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Topic: Do you "Twitter?"
| Author | Message |
| foodlit | Posted – 3/25/2008 2:11:08 PM | show profile I've recently fallen in love with Twitter, which is a micro-blogging tool. I don't have the time or patience for regular blogging, and this lets me post mini 'blogs' limited to 140 characters. It's a new medium, and won't be of interest to all, but it does have potential. It's free, and allows you to keep in touch with people, friends, colleagues, or people who are in the same area or field, or even blogs of interest. I just discovered 'ValleyWag' today which is a Silicon Valley blog and in my most recent 'twitter', I included a link to an article that might be of interest to PR people, on 'gaming 'Digg'. I use it to post info about new jobs as they come in, and any links that are of interest to my interests...writing, food, and the webworld. If you want to see what it's all about, and maybe even 'follow' me, come to http://twitter.com/pamclaughton :) Pam |
| linjohn | Posted – 3/25/2008 3:48:02 PM | show profile Funny, I recently signed up for Twitter just to see what the fuss was all about, but I can't get into it. I do blog, and I follow many other blogs, but I think Twitter is too short and impersonal for me to get/stay engaged. And while I agree it's probably a good resource for finding news items suited to my interests, I already have RSS feeds set up to deliver those news items, plus blog updates, etc. - which I'm guessing would make Twitter kind of redundant. Who knows - maybe I just haven't found the right use for it yet. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 3/25/2008 4:05:03 PM | show profile It's very different traditional blogging. Traditional blogging is usually about communicating ideas and displaying thought leadership. Twitter doesn't give you enough space to do that -- so it's really suited to people who want to be conduits of short bits of information. |
| foodlit | Posted – 3/25/2008 4:09:58 PM | show profile At first I thought it was kind of silly and lame, to be honest. I thought 'what's the point? it's too short.' So, I put up a few posts and then forgot all about it. But then a month or so later, I had several new clients, candidates I was scheduled to interview, comment as they talked with me that they'd seen my Twitter page and even mentioned a specific comment I'd written about having ice-cream w/my grandfather. That's when it 'clicked' for me, that this could be a marketing tool that I could control, giving out information that I'd want candidates to see. It's just another tool that may make sense for you or not. I know that I have no interest in Twitters that ramble about nonsense...but I do like the ones that share information or insight. Pam |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 3/25/2008 4:35:13 PM | show profile Do you mean that people who saw you as a potential employer or provider of work commented on your Twitter page? That, to me, isn't all the powerful. Someone you throw work to will be looking to curry favor so it's reasonable to think they would scan your Twitter page. It's similar to a job applicant Googling the hiring manager and interview he game, so he could comment on it.. The real point is whether your Twitter postings have any impact with clients who you get work from --But then a month or so later, I had several new clients, candidates I was scheduled to interview, comment as they talked with me that they'd seen my Twitter page and even mentioned a specific comment I'd written about having ice-cream w/my grandfather. That's when it 'clicked' for me, that this could be a marketing tool that I could control, giving out information that I'd want candidates to see.-- |
| foodlit | Posted – 3/25/2008 4:43:57 PM | show profile Dribble, No offense, but I don't think you really understand what I do. :) In the area that I work, it's still very much a candidate's market, meaning a good candidate has options. It's still much more difficult to find the right candidates for my clients. It's much easier for me to get the searches than it is to get the candidates. So, for me, having a candidate comment on my twitter page is a good thing because anything I can do to establish rapport with them is helpful, because if they're good, they are getting calls from many recruiters. I dont' know if that makes sense, as I understand what you're saying, you'd think it would be the other way around! Either way, for a candidate or client, if they check out my twitter page, they'll have a better sense of me, and my personality. Hopefully, that will be a good thing. :) |
