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Journal Illustration by Nicholas Weir
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Published: May 29, 2009
When David Mullen first tried the social network Twitter about a year ago, he wasn't impressed. "I was already on a few social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and I had heard a lot about Twitter," he said. "I found no use for it whatsoever…. It seemed like a waste of time, a drain on the intellect."
But then he came to realize he wasn't using it correctly. "I decided to give Twitter a second try because it became obvious to me that the network was growing rapidly," he said. Mullen works in marketing at Mullen, an advertising agency -- named not for him but for the unrelated founder, Jim Mullen -- and he spoke with a colleague who was using Twitter and finding it helpful in his work.
"The concept behind it was pretty interesting," Mullen said, "and I thought, what are the ways I could use it that would be of value to me?"
Mullen uses Twitter to share links with fellow marketers and to keep in contact with clients.
"You pick up a lot of knowledge from Twitter and from the links that people are sharing," Mullen said. "Some marketers post about case studies, some have links to blog posts…. The Internet is chock full of information, and there's no way I could find even 10 percent of the information on a given day. It's great to be pointed to it."
For the uninitiated, Twitter is a social network that lets users send out "Tweets" -- 140-character text messages, which usually amounts to a long sentence -- to people on a message list. The Tweets can be read on computers or cell
phones. The service is free. The messages are akin to e-mails sent to a select mailing list, Instant Messages (short person-to-person messages sent across the Internet) or Facebook updates.
Twitter started in late 2006, and the Twitter.com Web site now has about 19 million unique visitors each month, according to recent report at Compete.com. That makes it the third most popular social network, behind Facebook and MySpace.
Despite its success, Twitter doesn't currently make any money. According to the site, "while our business model is in a research phase, we spend more money than we make." Their financing comes from venture capitalists who have invested in the site, but how the service would make money in the future remains to be seen.
Some people find Twitter a useful way to communicate with a group of friends without having to send individual messages. Others find it a distracting nuisance that may keep people from experiencing their lives because they are busy tweeting.
"There's some risk of that," said Lauren Pressley, a librarian at Wake Forest University. "So far, I haven't felt the pressure to document so much that I wasn't able to be in the moment."
Pressley first joined Twitter in February 2007.
"A large part of my job is to pay attention to emerging technologies, and how they might impact what we do for our students," she said. "Twitter came up as something a lot of leading-edge people were doing. I decided to play with it, to understand better what the point of the service was."
So she signed up and tried out Twitter, and -- like Mullen -- wasn't impressed at first.
"I quit using it for awhile," she said. "The benefit comes when there are more people using it, and in the early days there weren't enough. So I just let it sit there awhile."
But as more and more people started using Twitter, she decided to give it another chance. The second time around, she found it more useful.
"I use it mostly to share ideas about different things people are doing," she said. The idea is that it's almost like a human search engine. If I'm going to give a talk about podcasting, I might ask my Twitter friends what the No. 1 podcast they listen to is."
Tracy E. Myers at Frank Myers Auto Maxx said that he has found Twitter to be an effective sales tool.
"Sales have always been about building relationships," he said. "To me, this is more of a dialogue than a lot of the other social networking sites…. It's a lot faster, a lot quicker, and you have access to a lot more people."
Myers Auto Maxx has been on various social networking sites for more than two years, and he estimates that the dealership sells an extra four to six cars a month based on the relationships that have been built. "And the investment, other than the time, is nothing," he said. "It's free."
Most people start on Twitter by following people they already know, then looking at the lists of people their friends are following. "They start communicating among themselves," Myers said. "It's like bringing a new friend into a group of old friends."
He is careful not to make his Twitter messages too heavy on the sales pitches.
"I follow the rule of thirds," he said. "One-third, maybe, would be a direct offer. That's the least effective thing on there. Then another third would be something about the industry, but not directly related to your place of business." Then there's small talk, making up the final third, which he said can be as mundane as sharing a good recipe.
"You've got to be yourself, be real, get people to know you and like you," he said.
But he doesn't use Twitter to share too much minutiae with the online community.
"I don't care if you're on your deck drinking a cup of coffee, I just don't," he said. "I don't care what you're watching on TV. I'm not on there for that reason."
"It's really about finding (Twitter's) value for you," Mullen said. "When you do that, it gets past the ‘Who cares if you're having lunch at the Mellow Mushroom?' stage."
reportertim
Some Tweets about Twitter in less than 140 characters.
