Are you part of the Twitterverse? One of those tweeple who tweet? Or is this all gibberish to you?
If you’ve watched the mock videos on YouTube (like “Twitter Whore” or “the Twitter Song” or “Twouble in the Twittersphere”) then you probably have a bad impression of the social network. But hear me out; it’s more valuable than distasteful comedy videos would lead you to believe.
Twitter is a simple, text-based social network that allows users to post updates about their lives, thoughts, actions, (pretty much anything) from the Internet or their cell phones.
My last Twitter column outlined how celebrities are using Twitter to battle tabloids, but how can you — a college student — use the social network?
Think about it: If I told you to get information about someone, what’s the first thing you’d do? Look them up in the phone book? I think not. You’d Google it.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that’s what your employers will be doing to your name when that resume hits their desk.
Twitter can help you promote yourself for the job market. As a college student, this should be a top priority.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a sophomore or senior, software engineer or studio artist. If you want to get a job when you graduate, you have to get buzz around your name.
Twitter can help you in this journey because it’s a way of mass-distributing your name across a network and joining conversations among leaders in your industry. The more you get your name out there, the more people will know you. And that means higher rankings in Google search results.
Of course you should supplement your Twitter presence by maintaining a blog and actively commenting on other blogs related to your field of study. You should also keep an online portfolio of your work.
Let me give you a few real-life examples of how Twitter can score points in the world, play by play:
I’m a journalism major. I was looking for a journalism internship. One of my favorite bloggers “tweeted” (posted a status update on Twitter) that his organization was offering an internship. I applied and promoted my application on Twitter. My Twitter followers voted for my application. I got said internship.
See? Simple as that.
On a more practical, day-to-day level, Twitter is helpful too. It’s like a search engine that only yields results from real people with your interests. Again, it’s all pretty abstract, so it’s best to understand it from an example:
For a recent entrepreneurship assignment, I needed to survey as many people as possible about problems in their lives that can become business opportunities. Naturally, I tweeted my question, and instantly received dozens of responses from my followers.
It’s also the most immediate way to get information about things happening around you. When an earthquake hit Los Angeles in the fall, Twitter was swamped with tweets about it. When a plane crashed into the Hudson River a few months ago, the first person to report it was a Twitterer who helped with the rescue.
Twitter is more than just Facebook without the wall posts. The Twitter experience is far more intellectual.
If you really want Twitter to be effective, you need to follow people in your industry who care about the same things you care about. I follow hundreds of student and professional journalists. I’m able to stay up-to-date on industry developments because I can converse directly with students about news and trends when they’re fresh and breaking.
You will only get from your Twitter experience what you put into it. If you tweet random facts about what you’re doing (like, “eating ice cream right now”) then Twitter will not be useful for you.
But if you ask questions about your industry, answer others’ questions and contribute to an intellectual, on-going conversation, I promise Twitter will be an empowering tool. What have you got to lose?
Lauren Rabaino (laurenmichell on Twitter) is a journalism sophomore and the Mustang Daily online and multimedia editor.