Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [97]
(The Fifth Beatle’s name is Stuart Sutcliffe, according to some; you can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Beatle. So, go to bed already!)
Some people consider tweeting a question whose answer you can easily search on your favorite Internet search resource impolite. Try hunting down the answer first by yourself before asking your Twitter network. Some users consider it rude and inconsiderate to waste their time with silly questions, and they may unfollow you. So, perhaps asking the fifth Beatle’s name is poor form. You might ask your followers if they have any movie recommendations, though.
In addition, some brands and companies are beginning to use Twitter as a customer-service tool, and are willing and ready to answer customer queries. For example, JetBlue, shown in Figure 12-4, uses Twitter to send customers information on flight delays. (In Chapter 11, we explain how businesses can use Twitter to their advantage to help, educate, and communicate with customers.)
Accessing the experts
By using Twitter, you can find quick, knowledgeable answers to more serious questions, not just to simple ones. If you’re doing some research for work and want to find the most useful sources, ask Twitter. Of course, you still have to do additional normal research and fact-checking, but you can definitely get pointers in the right direction much faster than you can on your own.
Figure 12-4: JetBlue notifies customers of weather delays and where to go for flight-delay information through Twitter.
While Twitter grows in popularity, more professionals, celebrities, and point people at companies are actively using the service to further their own publicity, knowledge, and outreach. For example, if you want to get a better sense of what it’s like to be an Australian actor working in America, ask Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman). Want to know what Yoko Ono thought about when she was writing one of her pieces? Go ahead and ask her! (@yokoono). Despite their celebrity, they have the exact same tools that you do and are as accessible as they want to be on Twitter. If they have the time and see your question, you just might get an answer. But again, respect their time by asking something relevant and interesting to them, not just something selfish or easily looked up elsewhere.
As you can probably imagine, many celebrities and industry mavens have many, many followers — and those popular folks are often inundated with questions and @replies. If you ask something of them and don’t get a response, your question may have just gotten lost in the noise. Feel free to try to talk to them in the future, but if you’re sending them public messages in your timeline, remember that everyone else reading your updates gets all those messages, too. In short, don’t be a rabid fan.
You’ll also find many industry analysts, number crunchers, stats hounds, and fact checkers on Twitter who aren’t famous but are eager to help you. So, with your Twitter account comes an army of experts and pundits who have research-heavy charts, graphs, and reports on a wide array of topics. People on Twitter can be very generous with their time, knowledge, and information. After all, many of the relationships you have on Twitter are with people whom you trust and who trust you.
Twitter is a trust-based network. In the process of building connections, interacting with the community, and sharing your ideas and knowledge, you earn trust. That trust-building goes both ways. Your growing network of contacts on Twitter also earns your trust. So, if someone in your trusted network sends you a link, you can probably trust that the link will take you to a page that’s helpful to you. Always check your facts, but you can get valuable, reliable, and accessible information through Twitter.
Information about breaking news
The real-time nature of tweets makes Twitter an ideal resource for breaking news. If anything newsworthy happens on the local level, someone