can chose with whom you will talk (who do you follow) and when. I think this is a big advantage of twitter. It is personal and you can use it the way you want to. You can use it to talk with your friends, following actors or use it for commercial reasons.
You have to be careful what you put online. Sharing your information means that it is public. I made a mistake: I had protected my tweets, but this makes sharing information a bit difficult. ( Thank you for telling me this D;-) ). Therefore, my tweets can now be read by anyone. I am a bit careful what to put online, because even Google knows what I am saying.

Yet, the power of twitter is big and becomes bigger every day. It has not only a big influence on the media (news via twitter), but on the marketing too. Companies can use different marketing strategies these days. Social media and marketing becomes more popular. I hope to tell you about this, in the next blog.

Read more about twitter:
www.erwinblom.nl
Or the twitter manual:
http://jeanetbathoorn.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/twitter-handleiding-12-belangrijke-tips/#more-402

By the way: Did you know there is a ‘twitter guide’? This is a list categorized on different subjects. After you have chosen your subject, you find a list with people connected too that subject. If you search well, you will find interesting people.

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