(Or: How You Can Be Just Like Conan O’Brien and the Dalai Lama, 10 Reasons Why You Should Join Twitter Now!)

Admit it, you’re curious. You’ve gotten over making jokes about “tweets” and “twits” and you’ve come to terms with seeing it on CNN every hour. Even The New York Times chimed in. You’re considering taking the plunge.

But, deep down, you’re also wondering: is it too late? Have I missed the Twitter party boat?

You haven’t. In fact, great news! The party boat is waiting just for you.

If you join Twitter now, you can…

1. Connect with your old friends in a way you’ve never before.

Reading on Twitter that an acquaintance of mine was in St. Petersburg, I recommended a pierogi place I’d been to before, and loved, called Stolle. Somehow convinced, she went and responded: “you were completely and utterly right. i bow down before your wisdom and knowledge and simply wish for more suggestions.” With Twitter, I was able to recommend something to someone I never would have before on the other side of the world– and, with Twitter, she was able to find out about one of St. Petersburg’s greatest restaurants. This example is just one way of harnessing your friend network in entirely new ways. If this sounds like Facebook a bit, you’re right. But Twitter allows you to do this more efficiently, quickly, and easily. Ultimately, you can learn more about the friends you do have— and learn more about friends you never knew before based on mutual interest instead of the accident of geography. There’s something Facebook can’t do even if it tried (and it will).

2. Make new friends and build relationships with people (and companies) you never imagined you could.

On Twitter, you’re as valuable as anyone else in twitter world. You’re not Ashton Kutcher, but if you @ reply someone, you’ll show up exactly the same in a feed. Want to respond to Shaq? Your tweets will reach him the same as anybody else’s. This means that communication and interaction between you and celebrities, thought-leaders, brands, and more is closer than it’s ever been. Want to tell Starbucks what you thought about their free pastry roll-out? You can. And they’ll read it. Maybe even respond. Recently, I tweeted “After a killer pitch by a @starbucks barista, I tried the Ethiopian sun-dried yergacheffe clover coffee. And she was right- it’s delicious” and, believe it or not, Starbucks, a company with a net revenue of, oh, $2.5 billion, actually responded: “@DerekFlanzraich It is tasty… tastes like Blueberries.” So clearly that’s not life-changing, but it’s a conversation I would have never had otherwise. And, you know what, it did taste like blueberries. Delicious blueberries.

3. Be inspired and enriched by following people you admire (who, by the way, are all already on Twitter).

Like you, the last thing I want to read or write about is what I had for breakfast. And, as interesting as someone thinks hearing any time a space rock gets within a few lunar distance (just follow @asteroidwatch) may be, it’s not my thing. Want to use Twitter to write about that delicious egg white omelette? Knock yourself out. But there’s so much more. There are people like Fred Wilson asking for help with his ppt before he presents at a major conference, people like Gary Vaynerchuk asking for advice on how to sell his book better, people like Jason Falls suggesting new, killer apps you’ve never heard of, and people like Dustin Curtis questioning everything you thought you know. There are thought leaders in any industry and any subject you’re into, people you admire suggesting thought–provoking articles you probably missed. And, after a while, when Jack Dorsey says goodnight on twitter, it may actually begin to mean something to you.

The key to Twitter is that that you can follow whomever you want—and they don’t have to know. Sounds a bit like stalking, but let’s be honest, it’s the internet, so who cares? Similarly, you can be followed (if you choose to not have your account private) by anyone who’s interested. And you don’t need to follow them back. Don’t care what that person is tweeting? You don’t need to follow them. Curious about that person, but they’re a Fortune 500 company CEO? Don’t worry, it turns out they want you to follow them.

And sure you can follow Britney Spears. Even MC Hammer. But you can also follow Barack Obama, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, and John Hodgeman. And you never need to actually read what Ashton Kutcher writes. Luckily, the diversity of the people on Twitter is huge. Favorite sports team? Hear how training is from their all-star pitcher. Interested in marketing? Follow presidents of ad agencies. Music? Technology? Politics? Whatever, you name it—you can find someone you’ve always wanted to hear more from. And then… you get to find out they’re just like you. Or not like you (Sara Bareilles: “i got tipsy and ordered 100 knives off the Knife show and sent them to my friend. whoops. Note to self: don’t do that anymore.”) And you can get an incredible view into their personality. For example, after Alberto Contador won this year’s Tour de France, Lance Armstrong tweeted: “Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn’t win.”

4. Become a better consumer and get sweet deals.

Major brands like Starbucks and JetBlue have defined the way big brands can be personal and intimate using Twitter. But small businesses outnumber the big ones on Twitter. For them, it’s a powerful tool to reach their fervent supporters and expand to new ones. In Los Angeles, popular roving gourmet catering trucks tweet their location. For example, the unbelievably good Sprinkles Cupcakes mobile truck: “Sprinklesmobile will be @ Las Palmas and Franklin at 12:30 today! First 100 people get a free cupcake courtesy of 10 Palms and Deasy/Penner!” Oggi Gourmet, one of my favorite restaurants in Harvard Square, offers free pizza if you give them a password from Twitter (“free pizza at 3pm for the first person who comes in and says yaba daba doo!!”). In this way, Twitter is incredible for the consumer. You’re not paying for anything. They’re not annoying you. You can follow them if you want, unfollow them if you choose, communicate with them in a totally new way, and get free stuff to boot. A true win win.

