A Few of the Finer Things - July 2013

A Few Thoughts about Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as "tweets".

I have recently joined the "Twitter-verse" and am interested in adding Twitter to the ways in which I communicate with clients. Personally, I find Twitter to be a very productive platform. I have been asked, "How is different from Facebook?" (I am not a Facebook user) My most basic response is that Twitter is to Facebook as a biography is to a novel. I enjoy being on Twitter, much as I enjoy reading a good biography…afterwards I feel like I am better for having done so–that I have learned something beneficial. Put simply, Twitter is more of a resource and less of a popularity contest.

Twitter is now my number one source for all news and opinions I value. I follow reporters and writers who I like and am able to avoid any slant or agenda that the mainstream media is interested in pushing. I am not an avid "tweeter" but I do find myself feeling far more informed since I started using Twitter, mainly just by following people and reading their tweets, which often have linked articles within the 140 characters.

Some of the people and organizations I follow for business are Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta – he is an Economics and Federal Reserve reporter for Reuters), MacroScope (@MacroScope – this is the Reuters economics blog, featuring contributions from correspondents around the world) and Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino – he is a Fox Business Network reporter who formerly worked at CNBC), to name a few.

Some of the people and organizations I follow for personal interest (mainly to follow my sports teams) are Anthony Gimino (@AGWildcatReport) and Scott Terrell (@Scott_Terrell)–these two keep me up to date on all things Arizona Wildcat-related, as well as Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro – he is the Diamondbacks beat writer for the Arizona Republic and azcentral) and AZ Snakepit (@AZSnakepit – my favorite unofficial Diamondbacks online site) to keep up on all things Arizona Diamondback–related.

I invite you to follow me (@WeissWealthRJ) and see how you like it…I don’t "overtweet"–I simply try to pass along things I think are interesting to read and from there I usually try to take the conversation offline and follow up with more traditional methods of communication like an old fashioned phone call. Give it a try…I think you will like it–linked here is a good beginner’s guide: Michael Hyatt - The Beginners Guide to Twitter

- Gary Weiss, July 2013