I always jump on the social networking bandwagon. I have a MySpace that I don’t use, a LinkedIn that I don’t understand and a FaceBook that I’m addicted to.

So when I heard about Twitter, I thought it was dumb (to put it mildly.) To be fair, as a general rule, anything that is promoted by news stations before the general public knows about it, I believe is trash.

Three months ago however, one of my many employers sent out a mass email telling us to follow them on Twitter. I am a full-time college student who does marketing jobs on the weekends; passing out flyers, signing people up for credit cards, doing food samples at Walmart/Sams Clubs and going to concerts and giving out free stuff.

The email stated that extra job openings will be tweeted 3 times a day. Usually these marketing gigs go by quick because they pay well and the work is not too difficult. So, I swallowed my pride and joined the twitter world.

After browsing, I realized that a majority of my marketing employers used Twitter to post new job openings that they don’t send through mass emails. I started to follow all my employers, potential employers, family and friends too.

I linked my cell phone to Twitter and I receive on average 100 text messages a day from potential employers. I was getting sick of it and about to quit until something great happened.

Last month, I received a Tweet on my cell phone while eating dinner. My boyfriend rolled his eyes because he is sick of hearing “Almost Easy” every hour when my cell phone “Tweets” goes off. The tweet said “Cartoon Network Event in WPB, FL need staff immediately.”

I called my staffing coordinator and she hired me that second. I worked that entire week and got my biggest paycheck ever. $1,000 for roughly 30 hours of work, that’s a lot for a college student (Although it’s gone now, due to wonderful bills.)

So, I have resumed being in love with Twitter. I use it primarily for work (I have FaceBook for friends/family) and I get so many extra jobs from it.

I know that Twitter can revolutionize the job hunting process for many unemployed people. I read an article claiming that Twitter has helped many people find jobs.

Employers like Palm Beach Post and ATT post jobs on Twitter and it can be great to be able to get job postings to your cell phone so you don’t have to sit by the computer all the time.

I wonder if Craigslist has a Twitter?

As a user on twitter said that “addictions come in many forms…” This is true for my twitter usage, There have been a number of benefits associated with my twitter membership, but none explain my constant use besides addiction. I will list a few benefits that I have experienced using twitter. Great websites, Breaking news, Late night entertainment, friendships, a substitute for a journal, and a belief that someone is listening to me.

Among websites that I discovered through using twitter is this one. I was complaining about my life as was common, with our current economic situation. I expressed my need of a job,, or some way to make money. Somebody suggested to look at ClickBank . It goes without saying that I have, and so my hopes of finding a way to make money were not met in vain. Making such an idle comment on twitter led me here, where I am able to save up my money in order to purchase a vehicle and change my entire life standing. I have also communicated to others my testimony of tweeting and ClickBank to bring about true change in life style.

Probably the most exciting use of twitter is to get all of the breaking news before it breaks. There are websites that just list newspapers and organizations that tweet headlines. It is nice to receive constant outpouring of information via SMS on m phone regardless of where I am. Early in the morning, just waking up, in my bed. I know the weather forecasts and traffic conditions in my area, and globally. Each night as I lie in bed in that reminiscent state, I empty my mind of all the frivolous thoughts filling my head.

Through My social network, I have discovered such thoughts are actually of use to others. Above all though, I have discovered a cure for insomnia. Clearing my thoughts is in a sense therapeutic, and it is a natural way to ease my mind and prepare it for slumber. Plus, Tweeting gives me something to do instead of joining the millions of Americans who watch Late Night talk shows, I find my entertainment elsewhere. I just moved across the country, and belong to a large family.

Twitter allows me a fast and easy way to stay in contact with my friends and family. With twitter I have shared up-to-date photos of such events as ultrasound pictures, and a hike on a island that included up close viewing of live buffalo. Though I have been warned about forging close friendships online, twitter has provided me with a safety net of friends who care about what I say and always have something worthwhile to say. I really feel my life is better from using twitter.

Lastly, I always have my cell phone or laptop with me, making twitter the perfect substitute for a journal, recording my life events without pen or paper. Though not my intent or purpose, It was pointed out to me that I was being very “green” in saving trees, by not using paper. For me it was just a matter of convenience.

But when all is said and done, My true reason for tweeting remains: I am addicted, I couldn’t stop if I tried. Today I read a comment by Kate Hewlett (a famous actress, one of many Popular icons I follow) She said “What? Too busy for twitter or beer? Now, that must be really busy!”

