Exploring Twitter

For the month of March, I have chosen to explore twitter. Although I have been using twitter for a while, I want to further explore how it can be used. All I really have used twitter for, was updating my status. I have only now begun to realize what a good tool twitter can be, and the different ways it can be used. First off, I find twitter is  great tool for communicating with other people. It’s fast and it’s easy to use. I discovered you can even update from your cell phone with or without internet, and you can have updates sent to your phone. There are also neat little feature like:

lists,

direct messages,

favouring tweets,

and retweeting.

The lists on twitter, are a way to organize people you follow. For example you could make a list of friends, or fellow classmates and many more. I don’t believe there is a limit to the number of lists you make or people you follow. Direct messages are sort of like email, where you can send personal messages to someone. Only you and that person can see the message, but you can only send a direct message if you are following that person and they are following you too. I think it is useful when you are having a conversation with some one and you don’t want to annoy your other followers with a lot of updates. Also, direct messages can be useful if you don’t want anyone else to see what you say. Your twitter updates can be seen by everyone and anyone if you don’t make your twitter account private (here is how to private your twitter). When you make your account private, only people you approve can view your updates.

Another cool feature is that you can favourite ‘tweets’ or updates that you like. This is an easy way to keep track of things other people say that you like. Also if you see something you like, you can ‘retweet’ it to your followers (your followers are people who receive your updates) and they can see it too. One other feature I would like to mention about twitter is trending topics (listed below search bar), which can be found along the right column with the other features. Trending topics are the most talked about topics from all around the world. It’s a great way to view things that other people are talking about. For example, when the earthquake hit in Haiti, twitter was the first place I heard about what happened because it became a trending topic.

Now for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I suggest you make a twitter account and explore a little yourself. It’s fast and easy to do so, just click here. Over all, I find twitter to be fun and useful, and I am having a great time exploring how it can be used.

2 comments March 15, 2010