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Why do people use Twitter?

by Robin Grant in News on 14 January 2009 at 16:26

One of the eternal questions you hear asked about Twitter, especially by those who don’t use it themselves, is ‘Why?’

Of course, there’s a myriad of different answers, but these two films come close to answering the question.

The first was put together by Christian Payne (@Documentally) and Matt Rawlinson (@Barnstormed) from vox pops they conducted at a gathering of Twitterers in London in September last year – the first ever Twestival:

The second was filmed by Hamish Campbell (@hamishcampbell) at Twinterval, another gathering of London’s Twitterati in December, and perhaps delves a little deeper than the first:

If you feel like doing some anthropological fieldwork of your own, you’ll be glad to know that Twestival has gone global – on the 12th February there will be local Twestivals all around the world, bringing together Twitterers for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

We’re going to be at three of them ourselves – we’re organising the Paris Twestival, which we’re confident is going to be one of the biggest and best, Nathan is helping out with Sydney’s and what’s left of the team will be partying hard here in London.

While I’ve got your attention, why not have a look at the last set of stats on Twitter usage in the UK, see Chris’ commentary on why the British tabloids are so hostile to Twitter or follow me on Twitter…

Update: Drew Benvie on the new generation of Twitter users, an interesting memo from The Pew Internet & American Life Project on Twitter and status updating and the answers the Guardian got to the question What do you use Twitter for?

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  • I use twitter to be able to connect with people in my line of work. Twitter is a great tool to be able to do this.
  • you all have implemented Facebook Connect...very cool =)
  • Dan Bye
    Hi Robin,

    Read this earlier courtesy of Tom Ajello from Poke: http://kommein.com/twitter-obtaining-the-imposs...

    Looks like there are a fair few interesting uses being mooted

    Cheers

    Dan
  • Intermittent variable re-inforcement! http://usableinterfaces.com/2007/03/17/twitier/
  • Twitter allows followers to see another side on an individual - not just the business side (linkedin) nor just the Social side (facebook) but both. I get almost immediate answers to questions.......it is valuable so far.
  • I feel twitter exposes your true intentions, if you're talking at people then you're not going to be as interesting to follow (or as genuine in my eyes) as someone talking and responding to you. Plus it's great way to connect with people you might not otherwise have a chance to :)
  • We all may end up twats... My thoughts on the subject... http://bit.ly/1GaB
  • I use Twitter as a means to find great web and graphic design articles. It's also interesting to see the obstacles that other designers run into and conquer. Sometimes Twitter makes me like I'm talking to my dog (when I ask a question and I get no response) but for the most part it's pretty helpful.
  • I use twitter to stay up to date with web trends, to make contacts with people that I would have never have met in Rochester nor at my current 9-5, and to do my best to stay ahead of the game.
    Having a few entreprenual ideas and being on Twitter comes in very handy.

    I'm learning something new every hour!
  • RC
    After watch the videos and read the comments, I still don't know why the people use twitter. You are watching TV, making your dinner, getting ready for a meeting or whatever... and you stop what you are doing to go to your computer and write few words about what you are (were, you stopped) doing. It does not make much sense. I really don't see a reason on that.

    But hey, it is me who don't feel any usefulness on sites like facebook, myspace or whatever. So, it is natural that I can't understand why the people use twitter.

    Maybe to feel connected to the world... but keep in contact with people is something really annoying and boring. Actually, I don't even know how I'm writing this comment :P
  • I love using Twitter, to ask for help, to keep up w/ the news, to feel connected to people. To tweet about other news or my thoughts or just to send a shout out to whats happening in my area.
  • Rod
    You are what you tweet
  • why? yeah why you use twitter? what so important about twiter...?

    maybe they can try to use it and get feeling with twitter. with twitter we can do some sending short message to keep updates online wherever you go. we can get some friends with and we can get some extra traffic from there with a smart way.
  • weareinto
    This was something interesting I ran across LetsAllTweet.com
  • I would hazard that people use twitter because they are too social inadequate for facebook/myspace - the users of which are too socially inadequate to meet people down the pub/club.

    I could be wrong - but I've yet to meet a twitter user who has been properly socialised, personally I put it down to selfish parents who both work so they can squander resources and only have children as lifestyle accessories.
  • Marcus
    I think people use Twitter because it is a trendy thing to do. The vast majority people probably get no real value from it whatsoever. Once they realize this, they will stop using it just like MySpace.
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