Practice Random Acts of Twitter | Friday Flickr Fix | 05.09.08

Admit it. At some point, in some form or another…Twitter pisses you off. I’ve been there and back.

That’s from a post detailing why I think Marketing and PR people should try Twitter. Rather than cross-posting it here, I’ll build on it.

People are time-starved and don’t want to spend more time online than they have to. In the wake of an endless stream of shiny new sites we simply HAVE to check out, the magic question becomes: What value does Twitter add to your life?

For me it’s the higher level of interaction, online and offline, with other professionals. I was running out of steam with this blog. Twitter connected me with several people and got me engaged in a variety of industry conversations. The offline meet ups in particular gave me a second wind as they "complete the circuit that social networking communities establish virtually." Via Angelo Mandato.

In addition to meeting new people via Twitter, it turns out you can also win contests. Billy Fairchild was running a contest as a way to connect with more folks online. I was unaware of the contest, but was automatically entered when I began following him on Twitter. It turns out I won the grand prize. How cool is that? I’d been meaning to replace my old web cam so it will be a lot of fun playing with this “random act of Twitter.”

If you haven’t already, check out Twitter. It’s a handy utility and one example of how professional communicators are getting more directly involved in the conversation.

so happy together uploaded by Mr. Mark
tags | public relations | PR | marketing | social media | Twitter

Comments

[Gavin Heaton]

Twitter is also a great, immediate source of ideas and connections. If you need to know the answer to some question or problem, simply ask and see who responds. The generosity of the community will astound you ;)

[Linda Sherman]

I definitely get value from Twitter. That said, I think that when we invite newcomers to Twitter they should understand that Twitter is not MySpace. It is not useful to add 100's of people without having an idea of who they are. In my experience Twitter relationships are built one by one. Visit the person's blog. Hang around. And as pointed out here, definitely participate in the off-line meet-up opportunities that arise.

[Steve Woodruff]

Kevin, I find Twitter to be an endless supply of creative ideas and thoughts; but also, as a solo entrepreneur, a very valuable way to create and cultivate relationships. Instead of e-mail being the first thing I look at in the morning (which it ALWAYS was!), now Twitter has displaced it.

[Lara Kretler]

Twitter has taught me to be brief! If you can't say it in 140 characters, is it really worth saying? Also, meeting some amazingly bright people and finding I'm stepping up my own game.

[Josh Rodamer]

Kevin, I have just started to use twitter, but I have found it very useful to find information and to have the opportunity to just think out loud.

[Josh Rodamer]

Kevin, I have just started to use twitter, but I have found it very useful to find information and to have the opportunity to just think out loud.

[Mike Driehorst]

In echoing Steve's point, Twitter is a great resource to solicit ideas and feedback, and learn new news and posts I wouldn't have found otherwise. Information is valuable -- and Twitter helps to the keep supplyline moving.

From a community perspective, I've also of late found more people relatively nearby (Detroit) to network with. Even now it's only online, as you noted, there are plenty of opportunities for real, in-person meet ups.

Those are just the personal benefits.

Recently, we've begun to see more companies use Twitter for customer service, along with marketing opportunities.
Take care and enjoy the weekend!
-Mike

[tom]

I use it as a micro blog ( @meat99 ) to stream interesting and noteworthy digital feats to my team. All of us at POKE follow each other. This way the "hey, check this out!" emails drop down to a respectable level and move to a more "permission" venue. A nice surprise has been that other people (I guess) seem to find my stream worth while bc new followers show up quite often. That becomes a nice PR engine POKE when we've launched something we're proud of and want to share.

[Kevin Dugan]

Wow! These are all great comments. Thanks for all of the feedabck everyone. And to those folks reading this not on Twitter...I did request people stop by and comment using Twitter.

[Rishabh Kaul]

I'd use it like the rest of the world as a platform to network with people, especially people from the social media circuit and entrepreneurs.

That's the standard stuff,
I would also use it to promote my blog and other affiliate organisations and update others through twitter.
Here's an article I wrote on the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership-BITS Pilani blog on twitter
http://efactor.blogspot.com/2008/05/tweets-on-twitter.html

Sometimes if I am bored, I would also just randomly browse through it and bug people :P

[James Cherkoff]

Twitter is my office. ;-)

[John Atkinson]

Kevin, as a Web 2.0 startup, Twitter is a great connector for us - it's like having instant access to a huge mastermind group.

Users around the world give us instant feedback on PimpMyNews, we share "best practices" with other entrepreneurs, bloggers tweet in their suggestions - and it's a great real time support tool for our users.

We also use it to bug people ;D

[Miguel Sepulveda]

As a PR student Twitter allows me to connect with industry professionals, to stay abreast of what is important in te industry, and to get insight into trends.

[Mike Buckley]

I'll admit I've avoided Twitter, not seeing how it could be of value. But, for some reason, I decided to give it a try last week. Within the first 24 hours I had two ideas for blog posts that I would never have seen otherwise.

As you point out, if you choose your Twitter followees carefully, it can be very valuable and really doesn't eat up a lot of time.

[PepperDigital]

In the rapidly growing space of social media, it is interesting to see which tools, applications, and people shine through the mainstream.

Twitter has done just that. Communication is addictive, and regardless of if you are chained to your desk or on the road, Twitter can keep you in the loop.

From PR people, to your average Joe, Twitter has opened the door for us to start new relationships, rekindle old ones, and stay abreast on news that our peers find important.

[Dr. Wright]

I think Twitter is great, I was just wondering, how to do you pick someone at random to win a contest you create on twitter?

Dr. Wright
www.twitter.com/drwright1

[Lally]

Amazing all the love twitter gets already when it really hasn't been built out yet. When it -- or something like it -- achieves critical mass it may leave mass media in the dust.

Of course we may all have the fold-up briefcase helicopters byt then, too.

This is not a knock on the Twitterati (tm)... last time I checked the Grand Canyon wasn't finished yet, either.

[Kevin Dugan]

These have all been really great insights. Thanks again everyone.

Dr. Wright - The contest winners were selected from people who began following him on Twitter after a certain point in time. I was one of those people.

Lally - Comparing Twitter to the Grand Canyon is like comparing Techcrunch to the Bible. But I get the point. Can Twitter scale is one of the most frequently asked questions these days.

[Lally]

It'll scale. The only question is whether it will be Twitter or something else.

Or something we haven't thought of yet but which will, in hindsight, be absolutely slap-yourself-in-the-forehead obvious.

That's NOT to say it won't be twitter. Organisms evolve in unpredictable ways [checking ... yes I typed O-R-G-A-N-I-S-M-S] ...