Tweeting The News
When I first signed up with Twitter, I didn’t really get it. Not at all. In fact, I suspected that it would be a humongous waste of my time. I did a couple of experimental tweets, then left it alone. Fast forward to March 2008 and I rediscovered Twitter and found all sorts of interesting ways to use it. That will be the subject of another post, perhaps, but it’s made me search out new ways that other people are using it.
The guys at ReadWriteWeb have been using Twitter for journalism. They see it as a great source of breaking news as the 140 character limit actually helps with making quick updates. They’ve also mastered the Twitterview and see it as a good way to poll the public.
We recognize that people using and replying on Twitter may not be generally representative of the population at large, but for qualitative interviews it’s a tool that’s hard to beat.
They also use it for QA and promotion. Read the full article to get some ideas.
I felt the same way when I first heard of Twitter. I didn’t sign up for a long time because I thought it would be a complete waste of time. After using for a while now, I do see some value just not nearly as much as some people.
I like what ReadWriteWeb is doing… seems like an effective way to use Twitter.
I thought it was really interesting, David. It works well for getting a quick idea of people’s thoughts on particular issues. Of course, you’re limited to the people who USE Twitter, but it still has some value.