How does Twitter work?

nancy sv

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How does Twitter Work? And Twitter tools and toys and whatnot...

I opened an account a week or so ago, but I really don't get it. Can someone explain what it's all about? Why would anyone want to read a bunch of one-sentence blurbs about what someone is doing right now?
 

mjlpsu

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I use it a bit. I have it connected to the blog, so my feed posts as well. I mostly put up little things that I wouldn't otherwise include in the blog.
I'm ChinaMatt.
 

Adam Israel

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For those that don't get it, I'll do my best to explain it from my perspective.

It's the flash fiction of blogging, in bite-sized chunks of 140 characters or less.

It's another method of networking. A way for friends, family, or fans to get more of a glimpse into the portion of your life you're willing to share.
 

laffarsmith

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I have a Twitter account but never have gotten into the habit of tweeting. I've just never seen much point. The conversations don't seem to gel together because it only shows the tweets from each individual and not the other tweeted responses. It's like blog comments that don't interact with each other, loveless.

Still, with it's popularity is always sounds like something we should all be into from a marketing perspective. I guess the real question is do you feel you would gain more from time committed to twitter than you would with whatever else you spend that time doing?

At the moment at least, my answer is no.
 

Adam Israel

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The conversations don't seem to gel together because it only shows the tweets from each individual and not the other tweeted responses. It's like blog comments that don't interact with each other, loveless.


That depends on the client you use, I think. The one I use, Twitterific, does that but it's Mac-only.
 

Ava Jarvis

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I often get into conversations with others on Twitter. It's not just about your updates, and it's not just about someone else's updates---it's about updates from people you're interested in.

The Twitter conversations I've had are kind of like broadcast IMs---and if you're a follower of both people involved in a conversation, you see both ends if you like.

If you follow people, many of them will follow you back, and you'll get to see plenty of conversation.

If you twitter interesting things, people will find you and follow you.

Twitter goes beyond little updates every few minutes, or just twittering what you're doing. It's micro-blogging and networking with people. Especially networking is important.

And then there's FriendFeed.

I'm

http://twitter.com/ArachneJericho

and

http://friendfeed.com/arachnejericho
 

Dawno

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Twitter is much in the tech blogs and feeds recently - lots of problems with scaling, downtime, features fitzing out. Don't know what they're going to do - get some venture cap.? Doesn't hurt to sign up. There are some folk who use it a lot and love it.
 

Dawno

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Yeah, see, Dawno, that post just wasn't altogether convincing, ya know? ;) And yet, I signed up anyway. And now I'm stalking following a whole bunches of yous...

:D I plan to tweet from WorldCon in August, but unless I'm doing something like that, I haven't used it much. I could do it from my cell phone, I just keep forgetting! Which makes me think that Twitter isn't particularly the right medium for an ol' fart with chronic CRS.
 

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I could do it from my cell phone, I just keep forgetting! Which makes me think that Twitter isn't particularly the right medium for an ol' fart with chronic CRS.

Well, no, but it should work fine for you Dawno.
 

writergirl08

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Fun thread! I just joined Twitter this week and haven't even sent a "tweet" out yet, I'm such a newbie! I'll go through and add the people on this thread. Here's mine: http://twitter.com/stephaniedube

Btw, how do you attach your blog to twitter for blog updates? I haven't figured out much about Twitter except how to follow people.
 

art nerd

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:D I plan to tweet from WorldCon in August, but unless I'm doing something like that, I haven't used it much. I could do it from my cell phone, I just keep forgetting! Which makes me think that Twitter isn't particularly the right medium for an ol' fart with chronic CRS.

I plan to tweet from San Diego Comic-Con which is next week. At least that's the plan. I don't know if I'll be able to tweet, buy stuff, and take pictures at the same time.
 

L M Ashton

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Nancy, I hadn't realized you'd already left on your bike trip. Until I started following you on Twitter and now I can see that you're in Whitehorse. :D Have a great trip, eh? :)

Also, and I sent this to you via Twitter as well, you can put your Twitter feed on your blog/website if you want. Just so you're aware of the possibilities. :)