I have grown to love twitter. It’s still seems strange when I say things like this out loud, but I love knowing what my friends (locally & globally are up to) and I love sharing with them (or whoeverelse is interested) what I’m up to. I have met people who live near me through twitter. I have learned about issues other are fighting in our city through twitter. And I’ve learned through twitter that there are plenty of people around me who love and care for Phoenix as much as I do. We even use twitter as a way to send out reminders and updates for communitasPHX.
I have become a twitter evangelist lately, mainly because I selfishly want to know what cool things those I care about are doing and thinking. But I have found it difficult to convince others to dive into to twitter. I am not sure why I find such hesitation. Most seem to view twitter as the “next fad” in social networking (it may be) and are reluctant to migrate their time, energy, and online life from facebook to twitter, just as they did from myspace to facebook not so long ago. Most fail though to see it’s potential to connect with new people both near and far, both of common interests and of common views.
Buddy and blogger, Jon Reid, today blogged about his discovery rediscovery of twitter through the Flight 1549 crash into the Hudson a few weeks ago. Twitter’s use during the crash was interesting and the most clear example yet of how twitter is much more “just like Facebook status”. It is becoming an instant news vehicle. Those who are experiencing the news (ie. inside the downed plane) can “tweet” the news via their cell phones, iphones, or pdas immediately and the world can (and does) take notice.
If you are still standing of the twitter fence, not sure if it’s for you, take a look at Jon’s perspective and see if he doesn’t convince you.
Twitter curiousty Trigger: Flight 1549 via Blog One Another
By the way…..you can find my personal tweets here, my design company tweets here, and communitasPHX tweets here