Unless you’ve been living under a rock you have most likely heard of Twitter. The name has some funny images for people. If you use it are you a Twit? Is the verb form to “Twit”?
The point of this inaugural article for The Geezer Gadget Guy is to help you grasp a few things about Twitter, and maybe, to help you sign up for your very first Twitter account and then send your first message (tweet).
What Is It?
Twitter in its purest form is a micro-blogging platform. Micro in the sense that you have to say what you are going to say in 140 characters. Started in 2006, Twitter was conceived of as a way to communicate a short text message (akin to an SMS text message on a mobile phone) to a specific group of people.
The service has grown rapidly, and reportedly had over 300 million users as of 2011 (Source Wikipedia).
What began as a personal microblogging service has grown in to a full fledged social networking resource. If it started as a service for individuals, it has morphed in to a major means of business interaction with their customers. Many, if not most, large companies have very active Twitter social media monitoring, and will actually interact with you if you tweet.
What Do You Share?
I use Twitter to share news articles or blog posts that I find interesting. Most web sites today will feature the Twitter icon as a part of their “Share” function. If you have a Twitter account and share, your take on that story will be amplified to whomever at that moment finds it interesting.
But I don’t just blog to the masses hoping someone will interact. I also use Twitter to point out interesting items to people I am friends with, or to mention some interest we have in common.
And, of course, pictures can be shared.
Impact of Twitter
Some people want to believe Twitter has little usefulness or little impact, but events over the past year, from the death of Osama bin Laden to the indiscretions of Anthony Wiener to the Arab Spring of 2011 to {name the news event}, Twitter has shown that it has major impact in our world. And, despite the 140 character limitation, there are some users who move mountains 140 characters at a time.
Terminology
A person who uses Twitter, “tweets” a message. A tweet lives in a real-time stream that is constantly changing.
When an event causes 
Twitter usage to spike due to popular intense interest, the “Fail Whale” can show up. That usually indicates the system is overwhelmed. This is most often only a temporary slow down.
Trending now is a reference to a particular term being popular for a give region (city or nation) at the current moment.
Hashtags and At Symbols
There are two special characters that need mentioning in relation to Twitter. A # symbol is referred to a “hashtag”, which is used to track a specific topic. This is done when you want to make sure others across the Twitter-verse are aware of this topic. You can use it to search for topics as well.
The @ symbol is used when you want to draw the attention of someone you follow to a topic, but also to draw attention of the followers of that Twitter account.
There are mobile apps for smartphones available for Twitter. The Apple iOS 5.0 version for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch are integrates Twitter in to the OS itself.
Getting Started With Your Twitter Account
This video will walk you through setting up your Twitter account.
When you have set up your own Twitter account, be sure to follow me at GeezerGadgetGuy!
Related post: Facebook Face Off
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
This was a great message. Really laid out the foundation of twitter very rationally and plain. Very high quality. Please do more.
Thanks Mike! I hope you’ll subscribe to the blog. You can find the Subscribe to Blog box in the left side bar. And if you want to commend it to your friends, I would be grateful!
I’m a boomer (1950) and have absolutely no use for Twitter & next to none for FaceBook.
Just Sayin’ . . . .
You aren’t alone and yet it is one of the fastest growing social media networks out there. Not everyone will want to use Twitter but understanding how to do so and what it is helps boomers (especially those in consumer facing businesses and nonprofits).
There is no denying it’s popularity. I guess I am just too old school to really get it. Ah – if I was 20-30 something and so active I didn’t sleep at night, maybe it would have more appeal.
While I may not be connected via Twitter, I do love my gadgets
Great site! Looking forward to future posts.
I hear you. It seems like we are totally into a new Internet.
If you care to encourage other Boomers you know to check out TGGG I would really appreciate it!
New post tomorrow!
Great intro to Twitter! I hate when I see that stinking whale! I would think that they could afford some more capacity. Or are we overloading the entire internet?… Makes you think.
LaTisha @YoungAdultFinances recently posted..I Hate Finance, Now What?
I think Twitter just hits times when more people are hitting the Tweet button or going to their web site than the servers can handle, though I imagine they add extra capacity pretty easily.
Thanks for dropping by!
Thanks, this article makes Twitter more understandable for this baby boomer. However, I think I will continue to spend much more of my time on Facebook and LinkedIn. Plus, I still enjoy old-fashioned Internet surfing. Does anyone else still do that?
I’m with you. Interestingly I have heard more than one CEO of major Internet companies (Google and Salesforce.com) agree that Facebook is becoming the Internet).
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