Power-Tweeting: 101 Everyday Uses for Twitter

Updated: August 21, 2012

Introduction

 

The simple dictionary definition of "Twitter" is "microblogging/social networking platform that places a 140- character limit on each individual post/tweet." However, describing Twitter thusly would fail to encapsulate the power of this new omnipresent medium. Twitter can be viewed at as a "marketing tool, feedreader, tracking device, communication tool & news breaker" all rolled into one. Or, Twitter can be seen as a collective life stream of a community of which you are a member.

Twitter is hard to describe specifically because it is a social utility with more possible uses than a Swiss Army knife. Here are 101 examples of how Twitter members regularly use the service. Note that the content below has been taken directly from Twitter users' posts, with all grammar, syntax and spelling left fully intact.

 

Analysis

 

Job Twitter

1. Looking for a job. @codehermit Officially looking for a new job. Anyone looking for an alpha-geek Python developer?

2. Quitting a job. @melledotca I am quite certain I was not this busy at work before I quit my job. Oh well, least I know exactly when it'll stop. :)

3. Complaining about a job. @obilon Looking for a new job. This one sucks. Arrgh! Anyone want to hire an SEO Guy/Online Editor? Just asking. Putting it out there.

4. Posting a job. @leeodden TopRank hiring PPC specialist and manager - posting job descriptions this aft. Initial inqueries to hr at toprankresults dot com.

5. Interviewing for a job. @velvetsiren Interviewing for accounting jobs. I found that my current job is grossly underpaying me. Surprise, surprise.

6. Networking for a job. @spbloom had breakfast on Bondi Beach. Now getting stuck into email and networking to find a job.

7. Commuting to a job. @cpchrisman Commuting: the biggest waste of time and resources we all participate in. Somewhat unconcious of its effect on us and our cities.

8. Getting lunch on the job. @pprlisa the question at a new job always is, what do these people do at lunch time and who will eat with me ;) good luck with all that.

9. Meetings on the job. @twelvesquared wellll... tomorrow I have 6 job titles, a stress attack and at least 2 meetings to accomplish all without my boss and without errors. :)

10. Rickrolling people at your job. @extraspecial actually had to pause and consider the ramifications of Rickroll'ing in a communication I'm about to send to 2,000 people at work.

 

Love Twitter

11. Falling in love. @secretlondon Damn I want to fall "recklessly in love" *weep*

12. Losing love. @mixmanner Consoling a friend after a breakup from a long relationship. Hope I'm saying the right things.

13. Looking for love. @arielwaldman If ur riding a tractor and keep screaming "hello beautiful" at me, I'm probably not going to break my stride for you.

14. Physical love. @thejustinesane I need to get laid twitter.

15. Friendship, not love. @zoliblog. hehe, not love, just friendship :-)

16. Hurting in love. @Mooooose Have you ever been in love?​​ -- proudly, yes. I'm only 25 but i love hard and honestly. no shame in that ... and it f***ing hurts.

17. Problem love. @harveymilk I secretly love a person who admits that s/he dislikes most people. I have the problem of liking almost everyone.

18. Pet love. @kevinrose cats love to jump directly onto my stomach when I'm not looking, they think it hurts me, but it only makes me tougher.

19. Virtual love. @hillabean Thanks! I love virtual hugs and kitty hugs. Feeling better already.

20. Golf and love. @norman_sheng golf is like love affair, if you don't take it serious, its not fun, if you do take it serious, it will break your heart.

 

Business Twitter

21. Launching a business. @ManojRanaweera I am still convinced about launching a business with public alpha product for $50k. Prove the concept and then seek out first round.

22. Funding a business. @rikwade Not implying anything underhand. If you're receiving funding, business and technology support from a partner, you will naturally develop in a certain direction.

23. Complaining about a business. @moeskido My mom's neighborhood bank sucks. It's amazing they're able to compete for consumer business, given how many better choices there are.

24. Advertising a business. @140local Remember. A picture is worth a thousand words. Make those thousand words sell your business or service.

25. Calling out a business. @affcld you are an idiot, you give the whole affiliate business a bad name! sell something useful for once in your life tool!

26. Cards for business. @Scobleizer that's pretty cool. Best business card I've ever seen? Buzz Aldrin's. Says "Astronaut." ?

27. Closing a business. @lelonopo I'm sad to read Nau is closing up shop. Good business, good people.

28. Competing business. @whiskeychick Upscale hotels aren't competing for business travelers. They push luxury furnishings and environment.

29. At-home business. @raowen The Trouble working at home.... the cat box. Nothing will blow your focus as much as one of the little guys "doing their business."

30. Bad for business. @LawrenceChen Of course, it is bad that they also only open regular work hours during the week. Makes it hard for me to do business with them.

 

Sports Twitter

31. Watching sports. @davetitle The only time I see commercials in the post-DVR world is when I watch live sports. Reminds me why I try so hard to avoid commercials.

