Why do I use Twitter?

The honest answer is that I am not sure. It’s fun. It’s annoying. It’s great to interact. It’s aggravating to interact with some. It is definitely a love/hate relationship.

I was having a really bad day today. I mean really bad. I “tweeted” as much, changed my avatar to the Grinch and just sat back and watched the scroll go by.

Then one of my Twitter Friends @ycopfiles, (website: http://www.ycopfiles.com/) shot me an @reply:

@SDWhite Taking responsibility is probably the first step in admitting you have a problem but I assume it isn’t that big of a problem? *LOL*

Well that started the upward swing of my mood. Well that and all the Liberal Left being up in arms about Barack Hussein Obama picking Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life) to do the inaugural invocation.

Personal use.

But what prompted this article was another post by @ycopfiles.

I follow Scott White @SDWhite because he’s a Cop & an IT guy. He uses Twitter for both social and work reasons to make network connections.

When I asked him about it, he said, “No, over time I’m writing a tweet about everyone I follow to my reach.”

I hadn’t really given it a thought. But when I look at my follows on Twitter, I see that I do use it for both. I post political stuff, social networking stuff, technical stuff, and some limited personal stuff.

The other day, I was researching a solution for backing up a huge amount of data (multiple terabytes). I posted the question on my LinkedIn network and dropped a quickie note on Twitter and several other social media applications.

Solutions started pouring in. From all over the place. Sales folks, tech folks, recommendations for equipment, recommendations for vendors, consultants and more. It was almost overwhelming.

One could argue that those responding were just out to make a buck, sell something, get a commission or whatever. But that doesn’t matter. The end result is that I am currently carrying on a dialog, on my professional “side”, with several vendors who are offering solutions to my predicament at varying prices.

Has my problem been solved? No. Not as yet. But I am closer now than I was 10 days ago. And two of the 5 vendors I am talking with? Came directly from Twitter. 2 others from LinkedIn and one other from out of the blue somewhere.

So can you mix one “branded name” on Twitter, personally and professionally? I say yes. Absolutely. Only time will tell if this little foray has been successful. But I suspect, even if I don’t make a purchase from one of these vendors, that I have now increased my network professionally, and have the knowledge about products where I can recommend these folks to others. An all around win even if a sale isn’t made at the moment.

Maybe later on, after a solution has been found, I will list the vendors and their social/professional networking IDs here.