Like so many others, when my friend Mitchell first heard about Twitter he was skeptical. However he found a very useful application for the 140 characters allowed in a tweet.  This is what he told me:  

At first I thought is this whole Twitter thing was rather silly.  A 140-character limit sounded like a twisted celebration of our society’s short attention span; what could you possibly say in so few words that would be worth reading? The first examples I saw were not particularly encouraging. Tweeting the most mundane daily occupations out to the world appealed to some friends, but that didn’t mean I’d want to read about what they had for breakfast.

As the Twitter universe expanded, though, other more imaginative people thought of some great things to do with 140 characters. Augusten Burroughs, author of Dry and Running with Scissors, was one of several authors who recently participated in Twitter book clubs, allowing readers to take part in real time discussions about their favorite books.

I had previously tried my hand at book reviews on websites like GoodReads, a social networking site for readers, and BookCrossing, a book review and exchange site, but it was such a commitment. Giving every book the thoughtful, detailed review it deserved could turn into a chore, and it was easy to procrastinate until I’d forgotten what the book was even about.

That’s when I remembered my Twitter account. It had been lying dormant since I’d joined (mainly just to read Russell Brand’s hilarious and inspired tweets), but now I had a purpose: 140 character book reviews. Oh, I’m sure someone else already thought of it, but that isn’t really the point. Instead of letting the world know what random thought is going through my head or what I’m watching on TV, I can turn Twitter into a tool that’s useful for me, a place to create miniature records of the books I’ve read and enjoyed (or not) without the time-consuming need to expound on every plot twist.

Capturing the essence of a book in 140 characters has its own rewards and challenges. It is necessary to strip out every syllable of extraneous detail, to reduce the impact of hundreds of pages to, essentially, a single sentence. Watching the Twitter character count dwindle downward toward zero puts the pressure on, and I find myself aiming for a new kind of perfection: exactly 140 characters. To see the big zero in the right hand corner of the screen is strangely satisfying.

“Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O’Nan: a day in the life of a food service manager; much more enjoyable to read than it would be to live.” Okay, so it’s not exactly a haiku, or any sort of art, but it’s my own reason to tweet.  

The key to enjoying Twitter: find your own.

The first thing my friend Adriana did when she signed up for the extremely hip and popular Internet app Twitter was click on Find People so she could populate her feed with friends she knew. I think she found about 5 actual contacts, but none that were active. However, after becoming more familiar with the software, she realized that she could add celebrity Twitters and create her very own pop culture RSS feed!
The most interesting celebrity feeds on Twitter she found are:
• Warren Ellis – Ellis is a renown comic book/fiction writer known for the acclaimed Transmetropolitan and Hellbrazer series, as well as prose novels such as Crooked Little Vein and Listener. Joining his Twitter has kept me abreast of his work, but also has given me a peek into his very active imagination and sarcastic (and very British) humor. He also responds to your Tweets!
• Hugh Jackman – This Hollywood star is best known for his role in X-Men as Wolverine, but his Twitter lets us into a more private world where we see that Jackman is actually a really nice guy (who else would pay for breakfast for hundreds of fans waiting to see his movie??)
• Rainn Wilson – Also known as Dwight from hit NBC series The Office, Wilson has a very funny and frequently updated Twitter that shows him jostling back and forth with other comedians, and even regular ol’ readers like you and I!
• William Shatner – The original Captain Kirk of Star Trek is still kicking it online and has now picked up the pace with his Twitter, adding more frequent updates and interesting links relating to himself, Priceline, and even the new Star Trek movie.
• Dave Mustaine – Lead singer and guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth, Mustaine gives his fans updates on recording, touring and is looking for you to join his page and spread the word.
• John Mayer – Popular guitarist and singer John Mayer has become notorious for his Twitter updates and his candor in general. Even if you aren’t a fan of the man’s music, it is definitely worth checking out his page because you’re bound to be on top of something that will be gracing Star magazine next week!
So think of a few celebrities you like and look up if they have a Twitter! There’s also always the option of trying the Suggestions tab to see who Twitter thinks you should follow. Have a blast – and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to get a tweet back from your favorite star!

Maybe a million different ways is a bit much, but it can surely be used in ways we have not figured out yet. You can implement it in the business enterprise or use it at home. You can find tweets describing what people ate for dinner last night or you can find police reports; an example can be seen here Milwaukee Police on Twitter.

