What has twitter taught you?

Twitter is important. Whether you love it, hate it, don’t get it or don’t care, it has made a permanent impact on the way that people and businesses communicate and interact. If twitter were to fall off the edge of the proverbial map tomorrow, the lessons and changes it has made to the social sphere would remain. As I look back on the last year and a half I have been part of the phenomenon, I thought it only appropriate to jot down a few of the lessons I’ve learned (all in 140 characters or less of course!)

1. No one cares about your product/tweet/link unless there is something in it for them.
2. Advertising and marketing is changing. So is how people share interesting advertising.
3. I am not that interesting. Or I am more interesting than I thought. This one is still up for discussion.
4. I like strange and unique people. Boring? Not in my followers.
5. Anything you think people will love, they probably won’t. It’s the ‘random’ things that will capture attention.
6. I am much more consistent in my writing because I know that people expect it (or at least I think they do).
7. Spam doesn’t work in any arena.
8. Just when you think you have your target market figured out, someone else buys your product and surprises you.
9. Having real people behind your company is just as important as having strong brand recognition
10. I like to use emoticons a lot.
11. If you have nothing nice to say, stay off twitter or risk obliterating your reputation in a matter of seconds
12. Once it’s in the twittersphere, it can not fully be removed, tweet with caution
13. The way someone writes doesn’t always relate to who they are in person. And sometimes it’s exactly how they are.
14. Twitter is, at it’s core, a tool. What you do with that tool is up to you and only you.

What have you learned from twitter? Share your experience!

By the way, if you still haven’t joined in, and are wondering why you should (and the above reasons didn’t convince you), check out a great post I wrote for Motor Creative about why you should.

Related posts:

1. How do you choose your twitter followers?
2. Vanity Fair doesn’t understand twitter.
3. I love Twitter lists.