I know people who see no reason to use Twitter.  The common statement is, “Why would I want to read about someone telling me when they go to the bathroom?”

The answer, of course, is, you wouldn’t.  If you’re tweeting about that, you’re liable to have some very dodgy followers on Twitter, because most people won’t follow if that’s all you’re talking about.  Why should or would someone use Twitter?  I think the number of reasons is as varied as there are people (or corporations).

If you’re a business, the number one reason to use Twitter is because your customers are.  If they’re unhappy about something, they are going to put that unhappiness out there, and you won’t even know about it.  Maybe you don’t care.  No problem.  But maybe you genuinely do care about your customers, and if they are unhappy, you might want to try to do something about it — or, at the very least, appear as if you do. Want to see an example of how some companies use Twitter?  Check out @Amtrak, @Bluehost,@SimpleNoteApp, @ScrivenerApp, @livescribe, to name a few. Amtrak is particularly engaging. I don’t think their people monitoring the site remember people they tweet to from one time to another — I don’t know how many tweets they get or how many people they have monitoring the account, but they are vigilant in finding references, responding to them, engaging the people who engage with them, and referring dis-satisfied customers to the 800 number to try to make it right.  ScrivenerApp is particularly good at retweeting articles and blog posts about their product.  If you’re a business, it pays to be aware of Twitter, and it may reap dividends to engage on Twitter.

What about if you’re an individual?  That’s hard to say.  I’m seeing increasingly diverse applications for Twitter.  For instance, an ethics professor for the United States Marine Corps is conducting a Military Ethics Twitter Course (hashtag #METC) that mirrors her for-credit course she’s teaching to mid-level military officers this month.  I’ve been following and sometimes engaging in the discussion, and I’ve found several new people to follow on Twitter as a result.  But more than that, what a unique forum for learning!

I’ve also noticed a Twitter Book Club.  This month, they’re reading Animal Farm. I’m not participating in this one, but they read a chapter or two at a time and then discuss it on Twitter. Check out hashtag #AnimalFarm to see how that’s going.

The reason I got involved in Twitter was because writers were flocking to it.  Writers promote their work, discuss writing, talk to each other while they work, have word wars — it’s a writer’s water cooler.  Writing is a largely solitary profession, but writers need some interaction, and Twitter can allow this in small segments.  It can become a time sink, but it can also allow smaller doses in just the right amount needed before plunging back into the plot line. Writers can do some dumb things on Twitter, if you’re a writer just thinking about getting involved, take some time to learn what is annoying and what isn’t via the medium.  Hint:  Do not just blast your promotional efforts. Make time to engage.  If you can’t or won’t do that, Twitter may be more harmful than helpful to your goals.

Most people on Twitter seem to be mono dimensional in their usage.  By that, I mean people tend to tweet about mostly one thing — their writing, their politics, their sports team, with minor variations from their chosen theme. I go against most advice and take a poly dimensional approach to Twitter.  By doing that, especially as an aspiring writer, I run the risk of alienating a significant readership.

I follow politicians, people who talk about politics, sports figures and writers, a wide variety of authors, animal personalities, news sources, businesses I’m interested in, and a few oddities here and there. I follow Texans, veterans, military folks, technology accounts, gardening accounts, and people I know In Real Life.  I block obvious spam accounts. I don’t follow Liberals or Progressives. I blocked SEIU when they started following me.  With all the bad things I’ve heard about SEIU, I couldn’t imagine anything good coming from them following me.  I try not to be a rabid political personality on Twitter, because, well, I am followed by some people of dramatically different beliefs who follow me for other reasons, and I don’t want to completely turn them off, because I value the non-political conversations we have.  But I do retweet a lot of political things — not all of which I completely agree with.

I do have my Twitter feed set up to feed to Facebook.  Retweets do not go to Facebook. At-tweets (tweets to a specific person) do not go to Facebook.  If I say something on Twitter or link to something via Twitter, it will go to Facebook.  I have my blogs set to tweet to Twitter, and those tweets are fed to Facebook.  I do  NOT have that process reversed.  Facebook will never be allowed to feed Twitter.

Facebook, for all it’s disinterest in privacy, is still set so I know who is likely to be seeing what I post there. While I know if it’s on the internet I can expect it may be made public, my Facebook audience, even though there is some twitter overlap, is different from my Twitter audience.  Twitter is open to anyone who chooses to click the Follow button.  There are a lot of people who choose to follow me for whatever reason that I have no interest in interacting with.  I choose what I say on Twitter with reasonable caution.  Because of a more diverse environment, I get perspectives via Twitter that I might not get anywhere else.  Through Twitter, I discovered an offshoot site geared for Conservatives.  I am a member of that site, but I don’t interact there much.  The ultra-Conservatives I see there don’t much represent my point of view.  They are a little too Far-Right for my tastes.  As with any philosophy, too extreme in either direction is dangerous.

I describe myself as a conservative libertarian, and I still think that moniker fits. But that’s just my political leanings.  I’m much more than that.  I’m a San Antonio Spurs fan. I’m a writer. I support my husband in his growing antique 1946 Mercury collection.  I collect thumbprint glass and polar bear figurines. I read. I do yard work. I want to be more self-sufficient in many ways, which some may think means I’m a Doomsday Prepper, but no, I just like to be prepared for things to go wrong in the world, because if I’m prepared, it isn’t a problem for me until things are going right again.  It’s something everyone should be able to do — take care of themselves for a few days in the event of a community hardship.  Twitter can help with sharing resources that contribute to these various interests I have, and the people and organizations I follow reflect those interests.

Maybe there’s something on Twitter for you after all. Cruise to the site and search on topics that interest you and see what discussions are taking place. You don’t need to login or create an account until you want to start “talking.”