There are some who have tried to convince me Twitter will be dead soon, but they said that about Facebook too. It very well could have a life span like Microsoft and become outdated by something else, but for now, it continues to be the biggest powerhouse in social networking, connecting the world through tragedy and triumph. I have tried to figure out what it is I like about Twitter, and many reasons are so intangible it’s hard to put into a list, but for the sake of having a list, here are a few I can articulate. [Updated 2014]
50 Reasons in 140 Characters or Less Why I Still Love Twitter
- It is a huge free flowing stream of live information untainted by big corporations and governments
- You can connect to people you would otherwise never have met, and never would meet
- Twitter allows you to jump into and out of the conversation at any time
- Use it on any device in almost any situation from church to private direct messages with close friends
- The simplicity of their structure
- The 140 character limit
- It supplements and separates long-form blogging and micro-blogging
- You read the current breaking news before the news outlets do
- The ability for fulfill the Great Commission in the 21st Century culture
- No matter who you are you still get the same platform with the same number of characters
- Scratch the surface or go deep, both are possible on Twitter
- Ability to make a list of favorite tweets using the star function
- Learning new things is contagious
- Get advice from a huge pool of people
- Give advice to a huge pool of people
- Unlimited networking opportunities exist where they didn’t before Twitter
- Some people just don’t get it, and never will
- Trending topics on Twitter are sometimes things I’ve never seen before
- Great to use while traveling to find everything from restaurants to beaches
- Finding and developing new friendships into deeper relationships (yes this can happen)
- Fixes to computer problems are everywhere
- Links to sites outside my normal circle give me new and different insights
- Collaborate with fellow photographers, writers, and creative types
- Share ideas in an open and free platform
- Gives you the ability to think creatively when trying to speak in 140 characters
- You can share just about anything from the interwebs from Scripture to shoe sizes
- It leads a reader to action
- It’s truly micro blogging
- I can keep up with family members (as long as they use Twitter)
- It develops my thinking in ways that couldn’t happen without 1,000’s of other users
- Now that Twitter is mainstream, it’s usefulness continues to increase
- Networks are taking advantage of the power of Twitter, but it’s still run by individual users
- Expanding my photography in mobile platforms has greatly increased my creativity
- A place where serious people can think serious thoughts about trivial things [Len Sweet’s #33 via Viral]
- Twitter increases both my critical and creative thinking.
- Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organizations you care about. [Twitter’s purpose statement]
- To instantly connect people everywhere to what’s most important to them [Twitter’s old purpose statement]
- To build a community
- 2022 – it’s still here