I've written a lot about Twitter as well as talked to many people about it - whether it be in small corporate workshops or in conference presentations. One of the ways that I try to explain its value is to show how it is a great place to build a PLN - Personal Learning Network. However, this does not always hit the right spot, as it often can take a bit of time to explain what a PLN is. So recently, I've been talking more about Twitter as "a professional development tool", and I now see more more people showing interest.
via Twitter as a professional development tool - Social Media for Working & Learning | Jane Hart.
photo © 2009 Kat Masback | more info (via: Wylio)I'm finding a few more folks each day who are newly interested in the question, "what's up with Twitter?" I think Facebook makes sense to people who like to connect with friends, and LinkedIN is seen as useful for employment/professional opportunities. But some of the others (Twitter, YouTube, etc.) just don't seem to be getting the hype and boost in less trivial instances. Until now.
I've found that Twitter is great for real-time news and information. That's its first and probably best function: bringing on-the-spot information from people involved and checking in. Professionally for me, that means following the folks in my career path who've been there longer, been moving through before me, and watching what they're saying. I feel it keeps me at least looking at the loop if not entirely in it. And the interaction with people on the cutting bleeding edge keeps everything else in sharper focus.
Twitter is also a more robust communication tool. While everyone has access to every tweet (unless a user is locked up for privacy reasons, nothing wrong with that), with a little practice and using lists to narrow things down, I can follow conversations between the "smart kids" and can find places to ask my own questions and participate as well. Chats on twitter, again with a little practice, can yield a wealth of information, context, and networking in the fields of interest you're digging through. I've found more contacts and more information on best practices through Twitter than probably anywhere else online.
And Twitter is great for just asking questions and getting feedback. These are the people you're following and who are following you, more or less, and you find that opinions on products, answers to tech questions, and outlooks on events are readily available as you have need. Two cases recently: on the personal side, asking about switching to AT&T U-verse for our home tv/phone/internet gave a nearly 90% positive reaction, so we made that switch and haven't looked back. Professionally, I've been needing to research options for interacting online in the wake of pricing changes at Hootsuite, and checking with pals on Twitter, again, has been invaluable.
That's just three off the top of my head. There are lots of ways to use Twitter when you get over the initial shock of discovering that it's actually fairly useful. What else have you found of worth on Twitter, etc?