Can someone please explain Twitter?

[Shmily1]

I asked DS20 since he's a techie, but he was way to technical and I didn't understand what you do there, how you do it, or why you do it. I even went on there to look at Swagbucks but still didn't get it. Can anyone help?

 

[kimblebee]

It's basically a way to know what a person is doing at all times. LOL

You can follow a person and then you see what they tweet. If you care that much, you can get their tweets sent to your cell phone. You can also tweet and let people know what you are doing whenever you want. To me, it's not too different from facebook, if you update it on a regular basis.

 

[pogo791]

I asked DS20 since he's a techie, but he was way to technical and I didn't understand what you do there, how you do it, or why you do it. I even went on there to look at Swagbucks but still didn't get it. Can anyone help?

How simple do you want the explanation?

Twitter is a way for a person to send text messages to a pre-determined group. The original idea was that if the members of a small group - at a company, let's say - want to be in constant communication with one another to work over an idea, they were faced with the problem that the "old" way would require you to send a text message to each and every person individually. Twitter allows you to send your message (called a "tweet") to everybody in the group at one time. An individual tweet can be at most 140 characters in length.

The basic way to get started is to sign up on the Twitter home page, and start leaving messages - tweets - on your home page. This, however, is a public page, so anyone in the world can see what you write. You can limit access to a group of friends.

If you are interested in the tweets a certain person sends - either a friend of yours or some celebrity - you can subscribe to become a "follower".

 

[Magic Mom]

I think twitter is the most useless thing on the internet.

 

[*BTMRR*]

It's basically a way to know what a person is doing at all times. LOL

You can follow a person and then you see what they tweet. If you care that much, you can get their tweets sent to your cell phone. You can also tweet and let people know what you are doing whenever you want. To me, it's not too different from facebook, if you update it on a regular basis.

This.
JMHO--I think it's incredibly narcissistic. I know someone who does it and I used to "follow" her while her child was in the hospital but now it's just things like, "going to the store to buy an onion for tonight's stew" and "just finished cleaning out my file cabinet at work." All day, every day.

 

[bored]

I think twitter is the most useless thing on the internet.

I feel it's for people who think a little to much of themselves. For the most part I could care less what most people do everyday.

 

[Magic Mom]

I feel it's for people who think a little to much of themselves. For the most part I could care less what most people do everyday.

or every minute.

 

[Carl]

I use it, but only when I'm on some outing with a group or on a trip of some sort. I only use it WITH pictures. (Twitpic.) I like that it saves your pictures at full resolution, so I can go to Twitter and print out on my printer a large sized photo.

 

[NotUrsula]

It can be overused for ridiculously narcissistic reasons, BUT ...

It is very useful in public emergency situations, and for broadcasting things like traffic alerts. For instance, if one person gets stuck behind a wreck on the way to a ball game and tweets that on the account for the team, then other people who are headed that way will know to take an alternate route.

Personally I wish that Disney would use it to broadcast ride wait times and ride breakdown alerts. It works with every kind of cell phone that can text; no need to be a Verizon customer.

 

[Shmily1]

Thank you so much for all the information. I think many of you posted about what I was afraid it was... information on who was at the grocery store when....

Another stupid question....
So it's not really like you can have a conversation with someone on there then?

 

[pogo791]

Thank you so much for all the information. I think many of you posted about what I was afraid it was... information on who was at the grocery store when....

Another stupid question....
So it's not really like you can have a conversation with someone on there then?

Shmily 1, it's a group thing, intended for broadcasting your deathless prose to many people at once. But yes, you can limit your audience to just one person, and have an on-going conversation with that person. However, since you can do the same thing with regular text messages (which don't have the 140-character limit), why tweet when you can text?

 

[RadioNate]

Twitter is amazingly useful if you use it that way. Sure there are narcissists who post the most ridiculous things but no one says you have to follow them! I'm shocked at what some people post. However, I never go to the public timeline.

You can pick and choose who you follow and get that info in a variety of different ways. For breaking news it can't be beat. When we lived in Orlando I followed a local TV stations traffic feed. They posted accidents and delays. The kind of info you can get every 10 min or so during rush hour on news radio stations. But all day and when I wanted it, not on their schedule.

Businesses send out deals. DH complained once about our AT&T service and was contacted via twitter to help resolve the problem. He had spent time on the phone with them with no resolution but got a fix over Twitter.

Twitter is just a shorter, faster, updated version of a listserv or usenet newsgroup.

 

[Scurvy]

It can be overused for ridiculously narcissistic reasons, BUT ...

It is very useful in public emergency situations, and for broadcasting things like traffic alerts. For instance, if one person gets stuck behind a wreck on the way to a ball game and tweets that on the account for the team, then other people who are headed that way will know to take an alternate route.

I follow two accounts that monitor traffic in my area; they send out tweets when there are wrecks, construction or anything else that causes backups or detours. Yesterday I knew to be in the right lane when approaching our mall because there was a couch in the left lane. I cruised by while a bunch of people got stuck in the lane behind the couch! My husband changes his route to work some mornings because of the traffic updates and his commute is much more predictable now; it used to vary quite a bit based on traffic.

I follow our local news stations as well as several national news outlets, and I get breaking news far faster through Twitter than any other way.

I follow a few companies I like and get all sorts of coupon codes from their Twitter accounts. (Many of them do the same thing through Facebook, but often they have Twitter exclusive codes some days and Facebook exclusive ones other days.) I've also been to a few "Tweetups" thrown by restaurants, where they give free food and drinks to Twitter followers on specific days. NASA has even had a few Tweetups, and people who went to one of those got to attend a Space Shuttle launch!

