Are you afraid of Twitter?

This post is, certainly, not for tweet-o-holics, who wakeup and sleep with smart-phones on their sides. The post, also, respects an average Joe who manages to Tweet at least twice a week - either to report on their pathetically depressing meals or extremely ecstatic moods.


Believe it or not, even today, we have some social-media phobics - for obviously good and bad reasons. Be careful on social-media but paranoid. This post is one more attempt to motivate them to engage with twitter-verse.

As I am writing this post, I have 3748 Tweets and 286 Followers on Twitter.

My first tweet was tweeted in 2008. Then, like most of you, I gave up after my 10th tweet. "This ain't for me," was my response to myself. However, as Twitter grew more and more popular, I felt tremendous pressure from my User Experience (UX) community to become part of it - again.

Believe it or not, UXers are made to work on the bleeding edge of technology. They craft new experiences that leverage and explore the true potential of technology. I started again on Twitter in mid 2009 and never stopped after that.

Here is how I am benefitting from Twitter:

1. Network with my UX community in and outside Keane.
2. Learn about new articles, news and publications on UX and other areas without Googling about them.
3. Hear people's opinions on various topics.
4. Guage trends in technology, social media, and other areas.
5. Sell my thoughts, ideas, and opinions on UX and other topics.
6. Participate in discussions, debates, and sometimes just fun stuff.
7. Hear about new job opportunities from my friends and followers.
8. Believe it or not, I have got job offers through DM feature in Twitter.

Overall, it's a great tool with lot of potential. You will benefit from it only when you use it.

Let us discuss. Why do/do not you use Twitter?

And, of course, if you are/or going to be on Twitter, do not forget to follow me. My username is @praveenkvma