In my previous post, I was talking about getting started on Twitter and two of the things you can do with it. These are publishing short messages up to 140 characters and choosing to “follow” other people.
There’s another feature of Twitter, which makes it very versatile, and increases the ways in which you can use it. As well as publishing tweets (your short messages) on the Twitter website using a computer, you can also update them directly from your mobile phone.
It’s a simple operation to get your mobile phone number verified. You can also choose whether you want Twitter to send you a short message after 24 hours to remind you to send a tweet and update your followers. Even better, you can tell Twitter not to send messages to your mobile phone between certain hours, for example, when you might be asleep.
In addition, you can choose if you would like to receive updates from people you follow to your mobile phone. You can choose each person individually, so you might choose to receive updates from some people you follow, and not others.
One organisation, a sailing and motor boat club, is using this feature to tell their members about informal last-minute sailings. Often, more experienced members make last minute decisions about sailing based on the weather, and tides, and who is available to go. This means that it is often difficult to include newer or less experienced members because there has been no easy, low-cost way to share the information quickly.
Now, using Twitter, one member can send a tweet about an impromptu sailing from their mobile phone, which is then quickly and cheaply distributed to other members who have chosen to receive messages.
Other people have used Twitter to get the latest information about travel conditions. For example, they have tweeted that they are about to make a trip from north to south London. Followers might reply and tell them to avoid Trafalgar Square or that there are roadworks in Euston Road.
These are just two ideas for mobile Twitter. I’d be really interested to hear how other people are using it, and especially ideas about how small businesses might use it.
If you’d like to try Twitter, follow me and I’ll follow you.
You can also follow two of our conference speakers: Vijay Riyait and Steve Clayton
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