32. Arguing about sports. @scottypboston I assume I got a follow only so we could argue about the current superiority of boston sports. :)

33. Complaining about sports. @thechristianguy Manu ginobili is everything wrong about sports. Can he not complain one time down the court? Gimme a break!

34. Talking sports. @jasonfalls Welcome. Glad to talk 'burgh sports anytime.

35. Fantasy sports. @robfay Starting my maiden voyage into fantasy sports. I'm in Yahoo! fantasy baseball w/ bro. Not sure if difficulty is b/c of site or new status.

36. Playing sports. @iamvinnie like sports? like drinking? like both at once? live in charlotte? play kickball with me! wed nights starting 6/18, dm/@ me if you wanna play.

37. Betting sports. @sosady man, I dunno what it is with you Drinkard's and sports gambling, but it's no fair.

38. Gym sports. @CincyRecruiter Thanks! This one practices at my gym, but not sure he's in sports med. Will have to check that out.

39. Live sports. @HumanFolly anyone else going to the National's Game tonight - there will be a mass group of NMSers attending :)

40. Virtual sports. @sobayaki Just got home, am exhausted after a long game of Wii Sports. No, my arm is exhausted.

 

Music Twitter

41. Listening to music. @princessofworld I love driving fast listening to really loud music! Today's music selection: The Dead Kennedys.

42. Playing music. @joelitton BGrass music! KEWL! What do you play? Me: guitar mostly, used to have banjo, still have mandolin. Need to make time 2 pick!

43. Quoting music. @sparrowrose Socrates gets the Temporal Smack Down: "You are so not dust in the wind, dude!"

44. Downloading music. @ageekgal iTunes Music Store users: Always back up your purchased music immediately. You're only permitted ONE DOWNLOAD of ea purchased song, EVER.

45. Live music. @KLSoltis Tonight at the Red and the Black: Mostly Monkee, OmegaBand. Should be good times if you're up for some funky reggae rock live music.

46. Dead music. @lotd "People joining hand in hand, While the music plays the band" Grateful Dead, Music Never Stopped.

47. Law and music. @diamond_mind Is it because the mafia can't make a living that they are all going to work with the RIAA, or is it just that politicians are thugs too?

48. On-hold music. @dpamac FedEx's hold music is like a deafening Bolero by Phillip Glass performed entirely on an out of tune piano by blind monkeys on methaqualone.

49. Party music. @bklyndad loud loud loud live middle eastern music coming from party in adjoining backyard... needless to say, keeping the boy awake.

50. Classic music. @mattmcgee NP: "Zoo Station", U2 Live in Sydney (1993) best freakin' version evah.

 

Movie Twitter

51. Inspirational movies. @candysnap off to watch "Head On" for inspiration by Turkish/German director Fatih Akin, one of my fav movies.

52. Review movies. @sicrowe Here's hoping "Redbelt" will be better than the movies I've been reviewing the past couple of weeks.

53. Theater movies. @frageelay Counting the minutes till I take Jackson to see Iron Man at the Woodstock Theater. First run movies? $5. Yeah, I love it here.

54. Netflix movies. @Gestalt I got caught up clicking through a link from a Netflix e-mail and just ended up adding 20 movies to my queue. Perilous distraction!

55. Classic movies. @jonv Vanishing Point was a 1971 cult classic, any other great classic car movies like Bullitt and this one?

56. Adult movies. @ricburwal friend sent me a link to some translation work he did. had the browser open for a hour, finally look: all descriptions of porn movies.

57. Home movies. @lyndoman I'm thinking, $25 m in the bank, you own half of Monaco, you are a Rothschild, you have a penchant for home movies, you like stick insects.

58. Pirated movies. @rayrayangel Overheard: guy at my last job used to do that.. and use up our blank movie-style dvd cases for his pirated movies.

59. Kids' movies. @rooner Why are kids movies just a bunch of stories smooshed together into one mess?

60. Making movies. @john_larkin just watched it. 120 seconds. this is good example for students when teaching them how to make digital movies. Keep them short.

Political Twitter

61. Arguing politics. @brumdo Matt is arguing politics with a person,in a strip club, ABOUT POLITICS! WTF?!

62. Obama politics. @gregchiasson When Obama talks about cleaning up politics and government, it reminds me of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. Only, you know, not crazy.

63. Hillary politics. @sarahgilbert i, for one, am happy for hillary & think that a close race is awesome: keeps me excited about politics! oregon never counted in my lifetime.

64. McCain politics. @jiconoclast It's just cynical politics on McCain's part. He's not even a religious man, but he wants the votes. It's typical politics.

65. British politics. @kaleidoscope I would seriously consider how that is going to enhance your life? I mean, British politics is soooooo boring!

66. Local politics. @abrahamhyatt I love local politics. So why am I so bored with the PDX mayor race? Oh, right, because is unbelievable freaking boring.

67. Sexual politics. @shannonk Young bus dude holding forth on sexual politics: Leviticus "can kiss my ass." That sort of thing gives me hope for the future.

68. Social media and politics. @MikeChapman The tide to Obama has swung. In politics a huge measurement of strength is fundraising ability. He is a social networking phenom.

