Resources from nSiteful
What I Gained From Twitter This Week

Among other things:

• the realization that some of the WordPress gurus I met at a conference recently (and started following) and hoped would be sharing lots of interesting WordPress insights in their tweets rarely do


• a deeper understanding of "less is more"


• a whole bunch of "read more" additions to my Instapaper account


• catching Steve Martin on Conan (thanks to a timely tweet alert from @SteveMartinToGo)


• a deeper respect for the appropriateness of the height of trees in Michigan

While alive and well and now in its sixth year, Twitter still seems to elude many.

Techies, pundits, and bloggers, of course, are all in.

But many an Everyman and Everywoman fails to see the value.

I get that, because I speak with lots of Everymen and Everywomen on the topic. I ask people (especially business prospects but family, friends, and acquaintances as well) if they are on Twitter. If appropriate, I suggest they give it a try. I recommend to many of my clients (where appropriate) that they get on Twitter if they're not there yet.

It's often a hard sell.

Twitter isn't for everyone. But it is for a lot of people who think it isn't because of initial disappointing experiences.

It's true: Too many people tweet crap you won't care about. So many tweets still trigger the thought "You must be mistaking me for someone who cares."

Too many people I follow for their insights on specialized subjects waste my time with off-topic tweets about their alma maters' sports teams or some movie they just saw. (I follow you, Chuck Todd, for political news and you, Roger Ebert, for movie reviews. When you meander into other realms, you annoy me. If you do it too much, I'll unfollow you.)

It's still true that Twitter is what you make of it.

If you follow the right people (and unfollow them when they stop being right), you might just find Twitter to be a good source of news you care about. Smart devices and the (mostly free) Twitter apps you can use on them make Twitter an awfully convenient tool for finding out about the things in life you care about. Whether you're waiting in the deli line, traveling (as a passenger) on even a short car trip, or (okay, I'll say it), sitting on the throne — perusing your Twitter timeline can be enlightening. Or fun. Or both.

(By the way, I occasionally tweet things of potential interest as @jdcohan.)