Why I Have Joined the Twitterverse

So by now, there are many people who have heard of Twitter, but refuse to join it. I can understand; I used to be in this camp a couple of weeks ago. I had many reasons: 1.) Why would I want to find out what people are up to when I am already deluged by that on facebook, especially by people who update their stati several times a day 2.) I don't know that many people who are on twitter 3.) Is it not vain for me to think that people really want to know what I am doing? The list could go on, but one day I decided to see just what all the buzz and excitement was.

My perception of Twitter has now changed. A little bit of knowledge on something really goes a long way. I discovered that for myself, Twitter had nothing to do with following friends' status updates. It is all about information.

Think about the things you like to keep up-to-date on. For me, I like to stay up on Sports, Politics, and Religion, but not necessarily in that order. Imagine what it would be like if someone who was in the know texted you as soon as they knew their information. Suppose you like to watch certain people who may make guest appearances on TV shows every now and then. Wouldn't it be awesome if that person texted you whenever they knew they were going to be on a certain show. Well that is Twitter and people that you like to watch on TV are on Twitter too, and they tell people what they are up to.

Here's how it has worked for me. I love sports and certain sports teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Kentucky Wildcats (teams of places where I have lived). John Calipari the new headcoach of the UK basketball team is now on Twitter. I have become a follower of him on Twitter, which means that when he tweets (twitter slang for updating your status) updates about himself and the team, I get to see it. I have set my Twitter account up so that I can get tweets as texts messages (standard text rates apply, but not for me). Whenever John Calipari sends out info to the Big Blue faithful, I am instantly notified via a text message. I have this same set up with other people that I follow such as Al Mohler, Don Whitney (Religion), Bernie Misklasz, John Calipari (Sports), Michelle Malkin, Jake Tapper, and Karl Rove (Politics). Jake Tapper is the ABC White House Correspondent. He frequently tweets what is going on at the White House, and any breaking news he reports he texts (kinda) directly to my cell phone.

For me, Twitter is not about updating your status and seeing what your friends are up to. It is about getting instant information about the things that I care about most. That is why I have joined the Twitterverse. You can follow me anytime you like www.twitter.com/jwpilly.