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i'm hoping that someone can highlight why i should use it,
I think the majority of users on this thread are of a similar opinion - it's fun, it's a way of hearing opinions of people in whom one is interested (sportspeople, politicians, comedians etc) before their quotes might be twisted by a newspaper or a PR company. Not everything on there is gossip.
As I said earlier, my MP is a heavy user of twitter and to be fair to her, even though I'm not a fan, she has responded to every single question or comment I've made to her via twitter. Much easier than writing a letter about trivial things.
Earlier this year, I was having enormous trouble getting around £650 out of BMW finance that they owed me after a lease purchase agreement ended. No amount of phone calls or emails (over a period of around 4 months) did it. So I launched my own little Facebook/Twitter campaign to get it back. The money was in my account within ten days.
You're not forced to use it you know...you can just make inane comments from a position of ignorance if you want. I'm not sure you'd get that much out of it anyway TBH.
i'm hoping that someone can highlight why i should use it,
Specifically for me, I originally signed up because an actor was tweeting progress updates about an upcoming TV show I was interested in. News was invariably faster than any other medium, by a long way.
Since then, I've now got a number of close friends on there. I find that it's a nice way of keeping up to date on what people are up to, and whilst it's probably true to say that a lot of it is just idle chatter, where friends are concerned I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. Anything interesting that crops up, it's a good conversation starter next time I see them.
Friends aside, some accounts simply provide interesting information. Depending on your interests, there's Twitter feeds from news services, politicians, comedians, free offers, magazines, etc etc. Looking at a single page of my feed right now, I can see a stupid joke from Viz, an offer of a free sample of tea bags, a link to an interview with someone involved in the NotW phone hacking scandal, details of the official Facebook page for an event I'm attending next year, a piece of useful consumer rights information from Martin Lewis, and a random quote from Rupert Giles.
As for outbound, it's incredibly easy for me to share what's going on in my life. When out and about, I can take a photograph on my phone, press the 'share' button, and it automagially uploads the picture to a hosting service and publishes the link on Twitter. Why would I want to do that? Ever sent someone a postcard?
I also use it as a dumping ground for random thoughts. Jokes that pop into my head for instance, or whatever else I have to say. I've complained about companies before, only to get a reply from that company's Twitter account offering customer support. Last week, I moaned about something the Kaiser Chiefs had said on stage at Glastonbury, and got a reply from their bass player explaining that I'd misunderstood them ..oO 😳
To manage all this, you can set up groups and filter people accordingly. I've got mine broken down into people I actually know, with everything else (news feeds, authors, etc) in a different column. That way I can quickly scan the "celebs" column or ignore it completely, but still keep in touch with what my friends are doing without missing anything.
And ok, sure, you could still be thinking "well, why would I want to do that?" That's fine, only you can answer that question. You could similarly argue that there's no 'point' to discussing minutiae with friends face to face, and whilst you'd be right I quite like hearing their views on (say) the last film they watched. You could ask why you'd want to send text messages when you can just press a little green button and talk to someone, but plenty of people do, every day. And of course, plenty don't. That's fine too.
@UKCougar.
*follows cougar*
Specifically for me, I originally signed up because an actor was tweeting progress updates about an upcoming TV show I was interested in. News was invariably faster than any other medium, by a long way.Since then, I've now got a number of close friends on there. I find that it's a nice way of keeping up to date on what people are up to, and whilst it's probably true to say that a lot of it is just idle chatter, where friends are concerned I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. Anything interesting that crops up, it's a good conversation starter next time I see them.
Friends aside, some accounts simply provide interesting information. Depending on your interests, there's Twitter feeds from news services, politicians, comedians, free offers, magazines, etc etc. Looking at a single page of my feed right now, I can see a stupid joke from Viz, an offer of a free sample of tea bags, a link to an interview with someone involved in the NotW phone hacking scandal, details of the official Facebook page for an event I'm attending next year, a piece of useful consumer rights information from Martin Lewis, and a random quote from Rupert Giles.
