Text is not Dead

One interesting thing about Twitter, and something I certainly didn’t know, is that only 11% of the users are between 12 and 17 years old. So, teenagers are not responsible for the drastic increase in its popularity.  Adults are the primary users.  And the question is- for what?

One

I personally find Twitter to be a great tool for cultivating an audience.  I tweet about my writing, what I read, and anything else that springs to mind in that arena.  Here’s an example of some of my followers I have gained using this fairly basic idea:  writersjobs, eBooksReviewer, LATimesBooks, and something called Literature_Book, though I’m not quite about that one.  Among these entities, I have actual real, live people as followers as well.  If I tweet about a blog post and put a link to it, I’ll have a huge increase in comments, which translates to readers- an audience.

Two

I also use Twitter to keep track of events that interest me.  For example, I follow the New York Times, Huffington Post, and my favorite columnist, and Newsweek, to name a few.  The tweets from the above are usually intriguing and informative.  For me, reading the Twitter updates allows me to consume a large amount of information by taking very small bites.

Three

Some use Twitter for professional networking.  I personally think this platform is a great deal more friendly than Linked In.  And, I hear that Twitter and Linked In are now friends, so people can use their contacts in both and cross reference those who are on both.

Four

According to some of my reading, Twitter has a number of applications that can be used to tweet reminders, such as doctor appointments and things to pick up at the grocery store.