Being Productive on Twitter

A lot of people are struggling to understand the answer to, “Why Twitter?”

Here are three simple ways I use Twitter:

Editor's Hammer

As a blogger – advertise my content: I have friends on Twitter, and I use it to let them know, “Hey, here’s a new post on mobile madness….” It’s like a quick billboard, bus card, or taxi board moving across their PC or mobile screens. All biz, no waste.

As a researcher – advertise other people’s content: Almost every day I find a relevant, credible info source in my field. It may not merit a blog post, but it’s more important than a bookmark. So I Tweet it with a contextual comment for my friends to see. You can scroll through my Tweets in the blue window, top right. See something interesting? Click and go.

As a researcher – to find content: On a good day, I’ll explore 160 web pages. One day last week was 279. How do I find them? I use Twitter as a search engine. At Twitter, you can search topics by putting a “#” (called a “hashtag”) in front of the search term, in the right-hand column search bar – try #mobile developers, or whatever. Zoom. You get a long list of real human search results, most of them pointing to a fascinating web page – on topic. [Beware: hypnotic time suck.]

I follow a bunch of specific people and companies in my interest areas. It’s easy to segment them by “Lists.” My Lists: mobile apps, mobile analytics, web analytics, social media. You can see ‘em at jonbyous on Twitter. It’s mobile-friendly.