Tabz at Social Media World wrote a great post on why people twitter. It was based on a little Twitter survey she did.

*sound of screeching breaks* What’s Twitter? Well for those of you that don’t know, it’s sort of a micro-blogging, web based instant messaging, social networking mish mash. What you do with it sort of makes it what it is. You sign up and post anything you want in 140 characters or less. Once posted anyone in the world can see it (unless you protect it), but realistically the only people that are closely paying attention (in theory) are those that have chosen to follow you. That’s the social aspect.

So why do I tweet? (the act of posting to your Twitter account is called a tweet, not a twit since that would make too much sense) My answers to Tabz were “Why did I start? In part to keep up w/ podcasters I like, in part for the microblogging/link sharing aspect” and “I continued due to the sense of community I’ve built with fellow podcasters and the neat folks I’ve discovered.” I also find that it has been a good way to get the word out about my own endeavors. Twitter is to a degree also about self-promotion, though you need to make sure that that’s not all you do or you’re no better than the “robots” that exist only to tweet spam (twat? spat? twam?).

There are a number of ways to tweet and read others tweets. I use Tweetdeck but that’s one of many options. If you’re into tweeting from your mobile you can use SMS (text messaging) to tweet or read tweets. If you have an iPhone or other smart phones there are specific apps developed for them. I’m not that much into it, but there are those that are and will tweet from scary places.

So if you want to follow me on Twitter just go to @spiritualtramp, though I’ll warn you I am kind of prolific. If you already tweet, tell me why!

bird courtesy of southernpixel