What is Twitter all about? Part 142

I was having dinner the other night with a college roommate and her husband, a newspaper editor.  He’s on Facebook, (although he doesn’t really use his account), but he asked me what Twitter “is all about.”

 PR 2.0 gives us the textbook definition.  I plagiarize part of the post here:

“Twitter has influenced how:

– Media connects with audiences

– Businesses listen to and respond with customers

– Communications professionals, marketers, and advertisers connect with the new world of influencers

– Journalists, bloggers, analysts, event organizers can get help and answers from the community, instantly

– Everyday people can create an in-demand personal brand to open new doors and create new destinies

– People are made aware of news and important information from all over the world”

Here are some real-world examples of how one book publicist at Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists uses Twitter.  And here are some examples of how I use Twitter:

— The other day I posted about what not to have on a book website.  A couple colleagues tweeted about my post and traffic spiked.

— Prior to posting, I’d asked for some thoughts about what people like and don’t like in book websites.  A number of people following my Twitter feed responded and I incorporated their feedback into the post.

— At this point my RSS feed is pretty full (I probably shouldn’t have added 300 blogs) so while I check it every now and then, sometimes Twitter is the easiest way to pick up on breaking news, like when the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly was let go, or when John Updike passed away.

— Sporadically I’ll “chat,” albeit in 140-character increments, with journalists, literary agents, authors and other book publicists, a good (and quick) way to “meet” people or keep in touch.

Of course, a lot of authors use Twitter to reach readers.  And there you have it.