My peers are not on Twitter, so who are?

Yesterday, during a seminar with my fellow students in D.C, I was asked to explain what Twitter was. As chocking as it might seem most of my peers have heard about the site but neither of them had used it. To be honest I have not been a frequent user of Twitter myself until recently, but not because I did not knew what it what, but because I was Twittering so much for clients that I felt that I did not have time to Twitter for my self. That might sound ironic considering that it does not take to much time so send away a Tweet.

Anyway, I began by explaining that Twitter was a micro blog that allows you to post messages of 140 characters etc. Apparently, explaining what is was, and the technique with followers and following was not enough. The questions continued; what do you write about? Who do you follow? Why do you follow them? Why don’t you just use Facebook?

I was a bit overwhelmed by all questions, so I began by telling them that people use Twitter for different reasons. To me it is a way to share information about social media and my other interests, while receiving a constant information flow about the same subjects from others. I told them that I do follow many of my friends and colleagues. But it is also a great way to stay updated with information from industry leaders. People that can share a lot of knowledge from their experiences to others.

Though I have a very clear picture of why I use Twitter and have convinced many others to start using Twitter, many of my peers continued to be critical. Some of them feel a bit “old fashion” as they see Twitter primarily as a playground and not “real” work. That might be true, but as long as we share information and learn from our “playtime” why not take advantage from the benefits that Twitter gives us?

Perhaps I’m biased considering the fact that I work with Social Media and therefore of course most of the people in my industry is on Twitter. However, a few hours ago I had a conversation with my friend @HaileyBranson (of course I need to promote her on Twitter) a journalist for multiple newspapers around the country. She told me that many congress employees are following her on Twitter to stay updates with the news she share. She has also spread the word about the advantages of Twitter to her co-workers around the country whom are now also beginning to use Twitter as a communication tool. So after all, Twitter might be something for everyone.

This has made me thinking about who is online where and for what reason? My friends seem to think that Twitter is for teenagers that are bored while I mostly communicate with the opposite, older businesswomen and men with successful careers. How do we know before we try?

Annelie Näs

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