Five Technology Tools Worth Checking Out: Part 2
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There's one in every office...that person who seems to know all the big news stories and industry changes before anyone else. How do they do it? Virtually no one sits surrounded by newspapers anymore. They're outdated before they go to print. New info is on the internet. News sites, blogs, and automated feed sites but even with the best list of bookmarks you still have to spend time browsing those sites to find the gems. An RSS reader (Really Simply Syndication, basically a subscription to the newest info on a particular website) will push headlines to one place for you but you still have to read them to find the relevant ones. Why not let someone else do it for you? Meet the world of Twitter!
I know what you've heard. Twitter is just a bunch of people sharing what they had for lunch, how frustrated they are at work or some other similarly useless information, right? Wrong. Anyone who says Twitter is full of "Having soup for lunch" posts is simply following the wrong accounts. Yes, Twitter is great for conversation, reaching out to interesting people, and being entertained by the latest rants of the disgruntled but there are also plenty of useful people surfing for interesting and relevant info to share. We'll discuss using Twitter to share your own info and engage in conversations in another post. For now, let's look at Twitter as a tool to get the latest info.
So let's break it down:
Pros:
- Once you've followed useful folks on Twitter getting good info is effortless
- Following is an easy way to get started. You don't have to feel like you have to post right away
- Most people will post a link right to the source of information so reading it for yourself is easy
Cons:
- Finding the right feeds isn't always easy
- Twitter can be distracting. It updates constantly so it's not hard to let it pull you away from other tasks
- You'll have to vet information sources yourself. Following a feed for a while to see if it's useful is the way to go. It's easy to unfollow if you find later that you're not using what's being posted
To get started set up a Twitter account. You'll need to decide whether you want to use your real name, your company name, or a nickname. Think about larger strategy decisions when choosing it. You can then use a site like search.twitter.com to find which Twitter accounts are mentioning terms that are important to you and your business.
Also, check out these links for lists of useful Twitter accounts you may want to consider.
- Industry representation on Twitter
- Top 35 News sources on Twitter
- 100 Twitter feeds for savvy business students (and everyone else)
Already on Twitter? Which feeds would you recommend? Leave a comment.
