Twitter seems to be much more "at random" to me. With your limit of 140 characters, you have to be short and vague with your message or attempt to be short and direct. I use it more to update people on "what I'm doing" at all times rather than Facebook or MySpace. With a lot of celebrity users, it's neat to see your favorite stars "tweeting" like you or me.
What I would suggest to new users:
Encourage your friends to join and use it often. It seems to be more entertaining when you have a lot of friends on there to interact with and reply to. Otherwise, you lose interest with it because you feel like no one is listening to your tweets.
-Jenna Simsen, Dickinson TX
******
@armylovelife: What I like about Twitter: I find out news concerning DoD quicker and I can follow it easier :) Plus Houston news is on here too :)
******
In the world, there are blog posts and emails. A blog is a place to write seemingly long posts about what is going on in your life, while an email is written specifically to inform someone of something in particular. However, there is a void between these two areas. You wouldn't send an email to someone letting them know you're having a cup of coffee. But what about those who care about the little everyday occurrences in your life?
That's where Twitter comes in. Short little spurts (140 characters or less) about the answer to the question we often ask each other, "What are you doing?" That being said, there are a few tips to be given to new users:
1) Stay interesting. - If you're not at least Tweeting in a way that could answer the question "What are you doing," you're probably not adding any value to someone's Twitter feed.
2) Be engaging. - Twitter has established ways to interact with people. Use @replies and direct messages to stay in touch with your followers. Retweet good content so that others can find new people to follow. Don't be afraid to follow someone that you haven't met! There are plenty of news sources (like @KTRKHouston) and special-interest groups to be followed on Twitter.
3# Tweet often. - With as many people as there are that have been on Twitter for some time, it can become an obsession. To those people, nothing is more annoying than a friend who finally joins Twitter and never updates. You can update Twitter through the website, a number of applications for the Mac/PC, instant messaging, or even text messaging. Twitter is accessible. Use it.
I hope that answers the question at hand. Feel free to contact me if you need any clarification or have any further questions.
Thanks,
Keaton Branch
******
@urbanhoustonian: Give yourself time to figure out how you want to Twitter, no one can really show you. Oh, and a phone with a keyboard!
******
@Lorimarcus: I love being able to pick the news I want to follow and having it at the tip of my fingers. Tip: Just dive in and explore... it's endless.
******
I like Twitter because it's an easy way to follow your friends, and to see what everyone is talking about. They have the trending topics on the side, and you can see what the big moment is like the Rockets winning or something trivial like "Apple Shampoo". I also love that some celebrities and behind the scenes people such as makeup artist, director of photography, and prop guys that are on TV shows such as Heroes are online. You can get info straight from the source, and some celebs will even tweet you back!
Tips for new users would be if you are going to follow a celebrity make sure it's actually the celebrity. There are a lot of fakes out there, but if you go to http://valebrity.com you can check different names to make sure they are real.
- Jessica Kroll
******
@ SheenaTAbraham: It's like a news & event feed for me. I find out what's going on around town. Advice: Learn what ppl nd & how u can help them.
******
@saborKT: I also like it to keep in touch--hurricane ike and updating my friends while I was in the hospital. The twitter community is great!
******
@ tcv: My big tip: Start using Twitter with people you know. If you follow random strangers you'll never meet, you never connect with them on anything but a tenuous superficial level. Twitter works better when you know the people with which you Tweet.
RELATED
>> Twitter and Facebook 101
>> Feedback @ 4
>> Social networking sites for abc13.com KTRK
More technology news | Houston blogs | RSS feeds | Twitter/Facebook
