Twitter – What Is It Good For?

The answer is not absolutely nothing, though some might beg to differ. I'll be the first to admit, I used to be a hater. "What's the point? It's STUPID #twittersucks." I can see how Twitter looks pretty lame from the outside looking in, and don't get me wrong, even from the inside it's a little questionable, but one thing we should ask ourselves, is what's the big difference between Facebook and Twitter? Practically everyone has a Facebook (huge generalization, but it's one that is likely to be true), and what's so great about Facebook? It's cheesy and excessive and invasive and creepy and a great procrastination tool, but other than that, what are we really gaining from using it?

That's where Twitter comes in. On the usefulness scale, Twitter reigns supreme in comparison to Facebook. Let me explain why. Facebook allows you to connect with your peers – righteous! Now you can stalk the boy you ground (past tense of grind? grinded?) with last weekend. You can even find out whether or not he's single (psych! he's in a relationship, hard times). But what you CAN'T do, at least not very efficiently, is stalk your favorite bands. Twitter allows you to do that.

I initially jumped on the Twitter band-wagon after a guest speaker came into my Strategic Writing class and explained that if you (you in this case refers to Communications majors) didn't have a Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. etc. etc. that you wouldn't be taken seriously. Which I found ironic considering I thought people who used Twitter were for the most part narcissists with nothing better to do with their free time, thus not taken seriously. I was wrong. So very wrong. Kind of. Some people really don't have lives.

But for those of us who do have lives and who understand this thing called time management, Twitter can be a very useful and effective tool. I follow all of my favorite bands (the current ones) and get updates on tour dates, album releases, product deals, labels details – anything you could imagine. It's also really cool to see what your favorite bands are listening to/doing/thinking about/talking to. Sounds a little creepy, sure, it is! But at least they know you're stalking them unlike the sketchy business that happens on Facebook. These bands actually want you to see what they're up to – in other words they aren't weirded out if you happen to know various details about their personal lives.

Finally, Twitter lets you actually talk to the bands you love. One of my favorite Twitter moments happened this past year, on December 25th, 2011. I had just opened all my presents and was in my bedroom playing with all my goodies. One of my gifts was the new, Whatever I Want/Whenever I Want LP set by Mark Sultan.

I listened to the records all night long and swooned over his doo-woopy greatness. So, I thought why not let him know how much I love these albums? I mentioned Mark Sultan in a little tweet (for non-Twitter users, I used this little guy '@' and his Twitter name) and low and behold, he actually re-tweeted what I said! This is the holy grail for Twitter users. That means that he read my tweet, thought it was cool or whatever he thought, and re-tweeted it so everyone who follows him could see it. Here's what it looks like. Yes I took a screenshot when it happened.

As you can see, he doesn't re-tweet often so that means I must be pretty awesome (right?). Either way, it was really cool to see. I told you, Twitter isn't so bad, you just have to use it the right way – like me, a modern day groupie.