There are some important advanced usages for Twitter, and if you think about new unique ways to use the service you realize that it can be much more than just another social networking website. Twitter does not have a large number of advanced features, and this can be a good thing in some cases. It allows the user to mold the service around just about anything. I have seen police departments using it to announce arrests and other police reports. Other strange or useful appearances have involved fire departments or new software releases.

One important usage that just about everyone could take advantage of would be implementing it with your blog. This can help to tell the world about new blog posts and other information related to your website or blog. This is the easiest and cheapest way to advertise your content. Some content management systems allow easy integration; examples include WordPress, Joomla, and Mambo. There is really no reason to not include Twitter considering how easy it is to implement.

This may be why lately we are seeing a huge increase in Twitter news-related stories. However, you can also use Twitter in the workplace. This can be a great way to quickly share information with co-workers or the outside world. It is a free service and perfect for quick advertising. You can build up hype or share news on a new product release using Twitter. It allows people in the business world to share something new and unique in an easy and fast way. I have seen tweets regarding new video games releases. When these are released with new information people talk about them for days on end. It can be a very useful tool for building hype. The service seems to drive sales much higher when used properly.

However, you also have to be aware of the security issues that are involved. Any information you share basically becomes publicly available. This information can be seen by the entire world. You should therefore be careful with the information you share. In conclusion, the important place to start would be with analyzing your current business model. Understand what it is that you sell and what you want out of a service like Twitter. Think about the potential with advertisements and communication benefits.

Twitter is the greatest thing to come around the Internet in years. I had never been on the leading edge of technology acceptance – before Twitter. I did Usenet News after it had long gotten past its prime, slept through the World Wide Web. Blogging ? Set up my own online diary ? Why would anyone do that ? But Twitter does it all. Social computing. Online news and views. Bulletin boards. Twitter can do it all. It is my interface to everything I’ve done online for the past twenty years. It is east to join and easy to use. And, most importantly, Twitter is free.

Twitter is a model of user friendliness because it does functionality right. You get started right away and you can learn as you go. For an old guy like me, that’s important, because I still remember VHS and Betamax, but never had the patience to program my Video Cassette Recorder, and I still remember learning to type using Multimate on a Compac PC that ran DOS. No, not MS-DOS, just DOS. If you throw too much functionality at me too fast, a man my age cannot absorb it all, but with Twitter, I can keep up with the youngsters, even get ahead of them. I’ve recruited one of my three daughters for Twitter – they all had Facebook pages – and managed to get one other’s long dormant Twitter account linked to mine, I’m a low frequency blogger, so what I typically do is just manually insert the links to my blog entries as I update my site. I have cross-linked my Twitter page to Facebook.

For me, the most important and attractive feature of Twitter is to act as a “one-stop shop” for web browsing. I’ve linked many news services, including BBC, the New York Times, Die Zeit, and CNBC’s Fast Money onto my Twitter feed. Usually, I’ll log on before going to bed, to check out what is happening. I reserve Favorites for specific items I want to keep, and if I need to know more, I’ll go to the owning website. I discovered that the Onion News Network is up on Twitter, always a favorite. There are also a number of government sites linked into Twitter, including the White House. Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin also have sites linked to Twitter, so if you want to know where Newt is having dinner this evening, check it out. I’ve been a little hesitant to tweet at work, since our office operates in a secure intranet and it might be taken wrongly – but Twitter does have enormous potential for business intelligence gathering. Just a few days after joining Twitter, I came across a very interesting project that was announcing its open solicitation just the day before.

Again – the power of Twitter is that it gets you to where you want to go on the information superhighway without getting stuck in traffic. That’s what we all need don’t we?

Twitter is a preview of the third generation of the web, where we are communicating in real-time. The first generation was rather static.  It was mostly companies displaying their products and services on web pages. Individuals started creating personal websites, but they too were static.  The Web was used for publishing and a lot of screen scraping was done to cut and paste from other websites.

The second generation of the Web, the so-called ‘Web 2.0’ was more interactive. With the advent of webServices, the web became a more connected place. Companies started using the social networking media like MySpace and FaceBook, to set up a dialogue with their customers. Individuals were using social networking media to connect with their friends and to keep them posted on what they were doing. Everywhere ‘wikis’ were being set up with individuals blogging about a wide range of subjects. This created a web where you could follow what was going on in a certain niche and take part in the discussion.

