I’ve been on Twitter since 2008, and I’m totally addicted. I don’t tweet very often, but I spend an hour or more each day in my feed—usually in small chunks throughout the day via TweetCaster on my iPhone. It’s become my go-to source for news and real-time information.
But I constantly run into folks who don’t like Twitter or don’t “get” it. Usually when I probe, I find that if they’ve tried Twitter and rejected it, it’s because they were never following anybody interesting. Their feeds were lame…. no wonder they gave up. Duh.
But the fact is, when you’re new to Twitter, finding the right people to follow is hard. Even experienced users struggle with this. I know that my feed could always be better.
We’ve thought about this a lot…. There should be a Twitter Directory, organized by category, where you could easily browse or search for people to follow. Like a yellow pages for Twitter. So if you were into baseball, you’d go to the baseball category to browse for folks tweeting about baseball. If you love fashion, you’d be able to easily find all the great fashion blogs on Twitter. Etc.
What do you think? Should there be a Twitter Directory? We think so, and we’re doing something about it! LEARN MORE HERE, and give us your thoughts in the comments. Or join the discussion on Hacker News.
Josh (@joshagogo)
This is the first in a series of blog posts about Twitter. Josh Sitzer has been at Handmark/OneLouder since 2008 and is currently GM of Social Apps, including TweetCaster. When he’s not poring over his Twitter feed, he can be found hanging out with wife Amy and kids Eli (6) and Zoe (2).
I can’t download tweetcaster for android in my phone (motorola MB 501 android 1.5 i think)
TweetCaster now supports Android 1.6 and above.
That is a awesome idea. I would use for business ans personal.
I can’t say I’ve ever felt the need for a twitter directory. I’m sure some people may find it useful. I tend only to follow those I know or companies I’ve used. A directory would be a bit useless for me, it would be like picking a plumber from the yellow pages.
I’m just getting into twitter (using tweetcaster on my Samsung galaxy 3). Haven’t before because I’m not interested in the inner thoughts of celebrities and wannabees, but now more and more professional bodies are using it and apparently doing so reasonably well. So I’m following them to help keep up my professional development and later I might start using hashtags to keep in touch with various student cohorts (I’ve read a couple of interesting articles on this). A twitter directory would be really useful.
Sherri, are you in education? If so, there are several #chats going on each week. #edchat would be a good first one to search for. Have a ‘listen in’ and follow people who seem interesting and/or are in the same field as you. Don’t be too worried about following too many people or the ‘wrong’ ones, you can always unfollow them if they are boring!
I started using Twitter because of Masterchef. I followed the hastag #masterchef and started following people from there. From this #masterchef people RT other people and I have followed other people from that, i.e., interesting RTs i.e witty tweets. It kind of snowballs. I also start following other people from other # feeds such as sporting events, i.e., afl, rugby league and political shows such as #insiders. I think having an interest in something first helps with who to follow on twitter.
I totally understand the need for a ‘directory,’ however my fear would be that it would become another type of paid Twitter advertising. If there was a category for ‘Beauty Product Influencers’I would imagine that many beauty brands would want to be listed. Twitter could easily monetize that- but then of course the lists would not be based on influence, but who wants to pay to appear influential.
I understand what you mean about friends not getting it, but Twitter already has a yellow pages with hashtags. I’ve just done a quick search on #baseball and there are dozens of posts. The next step would be to follow someone on the same wavelength as you, and then let it snowball like Jenny says. I got into Twitter by first following the riders in the Tour de France and was hooked from then on in.
The problem is if you ask people what they are interested in, and they can’t think of anything. If that’s the case then twitter will probably always be a mystery to them.
Look at this lists of people that are being followed by the people you follow. Don’t be afraid to try someone out. You can easily unfollow.
When I do find people that I like, I check who they’re following. Chances are we have similar interests. I comb through their Following lists and that’s how I’ve found some real gems.
I would like to see that my self. Because what twitter has to offer me to follow is boring. So yea that would be great. To have
You mean a Yahoo-like directory?
Yes a directory would help connect those of similar interest. Though I never had a problem of finding who to follow. Twitter is useful timely information.
A directory would be great, however, a hashtag directory might be also relevant and useful, for example, #USopen, #USgrandslam, #tennis, #USopentennis #grandslam. You get the drift.Which would be most relevant and trending. I find that to be an issue.. Thanks