Introducing Twitter to Your Non-Geeky Family

9 | Posted In Social Media by David

Picture 1 A lot of us who use Twitter realize the value of it. We participate in it, gain value from our contacts, offer value to others, market our own sites, etc. Twitter is a valuable resource of knowledge when used properly.

OK, I get that. Perhaps you do, too. But, most people don’t. And nothing makes that more clear than trying to explain to a family member why you use it or, more so, trying to convince them to sign up.

My wife recently joined up with Twitter, mainly because I tell her every now and then of interesting exchanges I’ve seen on the site. However, she has participated very little. She tells me it seems stupid. Seems like a waste of time. “Why do I care about what other people had for lunch?”, she asks.

Valid question. I tell her, though, that perhaps she is just following the wrong people. The value you get out of Twitter is in who you follow and then, secondly, who follows you.

So, what benefits might there be to Twitter that your average non-techie family member might identify with? Perhaps:

  • The fact that you can connect with people from around the world in real-time.
  • The fact that you can ask a question and perhaps get an answer from your network.
  • The fact that many companies are on Twitter and that can give you an “in” with them
  • The fact that having a wide social network is valuable as an asset

At the end of the day, too, many of these people aren’t going to see the light until they actually experience the social interaction that Twitter can offer. Once they see that people actually talk back, they’re more likely to like it.

It helps that we’re seeing Twitter become more used in mainstream circles. I’m even seeing it mentioned on TV now. It also helps that Twitter has drastically improved their reliability. I haven’t seen a fail whale in some time now.

So, have you successfully introduced anybody to Twitter who isn’t a geek? And if so, how? What makes it finally click for a person?

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  • Eric

    Sorry, Twitter is a complete waste of time. I agree with your wife. I have better things to do that follow other people walking around.

  • http://jh2fct.wordpress.com/ James Herbert (jh2fct)

    Twitter is extremely useful. I have received feed back from Comcast while twittering. Which is pretty cool since I don’t use Comcast.
    Enterprises are using it. So are colleges. I am an instructor and I use twitter in the classroom with all the students. I make announcements about classroom events, college events, area events, resources I have found and they reply in kind. I also use it just for fun and so do my students.
    If you want to stay on top of your favorite stuff, in my case social media, then there are people out there that twitter it. Guaranteed. Everything from the bleeding edge of social media (twitter.com/Scobleizer) to the WWE for crying out loud (http://twitter.com/wwecharacters).
    Just got to know what you are looking for and who you want to interact with.

  • http://jh2fct.wordpress.com James Herbert (jh2fct)

    Twitter is extremely useful. I have received feed back from Comcast while twittering. Which is pretty cool since I don’t use Comcast.
    Enterprises are using it. So are colleges. I am an instructor and I use twitter in the classroom with all the students. I make announcements about classroom events, college events, area events, resources I have found and they reply in kind. I also use it just for fun and so do my students.
    If you want to stay on top of your favorite stuff, in my case social media, then there are people out there that twitter it. Guaranteed. Everything from the bleeding edge of social media (twitter.com/Scobleizer) to the WWE for crying out loud (http://twitter.com/wwecharacters).
    Just got to know what you are looking for and who you want to interact with.

  • http://shua.typepad.com/ Josh Peters

    I agree with you completely and disagree with Eric completely. Twitter is not a waste of time, It’s all about who you follow and why. I recently got my fiancee to start using Twitter. She didn’t see any value in it until I made the above argument about how it’s all in who you follow. I use my account to follow people in social media and people / groups I find interesting. I get lots of information and value from Twitter and my fiancee is starting to see it too.

  • http://shua.typepad.com Josh Peters

    I agree with you completely and disagree with Eric completely. Twitter is not a waste of time, It’s all about who you follow and why. I recently got my fiancee to start using Twitter. She didn’t see any value in it until I made the above argument about how it’s all in who you follow. I use my account to follow people in social media and people / groups I find interesting. I get lots of information and value from Twitter and my fiancee is starting to see it too.

  • Eric

    Sorry, Twitter is a complete waste of time. I agree with your wife. I have better things to do that follow other people walking around.

  • http://kkomp.com/ Sharron (kkomp)

    I soo wish Twitter would take off in the UK like it has in America. There are 2 things stopping that from happening:-

    First is the fact that UK mobile telephony operators are mean penny-pinching, money-grabbing, profit-mongering, con-artists, who refuse to negotiate a free mobile telephone number with Twitter as it firstly might reduce their massive profits, and secondly other UK companies might try to weasel a free phone number out of them on principle in an attempt to rip them off. This is the true face of UK business as a whole: This is still “Rip-off-Britain”: Everyone; even big business, is out to make a fast buck at the expense of someone else – No matter who they rip-off or how.

    Why? This is the legacy of the Thatcher years; the “Yuppie” culture – The massive class-divide between the very wealthy and those on or near the breadline: The UK is, as a whole, a very sick society, built on an obsolete and outdated structure – But that’s another story.

    Secondly; and in relation to the comments in the above; the Web 2.0 phenomenon is just not happening in the UK in general: The society is insular; “me first, screw you”. The gross level of poor education and unnecessary needless ignorance is increasing at a worrying rate; while the average IQ appears to be plummeting towards zero as a whole. Adoption of technologies and moving forward / adapting to new ideas are difficult in a society where many can’t even write their own name and most can just about manage to switch a computer on and send email in some base primitive English dialect with almost as many grammatical and spelling errors as there are words.

    Britain is stuck in a rut due to itself; and to my mind seems destined to annihilate itself from a societal standing.

    - The moral of all this spiel: If you don’t see many UK Twitter users; or if you don’t see many sensible/intelligent UK twitter users, then you’ll know why.

    The UK: Proving evolution by reverse-engineering it.

  • http://kkomp.com Sharron (kkomp)

    I soo wish Twitter would take off in the UK like it has in America. There are 2 things stopping that from happening:-

    First is the fact that UK mobile telephony operators are mean penny-pinching, money-grabbing, profit-mongering, con-artists, who refuse to negotiate a free mobile telephone number with Twitter as it firstly might reduce their massive profits, and secondly other UK companies might try to weasel a free phone number out of them on principle in an attempt to rip them off. This is the true face of UK business as a whole: This is still “Rip-off-Britain”: Everyone; even big business, is out to make a fast buck at the expense of someone else – No matter who they rip-off or how.

    Why? This is the legacy of the Thatcher years; the “Yuppie” culture – The massive class-divide between the very wealthy and those on or near the breadline: The UK is, as a whole, a very sick society, built on an obsolete and outdated structure – But that’s another story.

    Secondly; and in relation to the comments in the above; the Web 2.0 phenomenon is just not happening in the UK in general: The society is insular; “me first, screw you”. The gross level of poor education and unnecessary needless ignorance is increasing at a worrying rate; while the average IQ appears to be plummeting towards zero as a whole. Adoption of technologies and moving forward / adapting to new ideas are difficult in a society where many can’t even write their own name and most can just about manage to switch a computer on and send email in some base primitive English dialect with almost as many grammatical and spelling errors as there are words.

    Britain is stuck in a rut due to itself; and to my mind seems destined to annihilate itself from a societal standing.

    - The moral of all this spiel: If you don’t see many UK Twitter users; or if you don’t see many sensible/intelligent UK twitter users, then you’ll know why.

    The UK: Proving evolution by reverse-engineering it.

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