It feels like i'm missing out on something here, I watch sports on TV and I see twitter comments and commentators Twitter handles... I read an article in the paper and the journo has his handle on display.
UFC fighters are all on it, I just see this shit mentioned everywhere!
So I joined a while ago, i'm following a few people like Paul Kent, Arj Barker and Major Nelson.
It's interesting to read what these people are saying but that's as far as I go.
Is it just like Facebook status update's only anyone can view?
what is the deal with all these hashtags and shit?
and my main question is... What makes it so popular?
what can I do beyond reading what these personalities are saying?
For me, it's mostly about 'accepted practices'. On Twitter, nobody really minds too much if you just let your mind run wild and post endless crap. Random thoughts, movie quotes, whatever.
And because I'm the type of person that does just spout off random crap all day long - also because I work from home so I'm alone all day - Twitter is a good place for me to do that. And I've made a lot of now well-valued friends in the process. Movie friends, comic friends, car friends, etc.
I try to avoid posting as much crap on Facebook as I do on Twitter. Anyone friends with me on FB would testify that I still post a lot, but it's nothing compared to my Twitter activity.
I have a similar approach with Instagram and Twitter when it comes to photos; I probably only post one photo per day to Instagram, and I try to make it a little artsy, a little 'slice of life', etc. Any other random photos - something stupid I spot in the street, something stupid in a magazine, etc - those all go direct to Twitter, where nobody's really expecting great quality.
Of course, as with anything, it's about who you associate with. There's no shortage of deadshits on Twitter, but if you're not actually following them, you don't see their shit. You see what your friends are saying, and if it's good content, then life's good.
All that said, I'm a social media tragic, so while it's fun for me, it's not everyone's cup of tea.
jizzlobber wrote:So I joined a while ago, i'm following a few people like Paul Kent, Arj Barker and Major Nelson.
It's interesting to read what these people are saying but that's as far as I go.
Is it just like Facebook status update's only anyone can view?
I treat it more as a live newsfeed. I follow a bunch of NBA journos/websites, who just post stuff during games and whatever news stories. Also follow some people I know but not really. Other stuff as well like OzBargain, or the guy who runs Windows Phone Down Under. I find most "personalities" to be pretty boring or annoying though but that's just me.
what is the deal with all these hashtags and shit?
Just an easy way to follow what everyone is talking about. So if you select the #UFC157 hashtag you'd get anyones tweets about that whether you follow them or not. [/quote]
and my main question is... What makes it so popular?
You don't need to know anyone or post anything to use it. You can get as much or as little out of it as you want.
what can I do beyond reading what these personalities are saying?
Post your own stupid shit? Follow some guys who make funny comments? Add a bunch of news stuff.
so the UFC example... I can imagine some conversations having a fucking heap of posts, don't want that in my wp8 news feed (I have twitter with facebook in my 'what's new' section
Yeah Warney's Twitter is shit. He just looks like more of a deadshit in my eyes from it. The whole thing really does humanise a lot of celebrities. I use it as a news feed. Major Nelson is great for XBL, The Mole (@RLW_Mole) and Andrew Voss (@AndrewVoss9) are funny and good for rugby league news (though not so much during the off-season) and then I just follow a few mates and some bands/singers I like. Amanda Palmer really gets into the Twitter thing, she's good with it and knows how to use it, but practically every day you'll get a tonne of tweets/RT from her which can be annoying sometimes. Dr Karl is great if you like his radio shows - he answers Qs on Twitter every day. I follow Martin Brundle and James Allen for F1 news.
But you don't want to follow too many people otherwise it'd just be a tidal wave of shit and it'll be overwhelming.
I much prefer it over Facebook, even though I rarely ever tweet anything.
I use it as an information and news source. I rarely post. I occasionally have convos with friends further to related tweets. If a big story breaks and I want to learn more the first place I go is twitter. It flogs dedicated news sites for learning about latest news.