The third generation of the Web is about to break loose.  It takes things one step further than interactive; it’s real-time. Here the Web is connecting everything and everybody. We will see real-time interactions between devices and people. These interactions are taking the form of a constant stream of data that comes to you, rather than messages or web pages you have to look for. People will still be concerned about what has happened in the past, but this generation of the web is all about what’s happening now.

Twitter gives us a glimpse of this the third generation of the Web. It lets us communicate in near real-time, but it resembles a stream of a gigantic stream of data that everybody can jump into, to pick up what they like.  Many things that happen in the world are first reported on Twitter. When that plane landed in the Hudson River early 2009 a guy called Janis Krums was on the ferry picking up the first survivors. He took a picture of the plane and tweeted this to the world.

When the elections in Iran in June 2009 were over, the world learned from the many tweets from Iran that there were violent protests against the election results. When the protests started, the regular news media like CNN did not pick this up for hours.  This in itself caused a big discussion on Twitter (#cnnfail) about the role that the regular news media should be playing.  The issue here is: can what is tweeted be trusted by the news media or is further investigation required? The answer is a difficult one, but one thing is clear “the truth is more seen than read”, so anything that is documented on video or photos, can be trusted more than what is written.

I first heard about Twitter over two years ago, when I was perusing fitness blogs. Some of the fitness bloggers had taken to using Twitter in order to track their daily food intake, meal-by-meal. Although this was before Twitter had applications that allowed for better smartphone functionality, such as TwitterBerry and TweetDeck, which would have allowed them to tweet what they were eating immediately after a meal, it still seemed like a convenient tool. I gave it a shot, but never really got into it then. My Twitter quickly stagnated, and I never would have guessed that a little less than two years later, Twitter would become a pop culture sensation.

I can’t remember exactly how Twitter started becoming so popular. Something about Ashton Kutcher and Shaquille O’Neal having a Twitter, so I decided to sign back up. As soon as I signed in, I saw that I could follow so many more celebrities than just them, although the list only extended from “celebrities I kind of like” to “celebrities I don’t really even know.”

I followed, and then quickly unfollowed, Stephen Fry. As lovable as the man is, he Twitters too damn much. Twitter has been a bastion of (mostly useless) information as well. I learned from Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) that dogs sweat through the pads of their feet, and I was one of the first to know that Gavin Newsom would be running for governor of California, as his very first announcement was through his own Twitter. I know when a Twittering baseball player feels like he has tendinitis, and when he feels like it’s just shoulder soreness, and I now know that the writers of the Office act a great deal like the fictional writers of 30 Rock.

I stopped Twittering about a month after I joined, because I realized that, even though I think it’s hilarious, no one really cares that my dog almost burst through the sliding glass door in her (successful) attempt to eat a fly. However Twitter is definitely still a feature in my daily “rotation” of the ten or so sites that I visit multiple times on a daily basis. However, I’m a fickle follower, and I find myself deleting 3-4 more Twitters from my follow list per week. And as tech savvy as I am, I still don’t quite get the re-tweet thing. What, @ replies weren’t good enough?

One lesser-known feature, in terms of how to use it, is the trending hash #. Used for games, protests, and just plain silly Internet themes, the trending hash is placed in front of a word or phrase to make it stand out when talking among people. That way, when searching trends, the hash mark makes a common phrase for a game stand out among ways it may be used in other tweets.

One popular Trend is called #blamedrewscancer. Twitter users #blamedrewscancer for things that go poorly, and BlameDrewsCancer,com records it, hoping for a company to sponsor each blame towards a cancer foundation.

Twitter is something that is here to stay. People devoted to other Social Networking sites will eventually come around and see that Twitter is a fantastic communication too. It’s ease of use, unique features and variety of people is a testament to it’s lasting power.

You can follow anyone, from ZombieCptPicard to MSNBC. GossipGirl updates you on that guilty pleasure show you watch, and your best friend complains about the homework they forgot until last minute.

In the age of communication, I highly recommend everyone starts Tweeting. Otherwise, you’re just out of the loop.

Freelance Writer

Twitter can be a great resource for writers. As a freelance writer, I’ve used Twitter to find and contact sources that I would otherwise not have known about. I received an opportunity to write an article about an NBA basketball player, who had recently died.

Along with my other research, I used Twitter’s search function, available at search.twitter.com, to find people who had been taking about his death. I used additional terms, like “knew him, “friend,” and “met” to find the people who would be most useful for my article.