Twitter is a "micro-blogging" service that lets people send instant updates on their status 2 people on their list, AKA "Followers."
Twitter was introduced in 2006.
According to Quantcast, a media research site, Twitter has 23 million users, of which 55% are female, and 77% are 18 to 49.
2 become a Twitterer, go to twitter.com and click on the green button marked "Get Started -- Join!"
Then come up with a user name and the service will check to see if it's available. Add a password and set up your page.
You can then let Twitter search your e-mail address book to see if any of your friends are already on Twitter, or search for names yourself.
BTW, that last sentence was exactly 140 characters, the maximum length a Twitter message (known as a "Tweet") can be.
Some critics have complained that the 140-character limit keeps Tweets from containing any substantial discussions.
If u try 2 send a message longer than 140 characters, the program won't let u update. It won't cut off the end of the sentence.
Sending a message with an @ sign before a user name is a way 2 ID a message as being for a specific person (though others can read it).
The city of Winston-Salem provides updates on city services at twitter.com/cityofWS.
To read this in Twitter, go to www.twitter.com/reportertim. LMK (Let Me Know) what you think.
JSYK about the lingo
Twitter users -- or, as they're called "Twitterers" (not "Twits," thank you very much) -- have come up with various phrases to describe aspects of using Twitter. Here are a few:
Tweets: Posts made by Twitterers.
Follow: To subscribe to a particular Twitterer.
Unfollow: To unsubscribe from a particular Twitterer.
Retweet (or RT): Tweeting content that was posted by someone else so others can see it.
Tweetback: A link that goes from a Tweet back to a longer blog article.
Following: Subscribing to receive someone else's Twitter messages
Followorthy: A Twitter user who is worth following
Followspamming: Following someone on Twitter for the purpose of getting the names on their Twitter list and sending them spam advertisements.
Twammer: Someone who followspams. A combination of "Twitter" and "Spammer"
Tweetup: Meeting other Twitter users in person.
Fly-bye: Signing off from your Twitter account.
Tweeps: Friends on Twitter.
Tweople: People who tweet.
Twirting: Flirting with someone on Twitter.
Twitterhea: The inability to stop using Twitter
Tweetjacking: Copying and pasting someone else's link without giving them credit. It's the rude version of retweeting.
Celebrities use Twitter
They use it to keep up with fans; nonfans sometimes use it for satire
Twitter is a popular format with celebrities. They use it as a way to communicate with their fans. One of the most popular celebrity twitterers is Ashton Kutcher. He was the first Twitter user to get 1 million followers, after competing for the title against CNN. twitter.com/aplusk.
In England, comedian Stephen Fry is one of the most popular celebrities on Twitter. He is best known in the U.S. for his role in Jeeves & Wooster alongside Hugh Laurie, the star of House. He is an occasional guest star on Bones. Fry was also on the cult British series Blackadder. twittercom/stephenfry.
Fans should be aware, though, that there are people out there who pretend to be celebrities. The above addresses are the real deal. One Twitterer who mocks this practice is "Fake Ash-
ton," who has set up an account with a photo of Kutcher and explanation that says, "I respresent (sic) every wanna-be in the world trying to make it big off someone else's fame." twitter.com/FakeAshton.
As an April Fool's prank, the London newspaper The Guardian announced that it would be switching to an all-Twitter format. Their site, www.guardian.co.uk, explained that "Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters." twitter.com/guardiannews.
Twitter has been extensively parodied in comic strips and on TV.
A recurring storyline in the comic strip Doonesbury revolves around Roland Hedley, a self-absorbed news reporter, and his Twittering of minutiae in his life. And yes, he really does have a Twitter account, which features satiric posts in character as if Hedley were tweeting from such events as President Obama's speech at Notre Dame University or the recent press conference about the Miss USA controversy: twitter.com/rolandhedley
The Fox News show RedEye With Greg Gutfeld frequently makes fun of Twitter, with a recurring segment in which celebrity tweets are comically misinterpreted: activitypit.ning.com/video/twitter-news-50509
Most of the show's regulars and frequent guests are active on Twitter. Many of their posts are tongue-in-cheek, such as this recent post from host Gutfeld: "I have a song in my head that I can't figure out. It goes, ‘da da da da dee dee doooo, daa, daaa daaa.' can anyone help?"activitypit.ning.com/page/pit-members-red-eye-guests-on
■ Tim Clodfelter can be reached at 727-7371 or at twitter.com/reportertim.
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