| mkelly | Posted – 3/25/2008 5:01:11 PM | show profile I'm sorely tempted to launch a website called 'Twittest,' which would automatically fabricate blog entries for me. |
| linjohn | Posted – 3/25/2008 5:12:53 PM | show profile Did Twitter launch a PR campaign today or something? I saw that Dooce just blogged about her Twitter addition, which is likely to crash the site with all of her readers going to check it out. |
| candylilacs | Posted – 3/26/2008 2:41:24 AM | show profile I don't know. I live in the SF Bay Area and people use it a lot, but they also tend to be the same people who buy/use any ridiculous gadget that comes down the pike to out-geek everyone. ("Hey, everyone look at my new iPhone I waited in line three days for!") I mean, why are you twittering someone about what you're doing? Why not just socialize in real life and then they become part of the experience also. And they wonder why there's so many Aspergers and socially retarded folk. I'm so old school. I think I'll call a friend and then ride my dinosaur into town and have coffee with them! ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 3/26/2008 2:54:56 AM | show profile That's a bit of a presumptuous, silly comment. It's presumptuous because you presume a person who maintains contact with people online don't do so face to face. It's silly because most people are too busy to regularly meet with every business contact they know. Keeping in touch with people by email or other means is a good thing to do. --I mean, why are you twittering someone about what you're doing? Why not just socialize in real life and then they become part of the experience also. |
| foodlit | Posted – 3/26/2008 11:43:31 AM | show profile Yeah, I agree with Dribble that is a ridiculous and presumptuous comment. Just because you don't 'get it', you assume it's stupid? If you don't see the value, fine, but don't mock others who do. People once thought the internet was a 'fad' too. :) Pam |
| candylilacs | Posted – 3/26/2008 12:07:26 PM | show profile Presumptuous and silly? WTF? I gave my opinion and I don't appreciate your *presumption* that I hate everything online. I said Twitter was ridiculous (and I would say "silly" in this instance.) c. ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
| WordyBird | Posted – 3/26/2008 1:22:30 PM | show profile Great. One more on-line service and potential resource that Big Brother has blocked with the firewall... Heck, we can't even look at blogs in my office, not even through an aggregator. Not sure how that's supposed to work in a MEDIA company. Oy. |
| Seafarer | Posted – 3/26/2008 5:01:14 PM | show profile | email poster Good, another writer on Twitter Hi Pam, I followed you -- I'm @SheilaS on Twitter. If you want to keep an ear to the ground for what's coming up in tech, Web 2.0/social networking and marketing, I recommend following folks like Scoble and Connie Reece and dooce and Shel Israel and Steve Rubel and B.L. Ochman and Kami Huyse and Jeremiah Owyang and TechCrunch on Twitter. I discover breakthrough info way ahead of most of mainstream media because of this tool, plus it's a great community. Twitter is an ongoing conversation, not just "who ate a ham sandwich." It's evolved way beyond that, and it's all in who you follow. If you follow smart, interesting folks, you'll learn a lot. Too many writers have no clue how any of this stuff works, which is a shame because good, well-written content is just as important on the Web as it is in print. ------ ** Family Travel blog at http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Seafarer ** Drag racing and NASCAR on http://www.fastmachines.com |
| foodlit | Posted – 3/27/2008 7:07:54 AM | show profile Sheila, Thanks for the tips on good people to follow...I'm following you now too as well as the others you mentioned. Had no idea who Dooce was until someone else mentioned her here. Checked out her site, and she has quite a following! Enough that she and her husband can live off the blog proceeds. I think Ree at The Pioneer woman is heading in the same direction...just discovered her, and a recent post generated over 7,000 comments. |
| snappiness | Posted – 3/31/2008 9:29:56 AM | show profile I'm not getting the Twitter thing either. I've got a Facebook and I'm LinkedIn and have a web page, all great marketing materials that have really helped me. I rely heavily on my BlackBerry, so I'm tech-friendly and usually an early adopter. But I signed up for Twitter a month or so ago and just not seeing how it will help me at all. |
