When I think of Twitter, I think of consistent two-way communication. The keywords in the previous sentence were: consistent, two-way, communication. This type of interaction is what led me to my first understanding of what Twitter is. This is what a lot of mainstream users are still struggling with, usually because of who they’re following.
For example, I logged into my personal Facebook account to the following status update:
Giving Twitter another chance.i just might like this.follow me. http://twitter.com/Nathania24
Following The Wrong Crowd?
After checking her Twitter profile I noticed that she followed quite a few celebrities and blog network Twitter accounts. To me, this explained what the problem was in no uncertain terms. Not too many personal profiles were in the mix. Another look at her Twitter stream and I noticed she was new and tweeting to quite a few celebrities. Here’s where the problem comes in:
By following those that she choose to follow, she’s limited the amount of feedback that could receive on Twitter.
After speaking with her I found out that this was exactly why she didn’t get Twitter in the beginning. It was like talking to a wall. At least on Facebook people are more likely to respond but that’s only because of the type of connections.
Where’s The Connection With Celebrities On Twitter?
Which leads to my next point: most of these celebrities don’t make an intimate connection. Outside of Shaq, and Soulja Boy, not many of these celebrities are responding to their audiences frequently. Currently, Ellen DeGeneres only has one reply in her Twitter stream and guess who it’s too: hint – it’s another celebrity.
Chose Your Following Wisely
I’m not trying to tell you what to do. If you take away anything from this post, don’t think I’m saying that the way you’re using Twitter is wrong because it’s not. If you’re getting the information that you wanted to get then Twitter is working out great for you. However, on a more social level, these tips would be beneficial to improve your experience on Twitter.
Popularity: 20% [?]
The days of letting it all hang out online are long gone unless you really don’t want a job. So it’s become harder and harder to turn some of your more professional connections into personal connections, while still being able to maintain a reputable image.
I must admit, I didn’t initially see the purpose of using
“Facebook me,” ending up becoming the second best way to connect with someone personally. I noticed that none of my most professional connections asked to friend me on Facebook. Twitter was the way to go for them. Otherwise, send an email. Now, I can continue to develop the personal connections while still maintaining a professional light. It’s a whole new realm of peers for me to explore.
If you’ve ever tried to explain to a friend the difference between their
The community is the key to separating social networks. The difference between a Facebook status update and a tweet, is the difference between apples and oranges; though they’re grouped in the same category, you just can’t compare them. Twitter is all about making conversations happen. However, the majority of these conversations revolve around some type of content: a
The feature-set of both social networks also enforces different behavior. Though both are tools for communication, you should be aware that different tools can create different reactions, especially when integrated with the right user interface. Facebook promotes more personal and intimate relationship building features such as games, image and video uploads, groups. 
