What do I like about Twitter, and why do I use it? Oddly, I like knowing what other people are doing, reading, listening to, or seeing. I also like being able to jump in and out of conversations, and especially at work, it’s similar to IM but with less commitment. Plus, we all like to watch.

Admittedly, it did take a while to warm up to the idea of sharing snippets of my life with complete strangers, but that’s part of the fun now. And with the varied contacts (local, national, and international), you’re bound to find at least one person with an answer to whichever question/problem/query you may have. And if not, you just need to make more connections!

Downfalls: I still have trouble trying to explain the whole concept to the uninitiated (read: non-geek ish, social-media phobes), and it is VERY addictive. There are also occasions where I have trouble limiting myself to 140 characters. But in those instances, I rethink the tweet, and post the most relevant bits.

It’s a pleasure having you in my timeline.

Happy Tweeting!

Congrats on the 1k mark!

A few months back, when I started getting active on Twitter I thought my “threshold” was somewhere between 100 and 150. Couldn’t understand how those who had 300+ did it – and those over 1k? I simply thought they must not really be interacting.

Then as I started getting into the swing of it, I started realizing how my ability to focus was growing and how my methods for using it were changing ad I got more comfortable.

I was talking to my husband about this earlier today… the realization that I’m following and being followed by over 300 people now was kind of surprising. But I pretty much follow it the same way you do – using either Terraminds or TweetScan to make sure I don’t miss things that are twittered my direction, checking the replies tab, scanning pages.

I know I miss some things – but I also know that if it’s really important, someone will tell me again.
:)

And yeah – you definitely add to the conversation! and you’re fun to follow! :)

skyM

I have to admit, if someone had told me three months ago (when I started using Twitter, I signed up early November but I guess seriously began tweeting in December), “you will become hopelessly addicted and you will have nearly 500 followers (499 as of this comment)” I would have said, “you’re high” and “you’re out of your freaking mind” — but that’s the reality.

I always enjoy seeing you on Twitter. I tweet a lot too (not quite as much, though sometimes I tweet more), so I appreciate what you add to the conversation. I understand that not everyone uses it like some of us hardcore tweeters do, but for me, the reason that I went from mocking twitter to like, being a twitter addict, is because of the relationships and contacts I have made in such a short period of time. For me, that’s really key. There are so many people that I don’t know if I would have ever been exposed to (or if I was exposed, get to know) without Twitter – and that’s amazing. If I can get something from a networking side out of it, all the better – but really, it’s like you said – it’s about the connection, and the conversation.

Like NathanaelB said, I love that Twitter is just a rolling conversation, but that you don’t have to catch every tweet to take part in it. You can come and go as needed.

I do wish that Twitter would make it easier to manage larger groups of users – for instnace, if I could organize the people I follow into groups (people I work/blog with, people who do this online, people who do that, etc.), it would make my life easier than having to use Twitterrific or Terraminds or Twitter Karma and whatnot to try to parse it out.

I enjoy following your conversations; you always have something interesting and pleasant to say. I agree, when you’re more quiet I wonder what’s up and how things are with you. :-)

I’m loving Twitter for all the great reasons mentioned here. Most of all, it’s for the people–people from more occupations, backgrounds, perspectives, and locations than I ever dreamed I would know. Every day I learn something, discover something about myself, or just plain have fun. :-)

I’m not mouseWORDS for nothing–I know I have a tendency to prattle. I’ve kind of tried to cut back on that, thinking of others’ Twitter streams; but I can’t resist replying or joining conversations. It’s just too much fun. :-)

Twitter is definitely conversational for me but I have a hard time keeping up and doing work at the same time. This is especially true as I tend to move around between PCs all day. I need Twitter in a Heads Up Display just projected onto the back of my left eyeball. Now that would be interesting.

Or do I just need to buy a SmartPhone?

Keep it up dude. In a very real sense the community of folks I follow on twitter might be called “JJs posse” ;)

My students are participating in a sort of ‘get familiar with social media’ exercise on there now. We’ve found great resources in the form of people that are willing to interact with students. People we’ve found on Twitter have kindly participated in phone conferences with the students, among other activities.

So, to me, Twitter is an education resource.

I have to tell you that you are one of the people I am always glad to see on twitter…and yes, you seem to be there as often as I am. It is always good to have a conversation with you and someday I hope the many miles between us may melt away and we can actually meet in person. Until then…

G’Day John!