I’ve never been a big fan of Twitter. THIS video from SuperNews pretty much summed up my feelings about Twitter and the people that used it. I had already been an avid user of Facebook and saw no need to send 140 character “tweets” about nothing out into cyberspace.
As someone who works in the internet marketing field, I really had no choice but to join. I’ve had a Twitter account for about 2 years now (completely guessing on that) and had rarely used it up until a couple of months ago. My Twitter usage is still far more as a consumer of tweets rather than a producer of them.
Within the past couple weeks, I’ve realized that I’ve used Twitter in a couple of useful ways and figured it was time to give Twitter it’s due. Here are 3 ways that I’ve found Twitter useful in the last couple weeks.
1. Miami Hurricanes Football
Being a Miami Hurricane fan living in the Chicago area has it’s challenges. Chicago is an NFL city. We’re consumed with the Chicago Bears and so is the local media. Worse yet, when college football is brought up it’s all about Notre Dame. Needless to say, the Miami Hurricanes don’t get a ton of media coverage in Chicago.
Roughly 80% of the people that I follow on Twitter are related to the Miami Hurricanes football program. Players, coaches, and the South Florida/Miami media all keep me up to date on the happenings of the Canes…via Twitter. Better yet, guys like @SaveUMFootball find the stats and the research for me. I’m kept up to date on recruiting, coaches, players, and more all from taking 1-2 minutes to check one Twitter feed. It keeps me informed about something I’m interested in without me wasting time doing all the research myself.
2. Battlefield 3 Beta
Yes, I’m 26-years old and play video games. Not ashamed of it. I love teamwork games and it helps me stay connected with friends I might otherwise lose touch with.
With the upcoming launch of Battlefield 3 (October 25) they released a beta test for the game. Having purchased the dreadful Medal of Honor game, I was given early access to the beta 2 days before the general public. The real test of the game would be how it would play with my friends so we made plans to all play the night it was released to the public. Of course, as we tried to get our party together the EA servers went down.
Many people took to Twitter to vent about the problem, but it also made EA aware of many of the issues and frustrations people were having. It also allowed them to communicate to a large group of people that they were aware of the issue, and were working to fix it. I knew when the servers were back up immediately, thanks to Twitter.
This might not seem like a big deal because it deals with a video game beta test, but think of how this could be used in other businesses. Customer vents issue and frustration –> Company acknowledges issue and updates customer it’s being fixed –> Customer gets updated when the issue is resolved. The better question is, what business wouldn’t that be useful in?
3. iOS 5 Installation Issues
I love when Apple updates their operating system. Downloading and experimenting with a new iOS is like getting a new electronic product without having to pay for a new one. I was particularly excited about iOS 5 because it was going to include about 200 updates/improvements.
I download the OS and continue to the install. Unfortunately, I kept receiving “Error 3014″ and the update wouldn’t go through. Since Twitter was abuzz with users downloading the new iOS, I figured I’d check and see if anyone else was having issues. I searched “Error 3014″ on Twitter and found a group of people having similar problems as me. Within seconds I also figured out how to get around “Error 3014″, as one user had tweeted that temporarily disabling his antivirus program did the trick for him. I figured I’d give it a try, and sure enough, it worked for me as well.
A quick Twitter search saved me time and frustration with upgrading to the new iOS. I also use Twitter searches to find updates on injuries for my fantasy football players (among other things).
