I wrote this article for the latest issue of CPU Magazine. I wrote it because I believe Twitter is more than a useless "tell the world what you're doing" tool. Twitter is like an open source engine which allows developers to create some pretty incredible tools.
There are many reasons you should think about using Twitter as a productivity tool, no matter what business you’re in. I will start by saying that Twitter is as simple or as complex a tool as you want it to be. The typical first-time Twitter user hears about it on the radio or on television or through a friend—they visit www.twitter.com, register, and wonder “what next?” If I were to guess, I would say that a good chunk of the new Twitter accounts do not become active.
My wife is one of those people who barely uses Facebook, but she understands the need for it. She can’t understand the purpose of Twitter, and I was the same way until I started to dig into it further. My Twitter account would have died had it not been for the constant flow of followers who followed me for whatever reason, but I imagine most first-time users don’t get “automatic followers,” so they need to use the tool in a more proactive way.
Getting Started On Twitter
The first thing I recommend is that you do not use Twitter.com as your primary interface. Register on the site, customize your page, then close that browser window and download Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is a desktop application that lets you view tweets from many different streams at once. You’ll find as you get into Twitter that you’ll use the Twitter Web site every now and then to modify your profile and follow recommended users.
For Customer Feedback
You can set up custom search windows with specific terms. So, for example, if you want to be notified anytime someone says “motherboard,” you can click the search tool at the top and type motherboard, and a new column will open up. Now anytime someone types that word in a tweet, it will appear, and you can choose to follow them, reply, or pretty much monitor the situation. I use this as a great way to get live customer feedback on my products. It’s a great way to get directly involved with your customer base without being too intrusive.
For Real-Time News
This is my favorite feature of Twitter. Click the Twitscoop button at the top of Tweetdeck, and you’ll see a tag cloud of terms that people are talking about. The larger the word, the more people are talking about it. For example, if the word “earthquake” appears large, there is an earthquake happening somewhere in the world, and you can click on it to see what people are saying. Never before has there been a faster way to get news out than with Twitter.
For Stalking Celebrities
It’s safe to say Twitter has become a pop culture phenomenon, and when people such as Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey, and 50 Cent are using it to talk about whatever interests them, you can jump in and follow them and even respond directly to them.
There are many other things that Twitter allows you to do, from searching for specific keywords and sending messages automatically to people (spam could be cut out at some point) to finding a job in real time. I strongly urge you to try it, and dig deep into the tools that make Twitter a powerful tool rather than just a glorified chat room.
Oh yeah, feel free to follow me on Twitter @rahulsood.
