Twitter

[TheBigUnit]

How exactly does twitter work? I've been using it for a while but don't feel I fully use all of it properly

[TheMatrix]

See their website. (https://twitter.com/about)

It's a sort of blog, where every entry is restricted to 140 characters. A microblog, if you will. You can follow, or subscribe to others' timelines, or blogs, and see what they say. You yourself can tweet about something -- a link, an observation about life, anything -- and your followers will see it.

Common uses include:

A news aggregator. Many online newspapers have one or more Twitter feeds that update automatically when a new article is posted. If you want to share it, click retweet, and your followers will see what you've shared. They are introduced to new subjects that they might also take an interest in.
Somewhere where you establish your profile. When you're searching for a job, employers want to see all the things you've said and done. Make it easy for them by tweeting about things related to your interests that you want your employer to know.
A quicker way to communicate. Nobody likes reading essays about someone's day(like on Facebook). On Twitter, you have to summarise it thoughfully.
An addition to your existing blog's feed. Almost every blogging software creates an RSS feed. There are a plethora of services that check that feed and place it on Twitter, with a link to the article. It's a good way to have your content discovered and shared.


It's not for everyone, but I trust it more than Facebook.