I also follow our local utility company. Now when our power goes out I just check Twitter and most of the time I can see why it's out and how long they expect it to be before it comes back on.

I complained on Twitter once about a problem we were having with my mom's insurance company, and had a response from their social media representative within minutes.

I follow several Orlando area feeds, and I find out Disney, Seaworld and Universal news (and wait times) way before I ever see them pop up anywhere else.

Aside from all those I also follow some game companies and authors, musicians, TV shows, websites and even normal people. I haven't found any of them to be narcissists, and hopefully my followers don't think I am, either.

Thank you so much for all the information. I think many of you posted about what I was afraid it was... information on who was at the grocery store when....

Another stupid question....
So it's not really like you can have a conversation with someone on there then?

The only time I ever see anything about people being at the grocery store is if they happen to be playing FourSquare, but of course people play that on Facebook, too. I think if that's the only sort of thing you see on Twitter, you're following the wrong people!

You can have converstations on there, though. If you and I were following each other on Twitter, we could talk to each other. For example, I'd Tweet @Shmily1, how'd your interview go? and you could reply @Skurvy I got the job! The only people who would see those tweets would be you, me and anyone else who follows both of us, who then might respond to congratulate you. If you don't want anyone else to see a message you've sent to a specific person, you can send it as a Direct Message instead.

Twitter definitely isn't for everyone, any more than anything else, but those who avoid it because they think it's just a bunch of people talking about going to the grocery store just haven't learned the best way to use that form of social media.

ETA - A few reasons Twitter might be used instead of personal texts: I know a couple of Dissers on Twitter. We talk on there but not in real life. We aren't at the point where we would exchange phone numbers, so Tweets are one way we communicate away from the Dis. Also, Tweets are a good way to include your other friends in the conversation, as with the interview example, without bombarding them with texts. Plus some people don't have unlimited texting, and Twitter is free.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

I asked DS20 since he's a techie, but he was way to technical and I didn't understand what you do there, how you do it, or why you do it. I even went on there to look at Swagbucks but still didn't get it. Can anyone help?

It is a narcissistic posting of every insignificant event in your life sent out in hopes that someone somewhere will actually give a rat's rumpus about it. All done by either phone or computer.

 

[autumnpalm]

It is a narcissistic posting of every insignificant event in your life sent out in hopes that someone somewhere will actually give a rat's rumpus about it. All done by either phone or computer.

It can be, but in many cases it is not.

I have a Twitter account and I never use it to post what I am doing. I follow news sources, people who post links to fascinating articles, colleagues, educational institutions and more. It is a fantastic networking tool for many professional fields and can really be helpful. It really is a great way to access the latest information quickly and in short snippets.

Of course there are always exceptions to the rule but everybody I know who has an account does not tweet anything like "just got home from the grocery store." Instead, one of the latest tweets on my feed is this one:

The topics for today's #voteTO debate at the Design Exchange. http://twitpic.com/2pcc3l

I would really encourage people to take a deeper look at Twitter and what it can accomplish. At first I had a negative opinion of it as a narcissistic Facebook-lite but it really is so much more.

 

[onelilspark]

I enjoy twitter. Many times I use it just to express my thoughts, such as this morning when we booked our honeymoon, I expressed my excitement. I'll also post links that I think are interesting. I try not to include location information because I'm too concerned about psychos on the internet and no one needs to know where I am at all times.

I follow news outlets, both local and national. It's great to be able to learn what's going on in the world & locally in one quick glance, then follow the link if I want to learn more. I follow Disney, so I hear of any news they have. And I follow some people who are down in FL/Disney on a regular basis and post pictures from the parks. If people tweet too much about inane things, I stop following them.

 

[Freyja]

I think twitter is the most useless thing on the internet.

If it would have helped you win 365 hotel nights with Radisson, would you still feel that way?
I´m very active on Twitter and use it both professionally and privately. I´ve gained new friends through Twitter as well as lots of business contacts. Feel free to "check me out" on www.twitter.com/inga_ros

 

[Luv2Camp]

I love Twitter. I never post (wow - that would be some boring tweets!), but I follow our local news, the national news, the DIS, WDW Radio, Inside the Magic, and WDW Today. I love getting little Disney snippets throughout the day!

 

[a1tinkfans]

I feel it's for people who think a little too much of themselves. For the most part I could care less what most people do everyday.

pathetic.................

 

[OK!]

It can be overused for ridiculously narcissistic reasons, BUT ...

It is very useful in public emergency situations, and for broadcasting things like traffic alerts. For instance, if one person gets stuck behind a wreck on the way to a ball game and tweets that on the account for the team, then other people who are headed that way will know to take an alternate route.

This. I've also gotten news updates from CNN and KMOX, sale codes from various retailers I follow, presale codes for concerts from bands I follow, and have developed (or renewed) several friendships as a result of using it. It's entertaining to me.

One thing I've been enjoying lately is when Dave Grohl (formerly of Nirvana, now of the Foo Fighters) has been posting pics while the band's recording their new album. He's tweeting at least a couple of pics a day, and if you're a fan, that's cool to see.

ETA: I also used to use it to vent occasionally or to spout off some of the random and bizarre thoughts that pop into my head, but now that some of my friends follow me, I censor myself. Lol.