As for outbound, it's incredibly easy for me to share what's going on in my life. When out and about, I can take a photograph on my phone, press the 'share' button, and it automagially uploads the picture to a hosting service and publishes the link on Twitter. Why would I want to do that? Ever sent someone a postcard?
I also use it as a dumping ground for random thoughts. Jokes that pop into my head for instance, or whatever else I have to say. I've complained about companies before, only to get a reply from that company's Twitter account offering customer support. Last week, I moaned about something the Kaiser Chiefs had said on stage at Glastonbury, and got a reply from their bass player explaining that I'd misunderstood them ..oO
To manage all this, you can set up groups and filter people accordingly. I've got mine broken down into people I actually know, with everything else (news feeds, authors, etc) in a different column. That way I can quickly scan the "celebs" column or ignore it completely, but still keep in touch with what my friends are doing without missing anything.
And ok, sure, you could still be thinking "well, why would I want to do that?" That's fine, only you can answer that question. You could similarly argue that there's no 'point' to discussing minutiae with friends face to face, and whilst you'd be right I quite like hearing their views on (say) the last film they watched. You could ask why you'd want to send text messages when you can just press a little green button and talk to someone, but plenty of people do, every day. And of course, plenty don't. That's fine too.
@UKCougar.
Nailed it.
Qui est @lhommedunord
😀
On top of the reasons already given so eloquently by Cougar, Twitter also succeeds by not ballsing it up by trying to be too clever (unlike Facebook). It's a very lightweight service that has stuck very well to what made it big in the first place.
I signed up to follow Rob Lee on one of his endurance rides. Since then, I've found just the same as a lot of people: you get interesting direct opinion, competitions that appear nowhere else, and even news that doesn't make mainstream media.
The news thing is particularly interesting and democratic. On the one hand, there's Ryan Giggs. On the other, there's on-the-spot commentary about incidents like shootings in London that don't even make the local news any more. Or protests. Or good news stories. The people are setting the agenda and you can use Twitter to see what's happening with your own filtering method.
I found out about a spate of minor vandalism in my street, it was posted by my local police twitter feed. I cant think where else i would have got that info unless i was scpeifically looking for it.
Currently taking part in some local CX races, found out about them on Twitter through someone i follow, dont go to any of the sites those races are normally advertised.
Accurate up to date weather forcast for the ride home from work? follow people who work in the same area as you and you quickly find out what weather is due your way very soon :0)
Yes its full of rubbish, no im not interested in innane celeb gossip, but follow the right people and you get a news and information service tailored to your hobbies, interest and location.
Yeah.
If you're thinking "I followed everyone I've ever heard of and now my Twitter stream is full of inane bollocks" then you've only got yourself to blame. It helps to be a bit discerning, I periodically go through my list and purge people who have turned out to be less interesting (or more prolific) than I'd hoped.
Congratulations, you share the same sense of humour as David Cameron. My condolences.
😆
*snort*
😆
i thought it was pants at first but im following geriant thomas a fellow sheepshagger as he's doing Le Tour and its quite good fun.
i dont post myself as i think that is quite shite as my life is boring, its a bit like facebook updates...
"just took the dog for a walk and im haivng fish and chips for tea" bollox
its a bit like facebook updates
What's a facebook ?
Rather than start a new thread, I thought I would unashamadly beg for follows here having read earlier in the thread who to follow. @SteveCold, nothing overly interested, mostly dull, occasionally not, ignore me at your leisure.
nothing overly interested, mostly dull
****ter in a nutshell 😈
****ter in a nutshell
Whereas that was the sort of insightful, provocative comment I like to think the internet was invented for.
The great advantage of twitter is that I don't have to listen to that sort of inane, mindless drivel and can just read and follow interesting thoughts of apparently interesting people.
Or, to put it another way: you are pointless.
kisses x