Twittering about - part 1

So there are all these people on Twitter, but what do they use it for? It's a hugely successful microblogging tool with many hundreds of new users joining in every day. I have been 'doing it' (tweeting that is) for about a year, and I'm not tired of it yet. Some of the elite Twits have as many as 20 or 30 thousand 'followers' (those who subscribe to their feed) and Twitter shows no signs of slowing down in its surge in popularity. I put up a quick question on Twitter last week, just to see what response I would get (bearing in mind that I am only a moderate Twit with just under 700 followers and 2500 tweets to my name (The name's buckteeth... @timbuckteeth). The question was: 'What are your top three reasons for using Twitter?' I received 22 responses in a few hours from around the globe. Here's a brief analysis of what I found...

First our of the blocks was @tswinke (Tillman Swinke, Germany) He likes to read about current technical developments, new techniques and web findings and also read about current eLearning research and conferences. He said he is interested in using Twitter to post current activities and read about the current activities of others to check for possible synergies.

@maryn (Mary Nunaly, USA) uses Twitter to stay in touch with colleagues, to access current technology information and for access to new ideas and opportunities. @joecar (Joe Wilson, Scotland) sent a link to his blog post on the reasons he uses Twitter and why he follows certain people. Juliana (@julianna07) from Romania was more concise... links, friends, fun. @TheGriffinster (Monty Paul, England) responded similarly: community/networking, information/sharing, recreation/fun. Over in Poland @tomaszwalasek (Tomasz Walasek, Poland) sent three tweets to tell me he uses Twitter to see what the gurus are doing, following trends, news and good stuff. He says he gets faster and more accurate sources of valuable (revised) knowledge, quicker responses to small questions and problems, answers from professionals and communication without a time effort.

@loumcgill (Lou McGill, Scotland) said Twitter facilitates multi-tasking, supporting several networks at once including elearning, home education, autism, friends and photography. @jamesclay (James Clay, England) said Twitters is a community of practice, it's fun and it's about the coffee. He sent a link to a blog post on the subject too entitled 'It's all about the coffee' -all to be expected if you know James.

@emmadw (Emma Duke-Williams, England) liked the quickness of Twitter and the ability to integrate it with iGoogle home page, but warned it was bizarrely addictive. @mattlingard (Matt Lingard, England) said that Twitter helps him create links, contacts/relationships (making new ones, getting to know existing ones better), and that it is easy to dip in and out of.

I have more responses to post up tomorrow in part 2, along with a statistical analysis of the top reasons why these bloggers and micro-bloggers use this wonderful tool we all know as Twitter. (Picture source: eduweb.hu)