Many people think that Twitter is just a way for celebrities to post what they ate for breakfast or their latest selfie…and a way for crazy celebrity followers (some borderline stalker-ish) to get a kick out of knowing what this or that celebrity ate for breakfast. Granted, I do follow a few myself…and I did find this tweet from @usweekly so funny yesterday that I guffawed, alone, in my apartment (no offense, Selena): Oops! Selena Gomez falls offstage during her concert… and YES, THERE IS A VIDEO.
But I digress…
Despite the onslaught of celebrity and non-celebrity useless snippets (a.k.a. Tweets) on Twitter, there are actually some very valuable things about this booming social networking site – here are 10 of them (plus a few bonuses – like the infographic below)…
Networking. It is mind boggling to me the number of great minds I have access to as easy as clicking the word “FOLLOW”. Granted I may not be sharing a glass of wine with them at their kitchen counters, but I still have ability to witness some of their thoughts, things that they find inspiring, interesting, or humorous. A tweet I flagged yesterday to go back to and go through from @CreativeBloq: “Dribbble: 50 designers and illustrators you should follow”
Current events. There have been several times that I have learned something about current events from Twitter before other people I knew were aware – simply because I saw a tweet and read the attached article; the best part is, searching almost anything is as easy as #whateveryoursearching…and will instantly bring you loads of tweets on whatever topic you’re interested. One in particular that recently caught my eye: @nprnews Thousands of Miles from Shutdown, Mars Rovers Keep Working
Inspiration. I follow lots of graphics, design, art, font, and other people who inspire me regularly like this tweet from @psdwordpress showing 20 very cool retro and vintage logo designs.
Friendly praise. Saturday, I was MORE than pleasantly surprised when @CU_athletics replied “@olive_shoe that’s possibly the cutest way we’ve ever been wished a happy gameday!” in response to my tweeting a graphic I created, “Gameday Balloons”, along with “Happy Gameday! @ClemsonNews @CU_athletics @clemsontailgate @clemsongirl @Clemson_Tigers @ClemsonWomen #GoTigers”… Sure made me feel good! …as if Saturday, gorgeous fall upstate weather, and a home game weren’t enough…
{Gameday Balloons graphic from last week}
Guidance. A simple hashtag search #blogging tips brought me to this tweet from @jeffbullas “50 Ways to Promote and Market your Blog Posts bit.ly/15jEZSn #socialmedia #marketing #bloggingtips”
Humor. Because sometimes you just need a laugh. @Mindy Furano is pretty funny, if you need a starting point…here’s one of her latest tweets on 10/11/13: “Workout: 20 push-ups, 10 face slaps, 30 crunches, 5 air guitar solos, 15 pull-ups, cry, 10 squats, 10 screams out the window”.
Sports, music & other special interest or hobby tidbits… a few of my hobbies – Clemson tailgating, photography, scrapbooking, cooking, wine connoisseur-ing, travel… you get the idea. I can follow all of these different interests on Twitter. Pretty nifty… like this one: @ClemsonBuzzz “They’re…Back…Get UP tigers @CollegeGameDay #Clemson #BeatFSU thanks to @TTGrafx pic.twitter.com/p02fKK3mFK”
Technology news. This is a no brainer. Twitter IS technology. There are all kinds of geeks sharing LOTS of info. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article from The Wall Street Journal on the history of the hashtag, tweeted by Tracy Corrigan on 10/4 at 12:18 PM.
Industry. Twitter is an EXCELLENT tool for finding out new things about your industry. Right now, along with graphic design and painting, one of my other main focuses is learning all I can about what’s going on in social media…so I found this article from Forbes, “The Top 7 social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014”, particularly interesting and tweeted it on 9/24/13. Whatever your industry, I’m 99.5% sure there’s something on Twitter you’d probably find interesting; try searching any number of hashtags…or just click one of these: #veterinary or #education or #manufacturing or #insurance or #marketing or #IT or #corporatetax.
Cool stuff…this is self explanatory. I watched this time-lapse video of the Boston Ballet that @HuffPostArts tweeted 3 times, and then I retweeted it.
Bonus: If you’re not a sharer, you don’t have to actually EVER share (a.k.a. “tweet”) anything. You can simply peruse as you feel froggy…err…chirpy?
Happy tweeting (or just tweet reading and re-tweeting)!
Oh, and P.S. Michael Hyatt gives an excellent tutorial in his post The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter. And just in case that’s not enough…here’s a few more links:
Tech Watch: Five Reasons Why You Should Give @Twitter a #chance
My Top Ten Realized Benefits of Twitter
5 Misunderstood Great Benefits of Twitter
20 Good and 20 Bad Things About Twitter
Always a treat to see some of my favorite women enjoying life to the fullest. And the bird poo pic is awesome as we know how Claire luvs the POO.
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Hahahaha! Hugs from SC to Wisconsin!
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HAHAHAHAHAHA! Donna you crack me up!! Hugs and love from South Clarolina!!
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