Okay so this whole Twitter thing, it’s a silly little fad right? I’d reply, “Yea probably. It only gets 17 million visitors in a month, which is only a fraction of what I get here at my blog.” So, then you’d realize I was being a complete a**hole and that Twitter is here to stay. But, what is it about those 140 letters that get people so excited to use Twitter? After all, you could only type the entire alphabet 5 times and change. Well, you’re in luck because I’m going to solve the mystery for you right here in this very day in this very blog post. Get out your pen and paper, fasten your seat belt, keep both arms inside the vehicle, and be thinking of your Twitter user name, because once you’re done here, you’re going to be salivating over each of those 140 characters.
Reason #1: Let Your Friends Know What You’re Doing…24/7
On Facebook (at least until it copied Twitter), you’d type in an update and it’d show up in your friends’ news feeds hours later. So, when you said “I’m taking a shower,” by the time your friends got the message, you were done with the shower (hopefully). With Twitter, your friends timelines automatically update, giving you the power to give a running commentary on your lives. At dinner, why not give a play by play? “I just sat down to eat the pot-roast, corn, and mashed potatoes for dinner” (2 minutes elapse) “Mashed potatoes are a little runny tonight” (30 seconds elapse) “Yummmm, I love me some corn on the cob. Send me a @reply if you love #cornonthecob!” You can even get your followers to vote on what you have for dessert! Twitter is the easiest way to stay in touch with your friends on this level.
Reason #2: Free Friends
Remember in the old days when you felt like you had to buy your friends? Jimmy had the most friends because he had a trampoline, and nobody wanted to come run in the sprinkler with you (after all, Jimmy had a trampoline AND a sprinkler). Well, on Twitter, all users are created equal, and if you make your life interesting enough, people from all across the world will follow you and you can call them your friends. That’s right, all the way from Seattle to Miami to Australia to I-phone location 12.12.43.56-123.135.34. Nobody can have enough friends, and you can always have the goal of getting more friends than Ashton (@aplusk).
Reason #3: Not only is it free, but you can get free offers!
That’s right, out of your long list of new friends, you’ll constantly receive automated direct messages asking you to order their new self-help book or register at their subscription site. In the past, you had to search for these services on your own, or you may not have even known you needed them in the first place. With Twitter, that doesn’t matter anymore, these offers come to you on their own!
Reason #4: You Can Roll in the Benjamens!
You know that bling you’ve been wanting? Well with Twitter, you can sign up from any number of great programs where people will pay you to either advertise to your followers or just get more and more followers. I know you’re a little sketched out by this, but not too many people have gotten their identities stolen by doing this, so don’t worry. I’ll make it easy for you and give you the top program out there, created by Ryan Stephens. What are you waiting for? Start making dough!
"Oh that? That's the money you COULD be earning on Twitter"
Reason #5: Feed Your Ego
So everyone has those moments where you’re down on your luck, the weather outside is hideous, or it’s just a Monday. We all need a little pick me up during these times. And what better pick me up than someone feeding your ego and letting you know/think that you’re the bomb.com? Well, on Twitter, they invented the retweet for just this reason. Remember that link you posted last night about the Swine Flu? Wait no, maybe it was your blog post that you tweeted. The one telling the world 5 Easy Steps to Get a Promotion. Well, 5 people have retweeted that this morning! Holy cow, you’re a frickin rock star! Talk about adding value, you just made the lives of 5 people better (plus anyone who reads their retweet). You’re luck is turning around. The skies are clearing up. It is still Monday, which sucks, but you forgot about it for a few seconds!
Reason #6: Oprah
That’s right, the big O her self, @oprah is on Twitter, and if she does it, then that’s good enough for me.
Reason #7: If You Tweet Well Enough, You Get a Free Trip to Space
I can see your facial expression from here, I finally crossed the line. “Reasons #1 through #6, with the exception of #2, which was a little iffy, were perfectly believeable, but this is just ludacris!” Don’t believe me? Well I present to you, @Astro_Mike. A young chap from Houston, Texas, Mike has tweeted a mere 134 times and has only followed 2 people. His tweets were found so interesting by NASA that they gave him an all expenses paid trip to orbit earth. You want to talk about incentive? If you’re still reading this and haven’t set up an account yet, shame on you!
There you have it. 7 reasons you probably want to be on Twitter. Hopefully I was able to convince you why Twitter is more than a fad. Give me a follow at @jackieadkins and let me know when NASA calls! That’s all I have to say about that.
Hopefully you realized that I was just joshin around in this post. Did I miss any “reasons” people should join Twitter? If you have any additions, just keep the list going in the comments section (we left off at #7, so you can start at #8).
Image from Brandweek
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“The ‘Real’ Reasons You Should Be On Twitter” – http://tinyurl.com/ob38vr – New blog post by @jackieadkins
{ 4 comments }
#8 If you pay attention, you’ll have lots of chances to say “First post”.
I think it’s funny how many people blog about how ridiculous Twitter can be (myself included).
Ah, delicious delicious narcissism that inflicts a lot of people when they first come into the space (and sometimes still maintain it throughout). Loved the sarcasm of the post
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Just to clarify, I love Twitter and find it to be a very valuable tool in many ways (some of which you can see it at my guest post at the Buzz Manager blog at http://buzzmanagerblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/guest-post-jackie-adkins-take-on-social.html )
All that sarcasm was just poking fun at some of the more comical aspects of Twitter. Hope you enjoyed it!
Nice man – great stuff!
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