I consider myself to be a pretty web-savvy woman... I blog, podcast, have many social media profiles, have created RSS feeds, shared photos, and organized meet-ups. So, when I heard about Twitter, I decided to find out more. What I found, I didn't really "get." Sure, the basic concept is easy to understand: you post messages to your own mini-blog (or respond to others' messages) in 140 characters or less.
A Tweet, which these mini-messages are called, can be something like, "I just had the best cuppa joe," "I just signed up for a hatha yoga class," or "Did you see who got kicked off Idol last night?" I thought I must be missing something - who in the world would want to know that I think Kona coffee rocks?
I asked one of my colleagues who Tweets regularly what's in it for her. As it happens, Jill Foster has her own Twitter page and uses it to catch up with friends; but, she also uses it for her social media consultancy. She sends out ideas, questions, comments and the like to her "followers" (those that subscribe to her Twitter feed) and gets real-time client (or potential client) feedback.
Since I don't have a social media-based business, I moved on to other forms of social media to explore. Until today, when someone in the DC Web Women group (which Jill chairs) that I belong to sent out a link to a YouTube video explaining what Twitter is and why I should care.
I'm still not sold on Tweeting, but at least now I "get" it. If you've been wondering what this phenomenon is all about, check out the video.
