11 Reasons I Love Twitter, And 6 Cool Twitter Tools

My History With Twitter: I was looking back to when I first got on Twitter, and it is hard to believe but I have been on Twitter for almost two years.  I have to admit for the first several months I really didn’t get it, but as time went on and other social media networks lost their “luster” for me to want to keep using, my passion for Twitter kept growing. What Is Twitter?
Follow Me On Twitter
Follow Me On Twitter
I was describing what Twitter is to a neighbor of mine the other day, and believe it or not IMO, its not very easy to try and describe what micro-blogging is to a person thats never heard of it.  So I summed it up by asking if he was familiar with LinkedIn, and of course he said yes.  I said take away all the fat, and you are left with amazing connections, and an easy way to communicate with them.  The light went on for him, and I created another Twitter fan instantly! I have discovered the power (and fun) of Twitter, and these reasons are my own.  I know there are several other reasons that people may love Twitter, or use it for business and I would love to hear about them in the comments, but thse are the top 11 reasons I love Twitter! My Top 11 Reasons I Love Twitter:
  1. It’s addicting – I know that sounds crazy, but I like to get addicted to things, and most of the time they are bad for me like Coca Cola, or Dr. Pepper.  I know its probably so wrong but I check Twitter before I even log into my email.
  2. I get the news I want – There is a reason I don’t watch CNN or Fox News anymore, and its because I don’t want to get depressed with all the doom and gloom bad news.  With Twitter, I get amazing updates and cool new information on gadgets, and industry news from people who are in my industry and have the same passions I do.  I actually learned from Twitter that Obama had won.  I read a tweet from (I think, I am not going to take the time to find it now) @rustybrick that Fox News had called it.  So I wasn’t even watching the news on election night.  I was watching my DVRed shows and checking out election updates on Twitter.
  3. Easy to use on my iPhone – I do not want my phone buzzing all the time so I am glad they have a mobile version that makes it easy to Twitter away on my iPhone just like if I were on a computer.  I know its silly, but it makes me smile and these are my top 10 – not yours!
  4. I like watching conversations on Twitter –  I love to see how certain individuals act on Twitter, and I wonder if they act the same way in real life.  How they speak, the language the use etc. or I wonder if Twitter gives them the same power people feel when sending an email or instant message (and they are not face to face).  Either way I have fun watching some peoples conversations back and forth – @graywolf is probably the most fun to watch IMO.
  5. Easy way to share stuff I am doing – If people are following me, they are following me because of something I shared, said, followed them or they are just following me for reasons only known to them.  For whatever reasons though I am able to share the stuff I like, am promoting, people I like or what I am doing with them without feeling like I am sending a bunch of un-wanted stuff around.
  6. Easy to get the word out, and get it passed around – If I am offering a sale, or coupon code on a website I own, or if I found a cool deal on something and I want to “pass” it around, or maybe share some cool promotional items from a client, I can post it on Twitter and know that it will get passed around and shared.  I may only have 313 followers (at the time of this post) but I know that my followers have lots of followers and there is a pretty good chance someone is going to see what I am passing around.  There have been several occations where I have shared coupon codes and promotional items only with Twitter users, and have seen direct sales as a result from Twitter traffic.
  7. Traffic – Granted Twitter does not bring insaine amounts of traffic like Digg or Stumble Upon, but it brings consistant traffic every month.  I get several hundred unique visitors to all the sites that I am promoting on Twitter every month, and this helps in the overall trust-worthiness of my sites.  The number of visitors just keep going up every month too.
  8. Ability to ask questions and get a response (People) – Being able to chat with some of the most amazing people in this industry, and ask them questions and have them answered back almost instantly is some amazing gratification.  Even saw a tweet that @Shoemoney said humbled him, and that was that Seth Godin gave him a reference in a post he did.  No matter how big or small you are, you like to be noticed, and I think its pretty cool how the community of Twitter (for the most part) is open and every one is very easy to communicate with.
  9. Connections to big names in the industry – I have made some of the most amazing connections, and have met some of the coolest people (even in my local area) that have been very beneficial in my business, and personal life.  The key to social networking in this case would be the networking and if done right it can bring huge rewards with it.
  10. I feel like I am not missing things anymore – I gave up on trying to go through my subsriptions, and readers everyday and hoping to not miss any cool blog post etc. but with Twitter, I feel like I am really not missing a thing.  I feel like the most important things that people I follow and admire, are putting on Twitter and letting me know – “Hey, this stuff here is the most important stuff I am sharing for the day”
  11. Protecting Your Reputation – This is a great platform to set the record straight, and let people know who you are and really build up a name for yourself.
Finally In Conclusion: There you have it!  These are my top 11 reasons why I personally love Twitter and use it, and will continue to use it.  I know other people may have different reasons, but I wanted to write this list out because I have so many people every day asking my why I love Twitter so much, so there you have it.  I would appreciate some comments though and why other people love and use Twitter. 6 Twitter tools I use and recommend: thanks to @mollermarketing for sharing some of these with me too!
  1. Twitterfeed – publishing feeds automatically from different blogs. Wow – what a time saver!
  2. Twitip.com – stay up to date with all the latest Twitter add ons, hints, tricks, tips and basically everything you need to know to use Twitter correctly!
  3. Twitpic – not only is this one incredibly valuable for taking pictures and easily posting them to Twitter, but its fun to watch – come on – admit it, you have wasted hours there too just watching too!!
  4. Twitterfox – TwitterFox is a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends’ status on Twitter.
  5. Tweetdeck – Keep track of your Twitter threads much easier (I am still testing this one out)
  6. Facebook Twitter App – Auto-“magically” posts all of your updates and tweets to your facebook wall.  One of my most favorite Facebook Apps.
Something else that is cool, but pretty much useless is the TwitterGrader – Here is my Twitter Grade: I would not be able to call myself a real Twitter user if I did not ask you to follow me, so –  Follow Matt Siltala on Twitter

3 thoughts on “11 Reasons I Love Twitter, And 6 Cool Twitter Tools

  1. Dan says:

    Twitter really does have a lot of great uses, and yes it can be very addicting! I have to be careful not to let it become too much of a time suck and still get real work done 🙂

  2. Mat Siltala says:

    @Dan – that is the fine line we all balance with social networks and how much time we dump into them. I admit too that I am dumping the most of my time into Twitter – but like I said in the post I am addicted.

  3. Pingback: How to Get Shaquille O’Neal to Follow You on Twitter @THE_REAL_SHAQ | Internet Marketing Blog

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