In addition, you can use Twitter’s search functionality to narrow your results in a variety of ways. One of my favorites is the “near:” function. If my publication were based in Kentucky, for example, I could use the following search to find sources for an article about gardening in the region:

“near:Kentucky planted garden -RT@”

This would help me find people who recently talked about planting a garden in or around Kentucky. “-RT@” helps me filter out some people who are just repeating others’ messages–this lets me get to the source of the best content.

Once I’ve found somebody whom I think might be a good contact, I click on his or her tweet to be taken to the user’s page. This shows me where they’re from, what other things they’ve been writing about, and how they describe themselves. From this information, I should be able to make an informed judgment call about whether or not it’s worth my time to try to contact them.

After I’ve decided that a person is worth investigating as a source, I send them a message using Twitter’s “@reply” feature. Make sure that you click the reply icon on the tweet that you want to respond to. This keeps the tweets linked together, making it easier for the user to see what you were responding to. It also keeps your message from appearing on the homepage of each of your followers–which can be useful if you’re sending very many interview requests.

I think it makes sense to follow anyone that you request an interview from. This allows them to DM (direct message) you with contact information that they might not like to send out over the public timeline. You can always unfollow them after your deadline has passed.

One word of warning: some users go on Twitter more frequently than others. It makes sense to make several more requests than the number of sources that you actually need. This way, if some take a long time to respond (or don’t respond at all), you’ll still be able to finish your story.

As a user on Twitter there are a lot of features you might not be wholly familiar with. The following are Twitter features you will come across, if you follow a lot of different users. You might not completely understand these techniques when other people use them until you try using them yourself when you tweet! You can visit these links I’ve compiled that highlight these common Twitter methods that can make your tweeting experience much more rewarding.

URL Shorteners

Sometimes you want to tweet about a website or URL of an article you’ve just read and want to recommend to your Twitter community. However, hyperlinks are often longer than the 140 character limit imposed on your tweets. The solution is to use a tool called ‘URL-Shortener’. You can go to a number of sites that will shorten a URL for you, such as TinyURL , tr.im, p.ze and others to receive an abbreviated version of your URL that still brings you to the same website. Use the tinier version in your tweet without it using up all your 140 characters!! It also makes your tweet easier to read. More and more of these ‘URL Shorteners’ or ‘URL Cloakers’ are springing up. bit.ly is a very popular one. This shortens your URL automatically if you enable that, but more importantly it shows you how many times your short URL was clicked on.

Re-Tweet

In Twitter you will often see people use the term “RT” in their tweets. RT stands for ‘Re-Tweet’ meaning you have tweeted what somebody else already tweeted. Basically “retweet” just means quoting what someone else has already posted on twitter. Users often also ask you to retweet (RT) things in their own tweets if they want to spread the word about something very important to them. Read more about retweeting at http://wiki.answers.com

Hashtags

Another common phenomenon that you will encounter on Twitter, is the use of the “hashtag” or #. This little symbol allows the user to tag keywords within their tweet. Follow the user’s hashtags along with real time results for keywords that other Twitter users are tagging. You can read more about the use of hashtags here: Hashtags.org.
StockTwits is an excellent application based on Twitter for real-time updates on stock trading. Whatthetrend.com allows the users to see what is most popular on the twitter and why it is popular. It is a wiki so that anybody can add the information. Twitter-Atlas- allows users to view tweets on a world map. Twittelicious- Combines twitter and delicious.com. Twitpic- A way to share pictures on Twitter Twitterfeed- Offers to tweet the last posts published in a blog via the RSS feed.

Advanced usage

Twitter can be used in many ways. For example Twitter can be used as a marketing tool. You can find and add people within a geographic area or people interested in particular things using the search feature provided by Twitter. In that way you can track potential customers and market your product to the right people. In another way Twitter can be used as a real-time news agent. You can see what is hot in the world from the trending topics section at the twitter page. Many people now use automated tweeting softwares to update tweets. For example developers can create tweeting application from a blog posting automatically as it is created.

It is surprising that Twitter itself does not offer a way of controlling and measuring which keywords are being used in real time since they do mark trends of the most tweeted about terms. This might change on Twitter’s part in the future. These are just a small example of the type of methods you will see people using on Twitter that can make your own Twitter usere experience more fun.

Go out explore and find more useful techniques and enjoy your tweeting adventures!