A number of weeks ago, a good friend turned me on to the social media phenomenon called Twitter. I have to say that I’m not a heavy user of social media and quite honestly don’t see the purpose. At least that’s what I thought prior to my experience. Three months later my thoughts and feeling have changed rather significantly.
Using Twitter starts with getting online and logging in every day. A friend turned me onto an application that allows me to make the most of a number of different Twitter functions. By using these tools and having hands on experience, I’m finding that Twitter provides a number of valuable resources for my day to day activities.
With so many varied interests, its always been a real challenge for me to find like minded individuals who are in to so many of the same things that I am. Social media platforms like Twitter have solved this problem for me. Not only can you find others who share similar interests or vocations, but you can follow posts made around a given subject area or topic. This is a good indication of what’s being discussed across millions of users. Not only do you have access to individuals sharing the same interests you have, but also celebrities. I never really thought that I would care to have access to what one celeb or another was doing, but it definitely makes people seem more approachable. I’ve also sent and received Tweets from celebrities, making them seem more human.
When you find a group of individuals who share your interests, concerns, and are willing to have a discussion around them, it enriches your experience. This is especially true as I have built a small following of people within my area of interest. When I have a question or topic that needs discussion, this group is always willing to share what they know and comment on my messages, also called tweets. When users respond to one of my messages, pushing it out to their followers, it is called re-tweeting.
You may be thinking to yourself that having an audience is a good thing, but it can also become a bit overwhelming at times. Twitter has a way to handle this as well. You can easily control who you follow and easily change your notifications. In essence, you can be very selective about who you communicate with and who communicates to you. This is a wonderful feature that helps you manage all of the messaging that happens on a regular basis.
I resisted social media at first for a variety of reasons. Now that I have some experience with a tool like Twitter, I believe that I fully understand my initial hesitation. The reason why I didn’t use it initially was because I didn’t see the point. What I didn’t realize was that the only way to get the point of using Twitter was to first use it. Now that I have, I understand and appreciate the value it delivers.