Good reasons to use Twitter

A year ago I complained about Twitter. I thought writing tweets and following others on Twitter were a waste of time. A year later I changed my mind: (1) using Twitter is not a waste of time if I use it with a purpose in mind, and (2) microblogging empowers people to voice their opinions, reversing the typical consumer-producer role in mass communication.

The usage of Twitter is very simple. Instead of writing long blog posts, write short posts. Each post must be less than 140 characters. Instead of subscribing to blog RSS feeds, follow tweet messages and communicate with other users using a special language syntax.

Twitter is not a waste of time

Twittering could be a waste-of-time. But, it can also be useful if we write posts with some objectives in mind, e.g., posting messages to report the state of an ongoing crisis and telling others about events that they can't attend. If you care about spreading words around the web, using Twitter can help you to deliver messages fast and reach more people. If you want to learn about what people think about a particular topic or a product, Twitter is a great source for conducting market research and sentiment analysis.

Speak aloud using Twitter

Microblogging is the product of web communication evolution. It empowers people. In the past, individuals have little or no power to influence how the world thinks. The emergence of microblogging encourages media companies, business and government policy makers to pay attention to the common voices of people.

Summary

It's hard to predict where Twitter will end up as a business in the coming years, but I believe that the idea of microblogging is here to stay. Since I find myself using Twitter more often for many good reasons, I recommend all web users to try out Twitter. As long as we use Twitter to help people learn and spread ideas, it's a meaningful activity. Speaking aloud of our minds through Twitter will encourage free speech and encourage businesses and governments to pay attentions to our needs.