I Don’t Get Twitter
You tried it but never really had an ah-ha moment. It’s just one more distraction for the business when the Facebook Page handles your social needs.
Except …
Twitter is one of those companies that is worth sharing our data with. Where Facebook and especially Google+ have real name policies, Twitter respects the right and privacy of users to select what they choose to be known by. Did you know that you can change your username or even email address on Twitter?
This might not sound like a big deal and maybe you’ve heard the arguments for using a real name, but this little policy makes Twitter a tropical island escape in today’s meta hungry data world. Respect for users is a big thing in my book. Where Facebook and Google+ have failed in this area, Twitter excels.
The pseudonymity favoring policy makes Twitter a special place to find ideas and thoughts shared in an open transparent way that’s often missing from other platforms.
Facebook and Google+ may have their uses, but Twitter is a platform that a business just shouldn’t ignore. The 140 character limit of tweets, in fact, make it easy to discover and consume content. The short and sweet is what Twitter’s about.
Let the Oscars Tell You
Within a 12 hour period, tweets concerning the recent Oscars achieved 3.3 billion impressions.
Oh, and that famous selfie Ellen tweeted … 32.8 million impressions were achieved as recently reported by Twitter.
If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
Impressions on Twitter are how many times tweets are displayed to users – a bit like pageviews.
I’m glad that Twitter chose to report impressions for this event because it supports something that we’ve been sharing for a long time. Tweets are very consumable, easy to skim, and provide tremendous reach. Just because a tweet doesn’t get retweeted or faved, doesn’t mean that it has no value.
Many tweets are read without any visible signs of engagement and yet an idea or thought was shared – reach was accomplished.
This is why no one should get discouraged if their tweets are not getting replies, retweets or faves. There are ways to get those, which often involve participating in conversations on Twitter, but tweeting for me is often a bit like talking to oneself. I tweet a thought and forget about it – unless there is a reply to it. Will my tweet be read? – Maybe. The impressions data is certainly encouraging. However, I do know that if someone uses Twitter search to locate tweets about a current topic, my tweet containing that very topic also has a greater chance of surfacing. Also, anyone can go directly to my homepage and learn a little bit more about my interests, even from old tweets. Impressions are about reach and Twitter has a very long arm.
Twitter search has always been the feature that I use most. My timeline will include tweets from those who I follow (including a wide range of topics) and using Twitter search has always been the best way for me to learn about any new event, trend, problem or solution first. Search will present the tweets I want to see at any given moment. The originators of those tweets may not get a notification that it was read, but reach was indeed accomplished.
Twitter search has also been the best way for me to select who to follow too.
In an upcoming article, I’ll try to elaborate on how I use Twitter search and hopefully encourage you to revisit Twitter if you haven’t used it in awhile.
Twitter is one of those companies that is doing good things for its users. It’s not a perfect company but it is indeed an island that really shines when you get that ah-ha moment. When we discuss Twitter search later, maybe I can show you how it provides me with the greatest value for my time.
It’s not too late to get Twitter. As Facebook faces challenges with usage and Google+ still tries to grapple with the negative affects of real names and identity, there is an audience on Twitter that a business needs to make time for. It’s a company that hasn’t yet caved to the privacy smashing whims found elsewhere.
Feel free to tweet me at @teaneedz. Because tweets are short and sweet, I will always have time to respond. It’s the perfect place for ideas and interests to get together.
