Why you should care about Twitter

I've been using Twitter now for the past month and I have to say that I can appreciate why people are excited about it but I can also appreciate why not everyone is keen on it, bottom line: lots of people are doing it, it's still very early and it can take a lot of time.

What is Twitter?
Twitter is an online service where users submit short text messages, up to a maximum length of 140 characters at a time (called 'tweets'), to individuals or simply to the steady stream of other 'tweets'. Think of a web page where new information is appearing every time you refresh the page from individuals telling you about themselves, about information they found, asking questions and just talking all of the time. There is a now infamous article by Guy Kawasaki, one of the most prolific Twitter users and biggest cheerleaders for Twitter:

Late one night in a hotel, I discovered I hadn't brought a MacBook power supply, and I was leaving early the next morning for a remote location. I posted a message to Twitter, and within 10 minutes, five people offered to bring me a power supply; one delivered it to me within an hour.

I haven't had the same response as Guy and when I have asked a question (so far 3 questions) I have not received any responses other than a new group of 'followers' who triggered on some keyword in my Tweet. For example I asked a question about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and within a few minutes I received a wave of new followers and one that sells Sage CRM... my question was about something related to CRM not about me wanting to buy a CRM.

What is the point?
Initially I was skeptical and unsure of why I would want to keep announcing my every single move to the Internet. I decided early on that I would tweet only interesting or relevant things, not that my son just went potty or that I'm out for dinner at a particular restaurant. So when I initially signed up I was flattered that immediately all sorts of 'people' were interested enough in my profile to start following me, little 'ol me, why how cool is that... but then the reality of the situation set in quickly. Most of these 'followers' were simply automatic software programs, Twitter agents, that saw my new account and told Twitter that they were interested in following me. Being a good Twitter citizen (Twitterzen?) I decided to follow them too and there was the catch. The next day they would drop their following of me but I would continue to follow them and hear their message every time they tweeted. So I quickly developed some following criteria and for those that I thought were not interesting I let them continue to follow me but I did not return the 'favor'. I suspect the reason that so many people immediately follow those that follow them is a variation on THOMAS (The Human Oxytocin Mediated Attachment System) and thus works in their favor. On Twitter so many people are just trying to get the most followers that it's like a cross between narcissism and a game of who collects the most.

Why did I join?
I joined for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm a geek -- I'm a technologist and like to experiment with new technology -- I'm typically an early adopter and this is something new and interesting.

2. My friends are doing it -- Many of my friends were doing it and they told me stories of meeting and talking (tweeting) with people they had heard about but had never had a chance to talk to before.

3. I like to network online -- As I began to research Twitter I began to find a lot of people that I know from LinkedIn and Facebook on Twitter as well as some target customers and industry insiders on Twitter... all simply a tweet away.

4. I see gold -- I'm not alone in seeing a potential paradigm shift for online retailers to listen to and target consumers directly with specific advertising. One of my staff discovered an online retailer on Twitter, followed them and immediately received a message from the with a free gift offer as a thank-you for following them... she was flattered.

But what about ROI?
So far, like my friends before me, I haven't really seen any specific ROI. My investment so far has been learning and trying Twitter and I must say that it is very easy to spend a lot of time reading tweets and following links to read articles and such that people have posted. Let me tell you some of the people that I have tweeted with or who I follow or have followed: a competitor, some of my customer's competitors, potential customers, people I've read about but never met, anyone who I follows me and looks interesting.

Why should you join Twitter?
A constant stream of keywords from people 24x7 on everything; including your target customers, your competitors and other people you want to follow or who want to follow what you have to say. This is not the Matrix, you don't have to watch a black screen with green letters scrolling down it, it's just a list of comments from all the folks you are following.

Why you should not join Twitter.
Don't expect that if you join Twitter that they will come and you will somehow automatically be rich. Twitter is a social tool and that means you need to contribute to the community (i.e. work), just like blogging... in fact Twitter is considered micro-blogging, 140 characters at a time. Don't be afraid though, it's not just for bloggers.

Some "interesting" Twitter stories in the news recently:
1. Guy Kawasaki's request for a power cord from a hotel room...
2. Juror causes mistrial proceedings by tweeting...
3. US Congressmen post their experience during the recent US Presidential inauguration...
4. A Silicon Valley executive tweets during a break-in at his house...
5. Actor Ashton Kutcher posts photos of his wife Demi Moore and then tweets about it...


Are you using Twitter? Let us know what you think about Twitter and tell us your stories about Twitter in the comments below... or email me with your story, or better yet, follow me on Twitter! chris_kerslake - http://twitter.com/chris_kerslake.