Best Human-Powered Uses of Twitter
Twitter is a great tool, still lacking business model. What I hate about Twitter is that a huge percentage of tweets are about Twitter. What I love about Twitter is that it’s an open canvas; a new medium for creativity and USEFULNESS. I’ve seen Twitter used as a platform for news, customer service, “interactive” PR, and even an author’s new medium. What is the best human-powered use of Twitter? Please send your nominees, and we’ll hold a vote. As you comment, I’ll bring the nominee list up here. Please recommend. And please share this link to get as many quality nominees as we can.
PLEASE nominate a use, and if possible, a tweep:
140-character short stories / @arjunbasu, @twirledview @mrichtel
Breaking news situations / (If you have a list of accounts, comment and I’ll link)
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5 Responses to “Best Human-Powered Uses of Twitter”
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Unquestionably- breaking news situations.
I nominate caseywright He runs a very fun and informative Site. Thank You,
1. Entertainment – most use – Twitter is underutilized as an entertainment medium. I think @arjunbasu is doing well with it. I am also trying my hand at it @twirledview
2. Education – I have learned A LOT about social media in the last year. I can imagine Twitter could facilitate a depth of subject matter discussion that is more inline with what the originators of the web envisioned. Twitter isn’t the final answer here, but it is a great next step. Abolish centralized education! Small is better! *off of soap box now*
3. News – great use – no single user, but getting events prior to the networks or even the online advertisers – er, I mean news agencies – get them. The plane crash in Buffalo last week is a prime example.
4. Recruiting – for quick needs, I have found Twitter excellent. I doubt I would rely on it for a major position in my firm, but for help around the house, yard, personal assistant, contractor, etc., you can find folks willing to help and vet them just a bit by their stream.
5. Consumer reviews – if you have tens of thousands of followers and you need a toaster, you can get a few opinions really quickly. Talk about your reduction in research time and the transference of responsibility to the crowd.
6. Community / Town Hall Building – the only caveat here is that early adoption is still limited to the technical adventurers. My circle of friends is just now discovering Facebook! Twitter has a few more years before mainstream, which I prefer to say as Main Street. I know some on Twitter think it is mainstream because of some press coverage, but it isn’t Main Street until my Mayor or one of my small business clients ask me about it.
I think a phenomenal use of Twitter is “talking during class”, like the heated discussions that took place during presentations at #timesopen, much to the disdain of Owen Thomas at Vallewag. I’ve been thinking about ways to make that scale a bit better–perhaps a subject for a future blog post.
I think the best use of the Twitter platform has yet to be realized. The primary advantage that this microblogging platform offers is the ability to connect in real time with people in such a frictionless way. Stay tuned… the applications that are spawned from Twitter will likely be game changers.