helpstuff blog

Helping end users since 1981

Post details: Do you Twitter?

04/21/08

Permalink 08:30:48 pm, Categories: User Assistance, Just Stuff :-), 230 words   English (US)

Do you Twitter?

I've been seeing "twitters" for awhile now...news stories, Facebook updates, and so on. At last week's MVP Summit, I attended an Open Space session on social networking, and that night I got a Twitter account.

I keep thinking that it has possibilities for more than just social updates, but I haven't yet figured out how to use groups or channels or whatever it is that will let me filter the twitters so that they make sense. For example, I like taking a break every now and then and catching up on what folks have been doing...but I don't want hundreds of text messages sent to my phone with the same information.

I think that means I want the anti-social social networking connection ;-) .

I had originally thought that maybe a weekly "tip" of some kind would be kinda neat...I could maybe create a #helpstuff channel that folks could follow. Of course, there's also the character limit...with only 140 characters, "write tight" will take on a whole new meaning, especially if I have to give up 10 of them just for the channel name. (I can hear you all laughing now...I haven't been able to blog on a regular basis for the last couple of months, so how would I ever regularly post a weekly tip? You can stop now ;-).)

I just have to think on this some more.

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: rhonda [Member] · http://www.cybertext.com.au
I still don't 'get' Twitter! I wrote about not getting it a year ago, and I haven't seen anything since to change my mind: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/twitter-twaddle/
Permalink 04/22/08 @ 03:01
Comment from: techcommdood [Member]
I still don't understand the point of Twitter. I haven't seen any good use of it to date, and really could care less about the mundane crap people communicate with it. I've read a few posts on LifeHacker about "productive uses" of Twitter, but I still don't get it. I figure those who need to know what I'm doing will know via the "old fashioned way" (I tell them), and as for others... Well, I'm sure their worlds won't crumble if they're left out of the loop. Unless their lives hang in the balance while I clean the kitchen.
Permalink 04/22/08 @ 09:54
Comment from: Char [Member]
OK, so the general "here's where I am and what I'm doing every ten minutes" doesn't seem to be what we need.

But here's where I think Twitter has some uses:

- arriving at an airport (like SeaTac) and being able to Twitter that you're headed for baggage claim, and asking if anyone is around who wants to share a cab to the city

- getting stuck in a city (for whatever reason...lately mine has been because of flight delays and cancellations) and finding out if anyone wants to go to dinner

But here's where Twitter could really shine...

- weekly tips and tricks about an application you use regularly, possibly with a link to a more in-depth article

- announcements like "registration now open" for a conference you want to attend

- product update/dot release announcements

- problems with products (for example, recalls)

I think that the possibilities are there. I just haven't figured out how to take advantage of them yet!
Permalink 04/23/08 @ 10:05
Comment from: annegentle [Member]
I, too, wrote about Twitter when I was contemplating its uses and actually found some really interesting side use cases similar to the ones you've mentioned.
- very small surveys
- status updates for you coworkers who might be looking for you in your office or trying to decide where to call you
- invites to events
- friendsourcing, asking for help or references on a particular topic
-conference coverage using Twemes (Twitter themes, like http://twemes.com/doctrainwest)
my favorite techy one is
- integrate Twitter as a cost-free SMS gateway into your own applications (Monitwitter, sadly, has stopped active development)

Check out @Zappos (4300 followers!), @SouthwestAir, @Jetblue, and @Comcastcares for really good examples of a Twittering company rep doing a nice balanced job of announcements coupled with a real human element. Customer support, collaboration, marketing, all rolled into 140-character microblog posts. Impressive.

And Twitter is just plain fun sometimes, too. :)
Permalink 05/13/08 @ 22:32

Login / Register to Comment

helpstuff blog

Thoughts and more from helpstuff.com...

May 2008
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
<<  <   >  >>
      1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31  

Search

Syndicate this blog XML

What is RSS?

powered by
b2evolution