From last September till date, I’v been using the world’s most popular micro-blogging platform daily and it has somehow became a necessity in my life. It seems that I’m addicted to it just like my hourly consumption of a few Eclipse mints. As a 15-Year-Old, I’ve my own reasons why I started using Twitter. Well, below are five reasons why…
1. Improve my English
Being exposed to an English environment, most likely one’s English language will improved. For my case, my recent English exam result has improved drastically, all thanks to Twitter! I’ve managed to hit the 80.6% percentile in my class as compared to a mediocre 50% standing last year. By reading through at least a few hundreds tweets a day, gradually my language will be better. I even wrote a composition about Twitter and my English teacher from Britain was quite impressed by it. Fortunately, only a small minority of updates posted by my friends contains acronyms and abbreviations.
Besides Twitter, blogging has changed my style of writing too! However, my second language – Chinese has not been improving much, probably it’s because of the lack of contact with it. I hope that the folks at Twitter will create a Chinese version soon but most likely it’s impossible since the number of Chinese Twitterers are quite low.
2. Promoting my Blog
On September last year, I’ve signed up an account on Twitter for one main reason – to promote this tech blog. Why I’ve chosen Twitter instead of other platforms such as Facebook, BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog, etc. is because I find it as a perfect social platform and till now I didn’t regret using Twitter as a mean to drive potential readers to TechXav.com. Anyway, around half of the traffic comes from Twitter but of course I’m still trying to reduce the percentage and look for more methods to boost traffic.
3. Keeping Updated to the Latest News & Technology Stuff
Based on my observation, Twitter has been moving from a “What Are You Doing?” style to a place for tech addicts and ordinary people to get insights on the social world or latest news revolving around the world. Some has said that news and updates spread much faster on Twitter than any other news websites (CNN, New York Times, etc.) One great example is the Mumbai attack. People were giving first hand reports of what they’re seeing directly on Twitter whereas CNN reporters were still flying to Mumbai and writing news reports about what’s happening. However, the news on Twitter sometimes aren’t accurate and disorganized as several people simply add additional things as they passed on the message.
Twitter has been a wonderful place to read the latest news and I usually refresh my profile every minute or so, clicking on links to read the news. Sometimes I read the Straits Times (local newspaper) but I still prefer Twitter, probably it’s much faster.
4. Keeping Updated to the Fast-Paced Society
Everyday, people keep innovating, especially on the computer sector. For example, developers are racking their brains, trying very hard of how to attract users. The folks are Microsoft are sitting together in a group, thinking of how to please the Windows Vista users. Steve Jobs and his team are designing a new iPhone software to impress few hundred million phone users. Yes, we are now living in a fast-paced society with most people in first world countries knowing how to sign up for a Facebook account and use it to interact with friends. Hence, it’s important for us to know at least some basic computer knowledge.
The main reason why Mr John McCain lost the US Presidential Election last year is because he is somehow a “computer illiterate” and doesn’t really knows how to win fans by using the power of the Internet. On the other hand, his rival – Barack Obama was clever enough to make use of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to attract fans. Guess what, most of his fans were from the under 30 age-group, who are familiar with these social networks I’ve mentioned above.
As a 15-Year-Old kid, I feels that it’s important to expose myself to the Internet world as in the future, we are going to live in a more advanced, sophisticated world whereby computer will be become a necessity in our lives, just like we need to eat and drink everyday. Having a foundation, I wouldn’t have to worry about some obstacles I need to face in the years to come as compared to most of my peers who are glued to their computer screens playing War of Warcraft or DOTA or simply reading books and studying like “mad”.
5. Boost Communication Skills & Finding Out More About Other Cultures
Another main reason why I use Twitter is to improve my communication skills which is relatively important is guiding a person to become a successful speaker. Although this is taught in schools but I feel that it still requires some practice by my own. That’s by using Twitter. Most Twitter users are mainly adults, ranging from 20+ to even 60+. The percentage of the under 18 age-group isn’t really high but the numbers are increasing significantly. In school, I usually talk to my friends (same age) or sometimes teachers. But on Twitter, I’m actually interacting with adults and also people whom I don’t know. This is relatively crucial especially to a young boy.
Besides boosting communication skills, Twitter has enabled me to learn more about other cultures instead of just my own. In school, it’s quite limited but at least thanks to the new scholars from China and Malaysia who have gave me an overview what’s like back in their hometown and any practices that they performed. Of course, learning more cultures is rather important and Twitter can help me do so. By reading updates which are mainly towards the “What Are You Doing?” style, I’m able to find out more about their lifestyles and sometimes a better understanding about their countries. This is something that I simply can’t learn in school.
So these are the 5 reasons why I use Twitter. Actually before writing this post, I wanted to share with you guys another 5 more but because of the number of words, I would have to abort that idea. If you use Twitter, why do you use it? Leave your comments below…