69. Office politics. @celticfrog42 Why, in office politics, is there one jackass who always seems to win even though everyone knows he's an ass who plays games?

70. Contemplating politics. @Gayla I think that fact that politics is so hard to figure out is what draws me to it in complete fascination sort of like forensics.

 

Beer Twitter

71. Free beer. @ravnos Bonus! Band gets free beer and im with the band. Woo free beer!

72. Cheap beer. @chrismckee I'd rather be clubbing seals while tripping on acid then sweating drinking cheap beer watching a jumpy dvd from amazon rentals.

73. Buying beer. @kfinsand Just purchased 2 bottles of Left Hook Lager to support Steve Novick's campaign for State Senate, actually I just wanted to try the beer.

74. Buzzed from beer. @agersh Drinking beers. I Never drink. Believe or not I pretty buzzed from 1 beer. Alyssa has never seen me drunk in 7 yrs. Celebrating though :)

75. Dark beer. @svelterogue and he lost. breadstick in the second set. gutted? yeah. hollowed out, sliced, knickered. i want me a BEER!a dark ale over 10%.rochefort 10!

76. Light beer. @kirkk Attention marketers: referring to Natural Light beer as "Natty" does NOT make me want to drink it.

77. Brewing beer. @ciordia9 Back from the Beer brew. You drink enough of peoples home brew you are bound to do what I did, invest in a home brew system. Muahahah!

78. Keg beer. @dianabarden 7 yr old neighbor pourin a beer from the keg. says its for his mom.

79. Case of beer. @debono I'm starting a beer company named Dilla. Then people can go to the market and grab a case a Dilla.

80. Cooking with beer. @iamthelorax I am cooking a brisket for a party I am hosting. I just bought a case of beer. I opened one, but not to drink it. It was for the brisket.

 

Technology Twitter

81. Facebook on Twitter. @maxkondziolka Computer isn't working properly, I shall not be online facebook frequently until the end of the year. But my twitter shall remain active.

82. Windows on Twitter. @MikeOnTheTrail The final Windows Vista migration issue has been fixed; automatic daily backups with notifications to me via Twitter of completion.

83. Mac on Twitter. @JasonCalacanis A $399 Mac tower?!?!? sign me up for an "OpenMac" -- PsyStar is going to get sued to next century!:

84. MySpace.com on Twitter. @sct cancelled myspace account. never really saw the point. thankfully most of my friends have moved on. now if i can only get them on twitter ...

85. WordPress on Twitter. @GoogleTutor yes. comcast is on twitter helping people. wordpress support forums are usually unhelpful and snotty.

86. iTunes on Twitter. @joshglid it would be cool if you could have twitter automatically pull the current song playing in iTunes into a tweet. I wonder how hard it'd be?

87. LinkedIn on Twitter. @tonykarrer Any suggestions- Trying to figure out if there's a way to add your LinkedIn list to Twitter without spamming them with an email?

88. Firefox on Twitter. @likestarlight yeah, just testing the twitter firefox extension before i go to sleep. whoever said this was addictive WASN'T LYING! ok, really gone now.

89. Google on Twitter. @guykawasaki Stick this in Google and get ready to laugh: Kanamara Matsuri "Jenny found it."

90. SEO (search-engine optimization) on Twitter. @audette zappos employees are so active on twitter that i almost expected tweets from them during our SEO workshops today.

 

Twitter Twitter

91. Apps for Twitter. @louiemantia Right now it's the best Twitter app, but when WWDC comes, I think you'll see lots of Twitter apps emerge. :)

92. Followers on Twitter. @lachlanhardy Same here. It's all about targeted relevancy, right? Your Twitter followers are a better audience *for you* than Techmeme users.

93. Spam on Twitter. @xxabsentxx Spammers who follow you on Twitter in hopes you'll read their spam... I dub thee, Twitter Litter.

94. Down Twitter. @TechCrunch OMFG Twitter is back! conversations are breaking out. Shangri la.

95. Humor on Twitter. @onreact_com Btw. Do not expect any humor from me here! I'm dead serious about twitter! like about my sombrero! You touch my sombero and I will *%§&!

96. Words created on Twitter. @chriscree Good night Tweeple. Tomorrow's a long day for us all down he-yah. Gotta get some sleep first.

97. Birth on Twitter. @katiemazek Welcome to the world Timothy Ivan Mazek (TIM), 6 pounds 5 ounces at 5:50 am. Healthy and happy baby boy, he is so beautiful.

98. Death on Twitter. @willhowells Learning about Humph's death from Twitter. Very sad. Saw him on stage only a few weeks ago. Especially glad now that we did.

99. Saved on Twitter. @praiseJesus If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Rom 10:9.

100. The community of Twitter. @watkins_lady hello, it's nice to meet you and welcome to my twitter community.

 

One Great Twitter Search Engine

101. Summize searches Twitter. @dannysullivan just posted on cool tool to search social media & blogs and more on one page, plus awesome summize for twit searching

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