I'm curious how many people use Twitter
www.twitter.com

Either as a broadcaster and/or a subscriber?

For those not familiar with it, Twitter is either an exciting communicatins tool, or another waste of time.

As one who embraces technology (at least long enough to figure out if I want to use it or not), I'm giving it a try.

I've created my own Twitter account (PianoWorld, http://twitter.com/PianoWorld of course), and subscribed to a couple that sounded interesting.

Thoughts, feedback, input, suggestions for rehab?

Hi Frank. It really depends on what you intend to do with it. Social media is meant as more of a "let's make friends" kind of thing than a marketing channel.

I use it for both. And the pros always suggest this approach ... 90% chit chat, 10% marketing. I use a site called Tweetlater that lets you schedule when to tweet. Pretty cool! Oh yeah, here's my Twitter page http://twitter.com/QuiescenceMusic

Thanks eweiss.

I just read an article in Time about the exponential growth of Twitter, and how it has crossed from strictly a social tool to a communications tool.
As you point out though, one has to be careful not to try to use it for straight marketing, or your subscribers will quickly dump you.

Still, if you have a brand like Oprah (millions of subscribers)...

I'm curious how many of our members use it, and how much.

Just had an idea. Many boards now allow owners to add social media icons. People can bookmark and share posts all over the web. Might be a good way to get even more traffic to PW.

I am not anti technology but I do not use it and have absolutely zero interest in what other people are doing all day.

The thought of wasting time on anodyne streams of comments from attention seekers is probably what puts me off.

I would agree AJB,

However if you read the article in Time, there are actually some legitimate uses.

The author of the article was at a conference where the participants used Twitter (and the conference organizers arranged to have Twitter running on a big screen).

You not only got to get instant feedback from the participants, but soon started getting input from outside the conference.

It's also a way to get small bits of news/information/feedback/opinions, etc. from people you think may actually have half a brain (as you choose who you want to "subscribe" to).

Sort of an alternative to tv/magazines/newspapers, wherein you seek input from people you trust, like builing a circle of friends, and asking their opinions.

I disagree.

Twitter feeds the sound bite generation.

I have read the Time article and I regard the conference justification as fatuous. But then, having attended too many corporate conferences I regard them as a waste of our lives as well.

Twitter snippets are not long enough to convey anything other than sound-bites or votes. The result is that we again embrace the present fashion for superficial remarks.

Hence I think Twitter (and the various similar ideas that are competing against it) are ideally suited to the intellectually shallow members of society.
It has already been recognized that it is not appropriate for marketing (as subscribers will opt out) and it is too brief to be truly informative. So it becomes a medium for gossips and the self absorbed who have time on their hands.

And that is positively my second and last post anywhere, ever, about the twits who twitter on Twitter.

Kind regards

Adrian

I have to agree with you about corporate conferences, painful actually.
Can't say I miss attending those. I can remember traveling 3 hours by train, each way, to attend a one hour meeting:-)

I'm not sure about Twitter yet. I haven't figured out a good use for it but I'm willing to keep an open mind just a little bit longer, in case I missed something.

Of course, I haven't figured out the virtues of Facebook yet either.

LinkedIn has actually resulted in some good business connections (for my other hat, Internet Marketing/SEO), and Classmates did help me find a friend from many years ago (and now we're dating).

Ummm ... I think the people who successfully used Twitter to help Barack Obama win the presidency will disagree with that.

Look I'm as annoyed as anyone with people who post such as "looking for a church key so I can open my beer."

BUT...

I think you do yourself a great disservice and you run the risk of sounding like an old fashioned fart to dismiss it as a shallow, time wasting, social network. People thought something similar about email, text messaging, etc.

"Why would I want to email somebody when I could just pick up the phone and call?" I remember many an old fart saying.

If you can imagine yourself as potentially sounding like that as I read some of the comments above, well that is what you sound like. Old farts.

