Twitter in Oman - why do we use it?

There is tons of info on the internet about how to use Twitter to productively market, promote, converse, or network. I read a lot about how to get followers, or provide value to followers, or be interesting there.

As I’m not a Twitter expert I asked the “Tweeps of Oman” why the like/use Twitter as well as its potential. Twitter in Oman is not big (yet) and my estimate is that there are probably not more than 350 active users; if someone has a more accurate number please let me know.

 

So what is the value of Twitter? What role does it play? I have asked 3 questions to the following friends and Twitter users in Oman: @lasiaf, @SangitaSri, @0merKhan, @MariaOcean, @sbtm77, @arun4 (recently left Oman), @Ab_mal, @mrsythe, @KishorCariappa and @SewChicnUnique.

Is Twitter your preferred way of communicating online? If yes, why?

For @MariaOcean, @sbtm77 and @arun4 Twitter is the N. 1 way to stay in touch with the online world as it allows them to reach people faster as well as getting instant replies from them. Most of the others see and use Twitter as one of the several communication tools but their primary tool still remains emailing.

What’s so special about Twitter for you?

@lasiaf prefers reading 140 characters rather than going to someone’s blog or news site and reading the whole story. @SangitaSri  said that mobile client makes it easy to read just few lines as the decision to read or not to read is equally quick. @Ab_mal, who only recently joined Twitter, finds it very useful, especially the Twitter search, as it gives all kind information, and public views.  @mrsythe gets useful quick answers about local issues;  Twitter can also be a distraction from work, or a boring meeting and the beauty of it is that it can all be done from the phone. All the others stated that because of Twitter’ fast and simultaneous communication they learn what is happening even before media outlets spread the news or that it is a cool tool to communicate with people with similar bandwidth as @KishorCariappa said.

Do you / would you use it for work? If yes, why?

Some of the Tweeps see Twitter as an opportunity; @SewChicnUnique uses twitter to promote her blog and is planning on using it to promote her online handmade business which is due to launch early next year (good luck to her!). Also @MariaOcean was presented with some project offers so for her Twitter opened a new channel for online business. @arun4, being a digital/social media professional, said that Twitter is also helping in his personal and professional growth. Also @sbtm77 and @Ab_mal see the potential benefits Twitter can offer at work and @SangitaSri said that if executed appropriately Twitter can do magic for your brand.

The others think it would still look unprofessional to use it for work as @0merKhan said or that 140 characters would not be enough to explain a work situation as @lasiaf mentioned.

Thanks again for your support Tweeps of Oman; you have all been very quick and helpful; feel free to add anything else you’d like.