Tweeting no longer just for our feathered friends

By Sol Tran

I take a picture using my iPhone's TwitterFon application. Instantly, my 80 followers can check out my new haircut and tweet me back on what they think of it.

I go home and open the Tweetdeck desktop application on my computer and run a search on tweets involving Santa Clara and find out that social media expert Giovanni Rodriguez just tweeted that he is going to be speaking to Professor Buford Barr's marketing class on Friday.

I tweet "@giorodriguez Can I come to your lecture on Friday?" On Friday I am there with a business professional I had just met through Twitter. The next day, I am using Twitter again, this time for market research for my business class.

You have probably already heard of Twitter. Its mascot is a cute little blue bird. It pops up everywhere in news articles, in tabloids and even in ESPN The Magazine.

Twitter has become our nation's latest Internet sensation. Its rapid rise to popularity has many people wondering what the hype is all about and how long it is going to last.

In essence, Twitter is the natural evolution of blogs. With a limit of 140 characters, you can give periodic updates on what you are up to without overwhelming others with long rants.

It is micro-blogging at its best, and it has enabled people to inform the whole world of what they are doing from anywhere via phone or computer. By "following" somebody, you get their tweets, or updates.

Many people compare it to Facebook status updates, but Twitter enables you to follow not just your friends, but celebrities and industry experts, too.

Shaquille O'Neal tweets. Two-time NBA most valuable player and Santa Clara alumnus Steve Nash tweets.

Barack Obama even used Twitter to keep his followers updated during the election.

A frequent Twitter user, O'Neal, whose Twitter name is THE_REAL_SHAQ, has posted about things such as his visit to the barber shop or the following: "Anybody in portland touches me rt now will get two tickets I'm at redstar cafe."

Twitter not only gives you the chance to meet famous people, it can be a vehicle to find a job.

By posting a link to your resume on your Twitter profile or following users like @findinternships or hashmarks like #intern, which specializes in helping students find internships, you can discover job opportunities or enable recruiters to find you.

Your next internship could really just be a tweet away.

Still don't believe the hype? There are countless other ways to maximize your use of Twitter.

Many artists use it to advertise their art and collaborate with businesses and other artists.

People have used it to get help from a friend when their car broke down or to complain to DIRECTV to get them to install their satellite faster.

Last quarter, my business professor Mary Furlong tweeted the day before our business plan competition that she needed to find more judges.

Instantly, a few people tweeted back and offered to judge. Her problem was solved in a matter of minutes.

One in five adults between ages 18 and 24 use micro-blogging sites. Over 7 million people are users.

Twitter is so big now that Facebook and Google are both interested in acquiring it.

In fact, Twitter just recently turned down a buyout offer from Facebook of $500 million in Facebook stock. With its wide array of features, it seems like Twitter is here to stay.

Follow me @soltran. Send me a tweet or e-mail if you would like to know more about how to maximize your use of Twitter, such as which users to follow or applications to use.

Contact Sol Tran at vtrankiem@scu.edu.