The first time I used twitter, I didn’t get what it was for. I didn’t understand the logic behind posting what you did everyday. It was an open invitation to stalkers (for the ladies) and was too much of a hassle. Why would anyone use it?

Despite that, I played around with it and decided to add the twitter notifications on the Gtalk client. Gtalk is like Yahoo messenger. Whenever someone posted a twitter message, a message box would appear. If I wanted to send a twitter message myself, I would just open the twitter Gtalk client and write something there.

I found that Gtalk twitter was quite easy. At first, my circle of twitter friends was really small and I received very few messages. Lately, however, I’ve seen more and more people adding me as their friend. They actually follow what I post. Consequently, I found myself using twitter more and more.

I now use Twitter for four main reasons:

1. It’s a great way to be informed about what’s going on. I became aware of two important events last week, the earthquake and the coup attempt, through twitter. I saw my friends posting about it as it was happening. My friend posted a blow-by-blow account of what was happening in Makati as the soldiers were going into the Manila Peninsula. That kind of timely news info was simply awesome.

2. You get a feel of what people are thinking about. A couple of nights ago I discovered a whole number of twitter posts regarding the last episode of the TV show Heroes (episode 11). I read them scream their anguish at another cliffhanger. It was funny yet intriguing – made me look for the episode as well.

3. It’s a great way to keep people informed of how you are. When you are busy you don’t want to be bothered, a simple Twitter note for online friends goes a long way. Emotional? Need to vent out some stress but don’t have the time to write a whole essay? A quick twitter post can help. When I can’t find time to blog, I just twitter.

4. It’s a effective but subtle marketing tool. Imagine 100 people following you on twitter and getting notifications every time you post something. There’s a marketing opportunity there. Want to sell Boxing movie tickets? Twitter about the upcoming fights and put a link to your blog. Better yet, add the twitter plugin for wordpress.

Thus, I am now a twitter addict. At least, I’m getting less time for my other addiction. LOL

What’s your reason for twittering?

By the way, if you have twitter, you might want to follow this.

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