The jury is out on Twitter and tumblelogs and such and there may be the element of a fad in this for sure, but the potential of things like this isn't always immediately seen. I know for a fact we're about to use tumblelogs embedded in our websites in our business and that developed out of blogs and instant messaging. It will work. And now I can have managers update our website with important news by posting to a tumblelog on their iPhone with an iPhone app. You think this isn't powerful?

I know I've seen Twitter work for restaurants because if you have a favorite restaurant and you "follow" it, then the restaurant can simply Twitter their specials for the week or the night and it goes to all the restaurant's fans. That's powerful and free. To dismiss this is foolish. I assure you.

The potential is great.

I'm a lawyer and a writer, and I am VERY busy. I used to dismiss Facebook and Twitter and other social media just as AJB has--not interested in this juvenile online playing around and attention seeking, which is a patent waste of time anyway.

Then I got an assignment to write an article about lawyers and social media. (It's just out, the cover story in the June 2009 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal, http://www.isba.org/ibj/2009/06/ ) So I thought I'd better sign up for these sites and find out what they're all about in order to be able to write intelligently about them. Now I tweet away, update my Facebook page, and am refining my LinkedIn profile.

Social networking is just another way of interacting with people. Sure, some people tweet about inanities. Some people e-mail inanities, too (or post them on discussion boards), or bend your ear with inanities on the phone or at a cocktail party or a professional meeting. Do you decide that you're never going to e-mail, look at discussion boards (such as this one), use the phone, or attend in-person functions such as professional meetings? Of course not (unless you're a hermit).

People are still figuring out all the things they can do with these media. The key is that they all help you to communicate and make connections with other people--and do it a lot more efficiently than you possibly could in person, or by phone, or even by e-mail. And you can use these media--which are mostly FREE, by the way--to benefit yourself personally or to benefit your business (or both).

One social media expert (Seth Godin, maybe--don't remember who) said that nowadays, your business card or your resume is what comes up on a Google search. Like it or not, there's a lot of truth in that remark. You can use all of these media to help other people find you more effectively and to shape the image of yourself that you want to present to the world.

The jury is still out on exactly how people will use Twitter most effectively and whether it will still be around in 5 years. But I must say that people are pretty creative with it. And you know what? You can say a lot in 140 characters. The limit forces you to be terse.

Someone asked me the other day whether I think everyone should tweet and be on Facebook and LinkedIn. I do think every professional probably should have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile. As to other media, no, I don't think everyone should use them. I do think that everyone should investigate, not dismiss, them and make a decision whether they fit your needs.

Back to Twitter, I'd suggest following a bunch of people whom you think might be interesting to get a feel for how different people tweet. Do that for at least 2 weeks. If you find that some do nothing but plug their product, maybe you'll want to un-follow them. Follow me @helengunnar ; I tweet about things that interest me and that I think others might find interesting or ought to know about. (I'm following you, too. ;-) ) Look at whom the people you follow and find interesting follow for ideas of more people to follow. And consider how people go about plugging their product--what do you find effective or not effective about what they do? It is totally appropriate to tweet about your own product or services, but you need to do it in a respectful way that doesn't turn people off. Just as you would at a cocktail party or other gathering. (And from my time mostly lurking on this board, Frank B., I know that you will.)

Helen Gunnarsson
Writer/Lawyer
Illinois

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Good input folks, thanks Helen and everyone else who has jumped in so far.

You are right Helen, I look at most of these media outlets from a marketer's perspective. First, I don't feel I can advise clients in my Internet Marketing/SEO consulting business unless I gain some experience myself. Second, I'm always looking for ways to promote Piano World.

So for me it's more a question of how can I apply this in business. For others it may be a social event, a learning experience, or just a curiosity factor.

I just joined Twitter a couple of days ago so the jury is still out (I'll give it a month, then reassess).

Congrats on your article Helen.

