5 Benefits Of Twitter For Computer Techs
By: Matt R. on March 26th, 2009
Categories: Lists, Recommended Services
If you’re online and looking to have your finger on the pulse of the latest in technology and web trends, Twitter is where you need to be. Why? Simply put, it’s the best way to get up-to-the-minute information on topics relevant to you.
I’ve been using Twitter as YFNCG for a few months now, following people in the tech industry, along with small business advocates, a handful of bloggers, and some friends. I’m picky about who I follow. I want to make sure that they are providing useful information that I can benefit from. I also try to pass on the best of the informaiton I find to my twitter followers. It’s tough to keep up with it all sometimes, but the beauty of twitter is that you don’t HAVE to keep up. You just jump in the stream when you’re ready, soak up the info of the moment, contribute a bit of your own, and jump out when you’re done.
If you’re a computer tech and you doubt the usefulness of Twitter, allow me to present 5 ways in which you can gain significant value from this FREE tool.
- Latest Tech News - Follow folks like @techcrunch, @CNETNews, @Wired, and most any other technology new source you can think of to see a constant real-time stream of the latest tech happenings.
- Relevant Timely Opinions From Your Peers - Follow other computer geeks on Twitter to see what have to say about what’s going on in the world. Most of the time, they’ll give insightful opinions, post relevant links, or share useful nuggets of knowledge.
- Deals On Gear - Vendors like HP, NewEgg, and TigerDirect tweet their latest deals, specials, and limited offers. Dell takes top prize, however, with a whole page of twitter accounts!!
- Get Answers - Computer problem got you stumped? Want to test out an idea? Once you’ve gathered a decent list of followers, conduct a mini-poll by asking a question and waiting for responses. There are a lot of intelligent folks using twitter and you’ll be surprised at the insights you can gain.
- Learn to be succinct - This is an often overlooked skill that can be developed by tweeting often. You learn to summarize what you need to say with 140 characters. It’s tough at first. Learn to translate this skill to your clients to help avoid over complicated tech-speak that will normally confuse the average customer.
Find out how to harness the power of twitter now, because I only see it growing in the next few years.
Who do YOU like to follow on Twitter?
March 27th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Twitter is definitely useful for any computer techs for all the reasons stated above.
I personally use Twitter for #2 , to share interesting posts, simply chat with people, promote some of my blog articles, keep in touch with friends and so much more. Twitter rocks =D
I also make money by having ads in my stream ( 1 in 10 updates). The ad was approved by me of course, to make sure it’s not plain spam or anything alike.
Another way I make money is by recommending hardware parts from NewEgg. My affiliate link is included and shortened by bit.ly so anyone that clicks through my link is a possible source of income for me and that person gets free consulting from me. Win-win =)
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Matt R.
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March 27th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Good to see you again Mathieu,
Yeah, I was very surprised at how useful Twitter has become. The key is to follow the right people!
Great ideas for making some money with twitter as well!
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March 27th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Well I follow amongst others, YOU!
But seriously I find it hard to keep up with Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, etc…
I do drop by Tweetdeck to see what everyone is saying but for me Tweeting is not my main thing.
However, thanks for the New Egg link, I knew about Dell already but I love New Egg too…
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Matt R.
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March 29th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Hey Phil,
It IS hard to keep up with all that stuff. I think the key is to integrate it into your routine and only use it if and when it provides value to your life.
Glad I was able to introduce you to a new twitter link!
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MathieuB
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March 30th, 2009 at 8:05 am
@Phil and @Matt
If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly suggest trying out TweetDeck.
With multiple columns, this program allows you to filter your feeds in many many ways to makes everything much easier. With over 4,100 followers, there is no way I could keep up otherwise.
I personally have columns in the following order: Search for multiple computer terms (Radeon, Geforce, etc), replies, a group with my favorite tweeters, all friends feed and DMs. Helps a lot for me, hope it can help you out too. Just don’t get addicted to Twitter LOL
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March 30th, 2009 at 7:31 am
I’ve tried 2 or 3 times to get into Twitter. Ugh - I guess I should try again… :-/
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Matt R.
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March 30th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Haha Bill, I give you an A+ for persistence!
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March 31st, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I’m new to the Twitter thing but I am enjoying the ease it gives me to share interesting articles with friends and followers. I’ve also discovered many great things from others.
I also like seeing blog updates from bloggers I follow, Matt-you being one of them! I get a good response when I post my newest posts, I suppose because people expect it on twitter.
I haven’t tried TeetDeck yet because I like to focus more on the portable and web-based, and I believe tweetdeck is a program installed. I’ve been messing with PeopleBrowser which is a web-based twitter app. I’m not sure how it compares to the famous tweetdeck.
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April 13th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
[...] twitter, what’s the point | Twitter has been around a couple of years and seems to have just hit the mainstream in the last 4 to 5 months. Everyone is Twittering, Britney Spears, CNN, John McCain, and [...]
April 20th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Nicely said Matt…a comprehensive list of whom to follow to get those news updates would be a great read.
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Matt R.
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April 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Hey DemoGeek,
Thanks! Yeah, I’m planning a follow up post that lists some of the most useful Tech people to follow. Stay tuned!
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Mathieu
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April 23rd, 2009 at 7:15 am
I agree with DemoGeek, I’d love to see such a list myself =)
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February 10th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Great idea this, i am heading over to check out your entire site now. I have just got interested in blogging and hopefully i am able to do so
Follow me on Twitter
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