Twitter Misconceptions

3 Most Overused Excuses

Written by Steve McGarry.

Want to improve your social engagement on Twitter? Try FunnelFeed for free today!

After meeting with Keith Teare — a serial entrepreneur who was a co-founder of TechCrunch and who’s current working on Just.me — this morning, at his amazingly beautiful home in Palo Alto, I realized the true power of Twitter. It fills an important role. A lot of people just don’t realize it yet.

Misconceptions

Many people don’t understand the microblogging platforms true power. Most don’t know how to use it properly. The 140 character constraint and the “obscure hashtags” freak out a lot of companies and professionals alike.

Whenever I meet with people, especially those new to technology, I keep hearing the same things — excuses.

What they say:

• “Twitter is not important; it’s 140 characters!”
• “I don’t have time; how do you keep it updated?”
• “I don’t want to tell people everything I’m doing; I bought a pizza, so what?”

What I hear:

• “I don’t know how to use Twitter properly.”
• “I am focusing on the wrong things.”
• “I don’t ‘get’ social media.”

Power in Numbers

Twitter takes a large chunk of the social media pie. That’s a given. The numbers still surprise me.

Statistic Brain breaks down the numbers:

Stop Making Excuses

People are making excuses not to use Twitter, so let’s dispel these misconceptions.

“Twitter is not important.”

By saying this and ruling Twitter out, you are eliminating 645 million potential customers, valuable personal connections, and even new friends. You are chopping yourself at the knees. Do you want to shout — about your startup, about yourself, or about your goals — at the top of the world? How are you going to climb Mount Everest without legs? Yes, you can climb the world without legs, but it would sure be easier with legs.

“I don’t have time.”

You are focusing on the wrong things entirely if you do not have time to meet people, especially from the comfort of, well, anywhere! Many argue the meaning of life is to live, laugh, and love. All three of these things involve two or more people. It is human nature to want to share and be social. Don’t fight it. Embrace it.

If you’re a business owner — be it a startup or a coffee shop — Twitter is easy with tools like FunnelFeedand Buffer. These tools allow you to schedule in advance (in case you have a busy day) or to automate time intensive tasks.

If you are always engaging, you will always grow.

“I don’t want to tell people everything I am doing.”

You need to understand that people aren’t interested in what you are doing every moment of your life. Instead, there are often interesting and relevant articles worth sharing with your customers. Why not share them over Twitter instead of email? Who knows, sharing these relevant articles might even lead to new customers!

Most people on Twitter aren’t talking about themselves, not exactly anyways. A lot of people unfamiliar with Twitter assume that everyone is tweeting about what they had for lunch (that’s Instagram’s job!), what they bought at the mall, or how bored they are.

Most of the interesting conversation on Twitter happens over news and updates. Twitter is a valuable tool to give your commentary on a situation and to share live events. This power is often showcased (sadly) during emergencies — the Boston Marathon bombings were reported on Twitter before anywhere else.

There are people that tweet about themselves who have large followings and have people respond to their personal tweets. However these people have spent time building a personality on Twitter and understand the importance of having an active audience.

No More

There are no excuses to not use Twitter.

Get out there.

Tweet about things you think are interesting. Odds are, out of 645 million people, one will find your tweet interesting.

Excuses are like elbows, you can use them to reach for what you want, or push away what you don’t.1 Twitter is important. Ignore it at your own peril. You’ve been warned.

What’s the most common excuse you hear? Let us know on Twitter (@FunnelFeed).

Like our blog posts? Subscribe.