MacMost Now 59: All About Twitter

Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at Twitter, the free service that lets you and your friends keep track of each other. Follow Gary on twitter by going to http://twitter.com/GaryRosenzweig/

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi this is Gary Rosenzweig. One of the hottest apps of the last year has been Twitter. Let's take a look at Twitter, what it is, how to use it and why in this episode of MacMost Now.
Twitter is a simple service where you update it as often as you like and tell your friends what you're doing in 140 characters or less. At the same time you can check up on your friends and find out what they're doing right now. Now it doesn't always have to be what you're doing. It could be what you're thinking or what you're thinking of doing or what you thought you did. You can basically type anything in just to keep your friends updated. 
 Now, when you first get to Twitter, which is found at Twitter.com, you simply create an account. If you already have one you enter your account information and sign in. Once you're signed in you'll find the most recent update from the people that you're following. The people that you're following could be your friends or they could be other people that you've heard of that post interesting items to Twitter. To update your Twitter status you just type anything you want into this field at the top as long as it's 140 characters or less. Now I'm doing this right now from a web page and you could do it from a web page on your computer or on your mobile device, like say an iPhone. But you can also do it using instant messaging so if you have one of those unlimited instant messaging accounts on your phone you can sign up for Twitter that way and you can update people while you're on the go. 
Finding people to follow on Twitter is pretty easy. All you need to do is first ask your friends of course if they have a Twitter account then follow them. Then once you're following them you can see all the people you're following over here. Once you do that all you need to do is select one of your friends, you can see their most recent posts and you can also see who is following them and who they're following and then you can maybe pick out some other people that you know or people you might be interested in following. So why would you want to do this? Well, if all of your friends are on Twitter then you can find out very easily without having to email them or call them. so for instance if a few of them are heading to the mall they might Twitter that they're going to the mall right now and you can see that and say, 'you know what, I think I'll join them.' In the same way, you could Twitter when you're going somewhere, to a restaurant, mall, bar or whatever and then perhaps one of your friends may drop by. It's also a great way to keep track of some friends you not talk to all the time. You can follow them on Twitter and then see what they're up to. You may even find reasons to contact them if they're doing something interesting or thinking about something that you have an opinion on. 
Twitter can also be used as a kind of mini personal promotional tool. So for instance if you're doing something new, like you've got a new job or looking for a job or you just put up a new website or you just did something fantastic you can let people know about it by Twittering and all your will followers will know. It's kind of sort of the same thing as blogging but you can do it in smaller bits. Unlike an email address which you want to keep semi-private you want everybody to know about your Twitter address. Here's mine. Go to my profile page and follow me. I'd love to have a lot more followers. And I may post from time to time on what I'm doing at MacMost and new games that go up at gamescene.com and things like that. I may even ask questions like what you may want to hear on a future episode of MacMost Now. Now Twitter can be addictive. Usually it starts off this way: you think it's pretty stupid but you'll try it out. And so you do. And then you Twitter once a week or once a day and pretty soon you find some more things to Twitter about and you're really interested in following your friends on Twitter. And then before you know it you're using it all the time. Of course, it's a good addiction as it keeps you really in touch with a lot of people and usually brings some good information your way. So give Twitter a try and see if you like it. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter as well.
Until next time this is Gary Rosenzweig with MacMost Now.

Comments: 4 Responses to “MacMost Now 59: All About Twitter”

Mr Anthony Cotton

13 years ago

I joined Facebook, but it annoyed me. I stopped it all together,and i still get emails that someone has winked at you twice,and you have 2 emails. I even have great difficulty logging in,and when i get in, no winks ,no emails. Mac most is the only site where i keep coming. You have that personal touch. To tell you the truth i don`t no where you get the time from,and you answer questions personally. Well i will give Tweeter a go.

Donna Brooks

Gary, is there a desktop Twitter app for Mac that you recommend? What is the best way to easily post items on Twitter from several different browsers?

Gary Rosenzweig

I would just use the official Twitter app. If you want to post from the browser, just go to the Twitter web site.

Shane Phillips

I use echofon. They have mobile,web,iPad app and Mac app. Anger one I like is tweetbot which just came out with an iPad app

Comments Closed.

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