There were a few weeks that I explored Twitter. The tool itself is not complicated, just write a short message and tweet those texts. The real challenge was how to effectively use the tool.
The first week, I tried to collaborate using Twitter. It was a bit difficult especially if the people you would like to talk to were not usually using it. However, I found that the Twitter direct message was very powerful. The direct message sent my tweet via nearly all channels – Twitter, mobile phone message, and email. Then, those people got my message wherever they were.
Conversation making was the purpose of my second week. It was a lot easier to make a conversation with people I have already known. It was perfectly fine to me. Twitter made the conversation easier because it was not necessary for both parties to be on Twitter at the same time. The problem for me was a conversation to the rest. A lot of people I followed generate serious contents regularly. I was not sure if I should give a response to them. They could be a representative of some organization. However, I did respond some. A person sent me a direct message back, and I felt really good about it. This may be a good practice that I should follow.
Social Internet Note 
I agree with you on the powerfulness of the direct message. I wonder if/when Twitter will allow users to DM more than one user at once. This would be incredibly helpful and similar systems have been successfully implemented on other social media platforms, so I think it would work.
I had a similar experience with twitter. The collaboration was definitely a challenge, I was a bit hesitant to engage classmates to organize a presentation because I didn’t know who was saying what, people’s profiles don’t have pictures so engaging in a dialogue was unusual. Once I joined the conversation and contact was made it became much easier to put my voice out there.
The direct message definitely buoys the interactions.
I agree with your assessment of the direct message, too. We used these while we were organizing our subgroup’s activities, and they really helped. Thanks for the post! Keep being awesome. =)
Very good observation that the technology is easy, but figuring out the appropriate social norms for using it is difficult. Be patient and observe and you will get it!
I had a similar experience with feeling awkward tweeting to people that I respect but don’t know personally, and I still feel that way now to some extent, but it gets easier the more I try. Congrats on getting a response to your tweet, and I hope that you are able to make even more connections with the people you follow.
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