5. Start sharing what you find interesting with the world in a totally new way.

You come across stuff that’s interesting every day. Maybe you blog about some of them. Maybe you share them with your friends on Facebook. But here’s a totally new way to show off what you’re passionate about and what your interests are– and then get the same in response. And maybe you’re going to want to tell people what you’re thinking every now and then (to be fair, it was a REALLY good egg white omelet). Good. Maybe they’ll be inspired and respond in a way you’ve never thought of before. For you, Twitter can be a repository of thoughts and ideas. And a spring board for starting an unexpected conversation about them. In many ways, Twitter is becoming a notebook for the future of sorts—a log of your daily life, thoughts, events, and shared media.

6. Begin building a personal brand in a totally new, authentic way.

If you make your profile public, the world can see you. What do you want them to see? This is your chance to build a brand around what you’re passionate about. It’d be hard for me to say it better than Gary Vaynerchuk does, but basically it’s up to you to create and own your online brand– and, apart from blogging, you can’t beat Twitter as a more effective tool for doing so. Don’t care? Make your account private. I did at first– and, when I felt totally comfortable with Twitter, I made the leap. So can you.

7. Hear news that’s important to you before anyone else does.

Much has been made of the Hudson River airplane crash, which was first picked up on Twitter. But there’s more. This past summer, Kevin Love, a Minnesota Timberwolves player, tweeted that his coach, Kevin McHale, had been fired after 15 years in the organization. ESPN reported it the next morning, hours later. Whether an NBA fan or not– it was real news, from a real source: the information you care about from the people who know it better before anyone else has a chance to tell you about it. That was months ago. Today, this is happening left and right. How many articles have you read that began with a post from Twitter recently? I’d bet there was one even today. With Twitter, you can find information on exactly waht’s relevant to you. Traffic updates for your specific area? Local news? I can even find out when my Harvard dining hall is serving popcorn chicken for lunch– and that’s hardly news I can miss.

8. Hear what everyone is saying about anything at any time.

Twitter has embraced mobile updates and apps. You could easily never go to twitter.com on your laptop. Instead, exactly as easily as writing a text message to a friend, you can write it to the twitterworld. And, just like checking a text message, you can dip into your twitter stream at any point and see what’s happening.

Have you ever wondered what everyone was saying about [insert anything here]? Of course you have. A google search will get you blogs. A twitter search will get you the world. Just try it.

Universal Pictures suggested that surprisingly poor attendance of Bruno was due to negative twitter comments, or the  “twitter effect.” Movies, sure. TV Shows, athletic performances, whatever. Following trends on such a huge scale more can even replac epolling. If you own a company, you can follow everything people are saying about your enterprise (and respond to them, too!). It’s such an unbelievably powerful tool that Google, Bing, and everyone in between have rushed to add real-time Twitter to their search. Any wonder that Google and Facebook have both reportedly been in serious talks to purchase Twitter? Don’t be surprised. It’s not just because of the egg white omelet updates.

9. Be entertained, have fun, and laugh a lot.

Obviously, in any version of communication, you’ll be entertained. But with Twitter, you’ll get recommendations for videos, articles, and more from people who know what they’re talking about– and people you’ve chosen to listen to. Funny video recommended by Stephen Fry? Movie recommended by Jeff Widman? Must-watch commercial suggested by Roger Ebert? Hard to beat that. Besides following comedians (like Michael Ian Black or Chris Schleicher), there are tons of Twitter-only jokes. Funny hashtags, such as one where people will tweet famous movie lines as they were “written” the first time followed by #1stdraftmovielines will make you laugh: “With great power, comes great utility bills” and “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare for pie.” And there’s always the ultimate meta-joke: The Mime. Are you not entertained yet?

10. Change the world.

Admittedly, most of what people write on Twitter is unimportant, self-important blather. But tweeting is also evolving into a powerful social force. In Iran, Twitter made the all-powerful mullahs tremble in fear. After the government restricted the nation’s bandwith, but stopped short of cutting off the nation’s internet connectivity entirely, tweets became the only way to show the turmoil. And show it they did. A constant stream of situation updates, linked to photos and videos, surfaced. Street protestors purportedly mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to demonstrate by using the service. And this isn’t the only example. You just might lead the next one.

There are many, many more reasons to join Twitter. Add some in the comments!

And, of course, Twitter isn’t perfect. Far from it. Sometimes its simplicity takes away from its immediate value (for example, when someone replies to one of my old tweets, it’s still unclear what message they’re replying to). People do sometimes write about how great their jog was or how much they enjoyed the nap they just had. But there’s more to it. Every day, I learn something new or take away something of value from twitter. Every day. I learn things about close friends I didn’t know, learn from thought-leaders I wish I knew, and hear about news, articles, and videos I would have missed otherwise. Meanwhile, I’m expressing myself and my thoughts in a satisfying way on an exciting medium that delivers instant responses and perspectives.

The key to Twitter is that you can use it however you want. Don’t want everyone to read your tweets and want to keep it more personal? Keep your account private and you’re able to screen who follows you. Want to create communication between you and people you would never have thought of, expand your network, and build a personal brand? Easy. Just join. Within minutes, you can be following everyone from the attractive barista to Spencer Pratt (or Guy Kawasaki). Find your own value from the wonderful tool called Twitter. Re-think what you know, download a twitter app onto your phone, and give it a try. I promise that after a few days, you’ll be hooked and learning, like me, every day.

So?  Join Twitter now! Then, add me!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Digital Media, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.