Twitter: Answering the age-old questions

"So what is Twitter?”

Odds are you have either asked, or have been asked that immensely popular question—possibly in the last 48 hours. Twitter is one of the fastest growing platforms in the social media world, and your friends and family are starting to wonder about it. They want to know what Twitter is, maybe for no other reason than Oprah told them to find out.

The first question is usually followed by its twin: “What’s the point?”

Answering this question is a delicate process. It will either sour potential Twitterers forever, or it will pique an interest that might even lead to adoption. I’m going to try to answer both questions in a way that will show you that Twitter has an actual function in society.

Twitter itself is pretty simple. Once a user signs up for Twitter he or she will be faced with this question: “What are you doing?” And then he or she has 140 characters (read: characters, not words) to answer the question. (Note: Most people ignore the question and just write freely.)

Easy enough, right?

So easy, in fact, most clear-thinking adults will immediately brush it off as a waste of time. They rally behind their clarion call: “Who cares?” One guy, for example, heard about Twitter from some friends, so he signed up for an account. He starts by writing something like “Wondering why Twitter is such a big deal,” and then never comes back.

Another Twitter baby lost. Such a tragedy. One that could have been avoided, though, if this person would have started his Twitter life with the right strategy. And here it is.

The key to Twitter newcomers is to concentrate on others first. Every Twitter account displays three different groups: People you’re following, people who are following you, and number of updates. Unless you are Bono, you’re probably going to start out with zero followers. That’s okay—we’re thinking of other people first. Concentrate on who you can follow.

Start by seeing if any of your email contacts are already on Twitter. You’ll be able to search through Gmail, Yahoo, MSN and other major email providers through Twitter.

Next, check out Twitter’s list of suggested users. There you’ll find people like Rainn Wilson (of The Office), the official Google account and a whole slew of other Twitter users in entertainment, politics, news and art. Pick and choose who you’d like to follow.

Then perform a simple search. Find people who are tweeting about your favorite subjects. You like BYU football? Search for BYU Football and you’ll find all kinds of accounts. Search for news outlets, famous figures, sports teams and friends, and follow all of them.

As you do this, you’ll find more and more people will follow you in return.

Now you’re off to the right foot. Now you’ll be able to gather information from your favorite sources. You’ll be able to see news stories from The New York Times breaking at the speed of tweet. Before you know it people will be chatting all around you. Some of it will be valuable, some will be a waste, but at least you can now pick and choose.

And suddenly it’s your turn. Suddenly you’ll have something meaningful to say, and you’ll join a conversation seamlessly. Now you’re using Twitter to pass on links, articles, video and pictures you find in your daily Internet perusal or you’re simply quipping about the mundane tasks of your daily life.

One bit of advice, though: Whatever you decide to type in that field of 140 characters, make sure it has value. It doesn’t have to be Pulitzer Prize material, but try to say more than “Welp… going to bed.”

Let’s sum up, shall we?

What is Twitter? A Web site in which users gather and distribute short messages.

What’s the point? To share information in real-time. To join ongoing conversations. To connect with friends, media and popular figures in a new way.

So try Twitter out today. If you'd like, you can follow me and let me know if you have any thoughts about anything I’ve written.