by Craig Sutton
Many people use the Twitter service to meet other interesting people, both with similar likes or just to hear what others have to say. This method of online socialization has become quite commonplace in the online world.
I myself started using twitter after being introduced to it at Small Business Marketing Unleashed by Jennifer Laycock. I found it to be quite entertaining and an interesting way to keep up with some of the people I met. I then started to realize the value of searching out like-minded people and watching what they had to say. I have really gathered some insight that I’m not sure would have been possible otherwise and have both learned and shared ideas on personal and business levels.
However, after following almost 400 people, which for some is but a fraction of the people they are listening to, I had discovered that for the small amount of time I could dedicate to Twitter, this was more information than I knew what to do with.
So I set out on a mission, to reduce the number of people I’ve followed down to the people I found myself communicating with most often and those that communicated with me. And now a couple of months later something interesting has dawned on me. The majority of people I am following are actually more often using the service to drive traffic back to their personal sites. This wasn’t the case when I was following 400 people.
Now I’m not saying that Twitter lacks usefulness in my application, however I could probably accomplish the same goals with a newsreader. So my thought is this, be involved in Twitter for its conversational use or just to share your random ideas, perhaps even just a crazy thought.
As for me, I plan to begin to follow more people again and try to use the service for what I believe was its original intention. A small note however, I do believe that people posting links on Twitter have provided a valuable service in many cases and should continue. I would not have learned of many of these people without it. Thank you to all of you that contribute.
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Source: If you're not careful, Twitter could be your next newsreader!