You can follow me:
lbosendorfer (that's an L). Somebody already has bosendorfer

and

ejohnson

There is a growing community of musicians on Twitter now. I have "met" some very interesting composers, pianists, teachers, and music "bloggers" there. If you preview the profile pages of people you are interested in following, you can fairly easily judge whether it will be worth your time, or of the tweets are more of the "what I'm eating for lunch" variety, though I find those few and far between among my Twitter friends. We do tend to say hello and good morning to one another, though, LOL.

I have also found links to articles and blogs relevant to piano teaching and playing, and these alone have made the venture onto Twitter worth my time, as long as I don't spend all day there.

I'd recommend starting by finding other people you know, either in person or from other networks, such as PianoWorld (which I will follow now!). I'm there as aferomckinney.

I found the following article useful in deciding how best to use this new social media: Why Is Twitter So Confusing?

I hope this is helpful, and not too redundant. Looks like there are already several good replies here. Take care, all!

~Adrienne

Great post Adrienne. Twitter can also be used by piano teachers to share info with students. Twitter has a function that lets you choose who follows you. See? Another good use for it.

Helen,

Thank you for the excellent overview of Twitter and other social media. I am a neophyte at Facebook and am just starting to look at other Web 2.0 technologies. I appreciate your insightful and helpful overview. I will check out your article, too.

Dr. J - The More You Play the Better Your Day

Helen ~ Thanks for sharing your article! You went into great detail. A lot of your advice and info applies to anyone using the new social media. Now I just need to find time to read the additional references . . .

~Adrienne

Appreciate the kind words about my article! I've just published a longer blog post on this topic that incorporates what I said here. Do check it out at http://lawandconversation.com/ . Thanks!

Helen

I've been on twitter for a while (batwingd) but tend not to post what I'm having for breakfast every morning. My colleagues and I use it primarily to share and comment on developments in our particular industry. I also use it while traveling to keep family/friends abreast of where I'm at.

I find twitter search as an interesting tool for getting a sort of real-time Zeitgeist on topics of interest. For example:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=van+cliburn

Jonathan

I use Twitter, and have it set to put my tweets on my facebook page also. I don't post much, though. I mostly subscribe to others and read what they have to say.

My Twitter name is - surprise - KawaiDon.

Hope I don't get laid off from Kawai - I'd have to change all my on-line identities!

Don Mannino

Well I'll tell you this. When I check my stats, Twitter comes in at about 10 for hits to the site.

People are still trying to figure out how to monetize Twitter. You can drive traffic with it. But as I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, you have to have a blend of marketing and social tweets ... otherwise you look like a twammer!

Iran's Protests: Why Twitter Is the Medium of the Movement

Hi Frank and friends!

I'm there. New to Twitter, but willing to try. My husband has been on there for a long time and loves it—

@RobinGoldsby

Frank, just tweeted about the Let's Talk Weddings thread.

I use tweetdeck, which merges the facebook and twitter status messages. LOVE IT!

I just added you to follow, PianoWorld!

I'm Laura_Wilkins

... love twitter!

http://twitter.com/LadyDpiano

I'd signed up for Twitter but did not see any value. Then I saw Frank's note in the PW Digest and checked out this thread. Helen's post made me give it another try. The jury is still out, but at least I have a better sense for Twitter now than I did at first.

I haven't fully figured it out yet myself.

Although I have found it's a way to get instant news and feedback from others.

Just ordered this book to help me understand...

There's another book by Joel Comm that's supposed to be good as well. Joel's an IM guru and most of his other stuff is pretty good. Here it is at amazon.com .



I might buy this soon.

Interesting. I generally don't think of these sites in terms of marketing (except for LinkedIn, of course) but these books and the references I'm finding on-line certainly do make strong cases for that purpose.

I am enjoying Facebook, but only from a personal/fun perspective. I may put some of my old stuff (writings) up on it if I can find the time. Twitter will take more time.