Someone in my Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni Group on LinkedIn started a discussion thread about using Twitter for business.  I couldn’t resist chiming in, and by the end of my post, realized that I had written what amounted to a short blog entry.  This isn’t any new information for folks who are already using Twitter with success.  But add this post to the list of articles that have been written for the target audience that is the growing mass of people who are just arriving on the Twitter scene and asking all the same old questions…

What’s the point of Twitter?

Why do I need to use Twitter?

Why do you use Twitter?

What am I missing by not using Twitter?

What do you want to do with your life Twitter?

The reason so many people are having trouble figuring out the value of Twitter is that they haven’t chosen to use Twitter with a particular goal in mind. They have chosen to use it out of curiosity, or because they wonder what they must be missing.  Some of my friends and colleagues resemble that remark, and given the recent mainstream media attention thrust upon Twitter, I expect the number of curious people trying to figure out what the fuss is about will continue to skyrocket.

So they create an account, follow some of their favorite celebrities, follow some of the news sources they already read elsewhere, follow the friends they already talk to on a regular basis, and sit back to wait for the magic.

In order to score, you need a goal

Other commenters on the aforementioned LinkedIn discussion (and elsewhere) mentioned some great goals that you might set for yourself as you start using Twitter:

• market research
• brand monitoring
• customer community building & interaction
• personal “brand” building
• subject-matter networking

If none of these activities are things you are already trying to do well, or are embarking upon as something you want to do well (with or without Twitter), then perhaps Twitter is not a tool you will find valuable. If you’re not trying to bid on merchandise that you’re going to buy sight-unseen and have shipped to you, then eBay probably isn’t for you either.

Goal-oriented Participation Creates Value

With Twitter, the reason knowing your goals is so directly related to the value you derive from using Twitter is that those goals influence your own activity and participation. Those goals will also influence the tools you choose (there are many different Twitter applications available, both free and paid).

The crux of Twitter is that it is a conduit for infinite conversation. Think of it as a giant ball of millions of strands of yarn. Some of those strands are people, some are topics, some are companies. It takes a little while to:

1. build your own strand for people to follow if they choose to, and
2. tease out the strands that you’d like to follow.

But ultimately, you need to do both: contribute value through constant development of your own strand, and derive value from the strands of others.