Using Twitter

I've done a couple of presentations now on the use of Twitter as a job-searching tool, and in both cases, when I asked the groups about using Twitter, I got blank stares (ok, a few people blinked).

Twitter is a "micro-blog" tool/site on which you can network (the magic word for job hunters) with people at companies you have an interest in and actually search (like Google) for job openings. People usually tell me they just don't get it and don't see any use for something like Twitter. Of course I agree with them when someone tweets about waiting in a doctor's office or sitting on their couch.

A very mind-stretching article on the use of Twitter (and why it will grow in importance) is at http://zikkir.com/it/12274, "10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business" by Renato Leon | 22 September 2009. I thought I was informed, and I was surprised by a comment in his blog entry:

"Outdoor ads are used almost everywhere in the world because of their simplicity and the relatively low cost of creating them. Current estimates are that global outdoor-advertising sales will be a $30 billion business this year. One of the great weaknesses of older ad media, like outdoor-billboard marketing and newspaper display, is that results have been nearly impossible to quantify effectively. Twitter will change that."

Think of the applications of "instant blogging:" instant feedback on TV shows, ads, anything!