Twitter® For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 16. Ten Cool Ways to Use Twitter

In This Chapter

• Making education fun and accessible

• Getting a planned event up and running

You can use Twitter for much more than keeping up with your friends and family. Track your expenses, get your latest homework assignment, get restaurant reviews or recommended wines.... The possibilities are endless and expanding every day. In this chapter, we introduce you to ten cool ways you can use Twitter.

Plain Old Networking

Twitter is an extremely powerful networking tool for several reasons. As contrived as it is when you think about it, in practice, Twitter actually mimics the natural process of how humans get to know one another. People don't like demanding, confrontational, face-to-face interaction; they prefer side-by-side, random interaction around gradually discovering the things they have in common. Routine, random, low-level interactions weave the fabric of community that builds trust and holds us all together. Twitter also creates an environment of random interactions that's really conducive to discovering new people with shared interests and for getting to know a more total picture of who someone is and what interests them.

On a strictly utilitarian basis, just being able to forge an electronic connection using something as short and simple as a Twitter handle is incredibly powerful, especially since you can make that connection via mobile phone right when you first meet. Since October 2007, Laura has barely used business cards at all. ...