It connects me with people round the world who can help me do my job.
Help me make a list of why people use it.
Why do you use Twitter?
Why I use Twitter
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Lost and Desperate 
It feeds my curiosity about people, work and life in a random way that energises me. What I find is often useful and largely entertaining. It is then easy to share that with other people. It then creates a bond between us. Through forced brevity and use of imagery. Twitter has opened up the world to me and me to it.
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It helps me get to know people before & after I meet them and it increases the depth of my engagements with a much larger group of people that I don’t see very often.
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It’s connected me to amazing people I might never have met otherwise. I learn, I broaden my horizons and I challenge what I believe by experiencing different perspectives. And, despite what some would say, you can build real relationships – somehow 147 characters makes that possible faster!
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Great connections. Learning straight to the device in my pocket. Ideas. Challenge. Friends.
Keeping up with important One Direction news.
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I’ve met some amazing, interesting people, found out about cracking, worthwhile events to attend, read some fascinating articles, gained great new clients and also laughed a hell of a lot – all through the magic of Twitter.
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I think you’ve captured it perfectly for me too, Twitter is like an amazing set of brilliant colleagues scattered around the globe. A priceless resource.
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Through Twitter I have ‘met’ lots of interesting people both locally & from around the world, with whom I am constantly learning & exploring. Through this I have started drawing again. And I get to talk about growing veg with people in Yorkshire & Australia!
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It connects me to the wider world when I can’t get out & haven’t got a job, & can be a great networking tool. I use it to connect with people I’ve met/know – & I’ve met people whom I’ve first got to know through Twitter. I can connect with different communities, get different angles on news, links to fascinating articles I would see otherwise. I also enjoy some of the humour.
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Because it allows me to be part of a community and conversation that happens without me and enriches me being part of it
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I use Twitter for connecting, learning, inspiration, fun and (sometimes) diversion.
It’s not overstating it to say that discovering the “HR” community on Twitter completely reinvigorated my career.
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Originally ‘because I should’ but it opened a world of fantastic people, a quality network in my field, ‘attending’ conferences without being there, chuckles, insights and inspiration. I’m far better informed and I Google a lot less.
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I’ve found people who’ve made me think about work stuff in either a new or different way. Often fascinating, sometimes challenging and occasionally not my cup of tea, overall it’s been a pleasure.
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All of the above.
I wrote about it early on – it’s like Narnia – realising the world is bigger – twitter is what’s through the wardrobe; with dark shadows as well as beauty.
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Connecting with people who give me the opportunity to share & learn; keeping up-to-date with news & the latest scoreline @ Wycombe Wanderers.
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It helps me become involved in events by joining in the conversation happening around them
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Someone once told me Twitter is like a big pub – over there someone is getting a bit pissed & bigoted, in that corner there are a bunch of folk looking at page 3 or worse, that table is a discussion on kids, education and house prices – over there is someone dodgy selling stolen meat, over there someone is really really laity handout-of-order and the bouncers have been alerted – & on that table there is a plot to bring down the government.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this, there are a group of folk you want to hang out and chat to – maybe go on for a bite to eat with later & have a coffee with at some point in the future…
I quite like this analogy.
Twitter has been a source of information, friendships, business, time wasted, outrage, joy, news, images, music, poetry, enlightenment and bafflement – in life, so too on Twitter
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Great comments above! Totally agree with Perry, Mary + Helen.
I’ve long used social media for relationships that would be geographically impossible. Twitter is my current favourite. It enables and enhances IRL connections and creates new relationships, I do believe the ‘forced brevity’ breeds richer communication; more thought and effort to express intention.
How and what I learn via Twitter is better than I could ever have imagined, and the people – amazing. Being part of communities I would never have met IRL; it makes the world smaller, but my world bigger and richer.
I also keep up with my CEO+Org, and others I am interested in supporting the work of.
Twitter blog from Sept14 http://wp.me/p2ZBSI-f
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Agree with lots of the above answers and more, but primarily I started using twitter because I wanted to step outside of my existing professional network which was mainly within my previous organisation and instead I wanted to learn and collaborate with a much wider network of learning and HR professionals. The value of having a professional learning network which is independent from any one organisation is huge – you don’t lose that support when you move on.
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Yes, to lots of the above. So here are perhaps some things that don’t get said so much (maybe it’s just me) but you find along the way and have probably become part of my “why”. In an order as random as Twitter…
> Realising how good/bad you are at what you do & think. WOL/FOL
> Finding out how to utterly waste time watching a Twitter feed – both in good & bad ways. It’s useful insight.
> Being able to gauge (in parts) the mood & issues of clients and professionals.
> Building new client relationships.
> Finding people you never want to work with.
> Reading (probably volumes) of “stuff” you never needed to read but anyway finding that gem that you’ll use for a long time hidden somewhere in the “stuff”.
> Understanding deeper perspectives of people.
> Finding & building what will probably be life long friendships.
> Accessing stupid content because it makes me laugh – both in good & bad ways.
> Using DMs as another communication method/channel.
> Using DM’s to safely discuss what’s being discussed openly on Twitter.
> Promoting blogs, articles, events, activities, news, etc. – including my own, friends, peers, clients, random strangers.
There’s more but this list is just getting embarrassingly long. Oh yes. I use Twitter to keep practicing the art of shutting up & walking away from conversations – even my own 😉
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I agree with lots of the above for me – Twitter has helped me to stay connected with people in the UK and build new connections in NZ. Some amazing people and opportunities have come my way through Twitter.
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Mainly because I’m nosy, but it’s also great for business contacts, good to connect with like-minded people and some who aren’t!
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I’ve met some amazing people I wouldn’t ordinarily have been able to meet, had my eyes opened to new ideas, learnt a host of new things – and continue to do so on a daily basis, I can sense check, benchmark, question, collaborate and grow all through 140 characters.
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I would like to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has added their comments on this post. You have created something that we can pass onto people ‘thinking’ about using Twitter – pat yourselves on the back and please keep adding your reasons to use Twitter.
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Twitter has become my primary learning and personal development platform. I have access to experts and influencers and I can get their expertise almost on-demand. In other words, It’s the best vehicle for “Free PD”. It is also a way to create a network of colleagues and practitioners from all over. It’s like a massive, virtual un-conference.
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