I was sitting with some friends yesterday discussing their new website and strategies for increasing their online presence. We discussed the usual suspects and, of course, Twitter came up in the conversation.
Their response was typical, “I don’t get Twitter. Why should I use it?” If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that, I’d have a stinkin’ load of dimes.
I am no Twitter expert, but I can share what I’ve learned. LIke most everyone else, I joined Twitter and wondered the same thing. What was the purpose of Twitter? What do you say? Over time, I’ve gained a bit of an understanding.
Twitter has many uses and many different end results. As I’ve started following people, it seems to me that the main purpose of Twitter is marketing, be it full-blown intentional marketing campaigns or something as simple as a slightly narcissistic interest in talking about what your doing. I don’t say this as a negative thing, merely an attempt to explain the “psychology” behind Twitter use.
There are a few Twitterers out there who go against the flow, so to speak. I’ve seen a few who do nothing more than follow hundreds of people and say nothing. I compare these people to my mother who used to go to the mall just to sit and watch people. For the majority, the goal is to gain followers.
I ran across some suggestions by Diana Kohnle in HealthDay News that I found to be mostly common sense – but mostly ignored by our fast-paced lifestyle. In the same vein as the advice found in Ecclesiastes 4:12 (a cord of three strands is not quickly broken), it’s much easier to eat healthy when everybody in the family is practicing the same nutritional habits. Easier said than done? Most certainly. But it’s worth looking at.