I Finally Figured Out Twitter

Well, more accurately, I have finally found a use for Twitter. Previously I was at a total loss as to understanding what Twitter was good for.

I did not understand why I was getting "Followers". What were they following? And why? You only have 148 characters to do your tweeting. I have not come across much that was interesting that others have Twittered or Tweetered in 148 characters.

I did not understand how Twitter played such a role during the recent Iranian unrest. And then I finally noticed the search window. If you enter "Iran Unrest" into the search window you'll have your screen filled with Tweets about Iranian Unrest.

But there is no credibility. Anyone, anywhere can make up a Tweet. To test that I Tweeted "Escaped beating by Iran police. Much blood. Some dead. Much unrest." Then I entered "Iran Unrest" into the search window, and there it was, my totally untrue Tweet. Quickly followed by others that may or may not have been true.

Once I realized what this search function did, I saw how I could use it. I've written bloggings on hundreds upon hundreds of subjects. For example, I blogged about Durango, Colorado last week.

So, I logged into Twitter. I entered "Durango Colorado" into the search window to see if anyone was looking for Durango info. They were. I then Tweeted "Durango Texas Blogged about Durango, Colorado," then pasted in the URL for that particular blogging. Tweeter then changes the URL into something shorter so it'll fit within the 148 character constraint.

I then hit the "update" button. Then I entered "Durango Colorado" into the search window and there it was. My Tweeting with a link to the blog. At some point in the day I will be able to tell from my blog stats if this caused some clickers.

But the main thing, is I finally have a glimmer of getting a little understanding of the usefulness of Twitter.