When I first came on the social media scene, I had trouble understanding the purpose of Twitter. Initially, it seemed like a silly, one-sided form of communication where most people “tweeted” their own horns, so to speak. I felt like nothing meaningful was being accomplished. Twitter seemed like one long-winded ego-fest.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, Twitter is a real-time information network that connects users to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news. Twitter users can follow accounts they find most compelling and follow the conversations, or threads. The stream of information can be helpful because it’s up-to-the-minute, constant, and from a wide range of sources.
Even though I signed up for an account and started following people, fulfilling my social media duty, it took a long time before I figured out how to best use Twitter.
I went to a writer’s workshop last year, and the speaker discussed why it was important for writers to use Twitter. He said that particular social network was like ham radio for writers. By tweeting twice or more a day, your information is constantly on the feed, receiving high exposure.
But for those of us not ready or willing to use Twitter solely as a marketing tool, how else can we use it to our advantage?
Twitter users must condense their thoughts, messages, advertisements into 140 characters or less, called Tweets, before they can send it soaring into Twitterspace. In this day and age of brevity, I find that Twitter can help us practice writing information-packed, punchy sentences. And when you exceed the 140-character limit, you must edit – another indispensable tool for writers.
A fun way to practice your writing via Twitter is to craft a 140-character-long story. Limebird Writers has such an account, @limebirdstories. Follow us to see what stories this flock of writers can spin.
Or, if the 140-character-long stories sounds too daunting but you’re still interested in building some Twitter relationships, feel free to follow any Limebird:
@limebirdwriters – Main Limebird account
@beho9 – LimebirdBeth
@Ottabelle – LimebirdAmber
@Cat_Mercer – LimebirdCat
@DennisMLane – LimebirdDennis
@4amWriter – LimebirdKate
@loudogg2055 – LimebirdLaura
@neekswrite – LimebirdNeeks
@ravenmarlow – LimebirdRaven
@juststatic – LimebirdSophie
@sterby_ – LimebirdSter
@VanessaJ2011 – LimebirdVanessa
Do you use Twitter? What is your tweeting experience like?
