Several people have been asking me about my consistent updates on facebook and how I post them. My simple answer – Twitter. In this post I would like to introduce an excellent web 2.0 application with extraordinary features that (personally) has come in quite handy for several purposes. Also, aside from introducing Twitter I hope to convince some of you who are not on Twitter to possibly consider signing up and start “tweeting”.
I signed up on twitter about a year ago after having seen a podcast by Cali Lewis of Geekbrief.tv. I saw the website through other blogs, but honestly the concept did not make sense to me of why other’s would want to know what I am up to (aside from its many other purposes) until having watched Cali’s podcast. I don’t recall which episode (brief) it was, but I do recall a video she presented by the folks at Common Craft who do simple instructional videos on various topics, one being Twitter. Before I go on, I encourage you to take a look at the following video and this will clarify the purpose of Twitter.
So, hopefully you understand Twitter a bit better. Now let me go into further detail of how I use Twitter along with applications, social networks, and other areas in which you could implement Twitter into your daily life.
How I use it?
Twitter has become one of my primary resources when it comes to communication. I have saved the mobile number on my cell phone’s allowing me to twitter to my account via SMS, my twitter account is bookmarked for easy access on the web and my primary source to “tweet” is my desktop application. There are several other ways to tweet to your account including the integration of applications across social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, personal blog, Hi5, mobile devices, etc.
The greatest thing about this software is its simple compatibility into numerous areas. I have my twitter account networked into just about everything I use on a regular basis – whether that be my facebook account, my blog, email and so forth. This way I can update my “status” and friends, family and users across multiple platforms will be notified without me having to invest large amounts of time logging into my profiles and what not.
Twitter has proven itself useful for several areas. Privatly I can tweet friends or family without having other’s join in on the conversation. I can also tweet other group’s concerning ideas or general discussions while tweeting those working with my on projects or business partners with latest updates on various issues. Twitter has a multitude of features when it comes to communicating with other users.
Applications
There are several applications built on the API of Twitter. My favorite being Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is a great desktop application that allows you to customize the way you use twitter to you’re liking. Create a simple overview of how you would like to use twitter to benefit your productivity. Here are two screenshots off the website.
So to wrap it up I have to say that twitter has allowed me to be more productive in several areas. It is easy to use and customize as well as integrate into other “things” (for the lack of a better word). I encourage you to take a look and give it a try. If you end up creating an account, make sure to tweet me (@thek) and let me know! So, to those asking me why my facebook status consistently gets updated – I hope this post clarifies everything.
Let me know what you think and how you plan to use or are using twitter. I’m sure there is a lot more I could end up doing with it.