There is really only one way I can say this: If you are a college student, get on Twitter!
It’s downright stupid to not be on the second largest social network in the world, and especially so if you are on the road to an undergraduate degree.
Why, you ask? Well first off, if you are like many college students these days then you may be green, but no matter how many trees you preserve they won’t start growing money. Twitter has deals, deals, and more deals. According to a March 2011 Burson-Marsteller report, 77% of Fortune Global 100 companies use Twitter, and 28% of them use it to offer deals to consumers.
But, let’s be honest, not every Fortune 100 firm is in retail or food service. The smaller chains and even standalone places use Twitter in a big way to attract business. Take, for instance, Devil Dawgs (@devildawgs1), the hot dog stand in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL, located on DePaul University’s campus. Devil Dawgs recently began featuring a “#Twitter Tuesday” campaign, where every Tuesday they tweet out a deal that, if you mention in store, you can redeem. The September 6th #TwitterTuesday gave consumers a free single steak burger with purchase of a chili cheese steak burger if they said “green day” at the register. If you are in college, I’m sure you like hearing the word “FREE”.
College students have many reasons to join the Twitterverse
Still not convinced you need Twitter? How about a streamlined version of receiving your news from dozens of different sources? Literally, you can receive everything from fantasy football updates to the latest national debt refinancing proposal on your Twitter feed. And not only can you receive this information; you will likely be the first of your friends to find out too.
At 10:24 PM ET on May 24, 2011, Keith Urbhan, @keithurbahn, Chief of Staff for the Office of Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot Damn.”
Eight minutes later, Jill Jackson, @jacksonjk, a CBS News Capitol Hill producer, tweeted “House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. U.S. has the body.”
It wasn’t until nine minutes after Jackson’s tweet (and 17 minutes after Urbahn’s) that Fox News released a tweet with the news of Bin Laden’s death.
In the eight minutes between Urbhan’s and Jackson’s respective tweets, there were thousands of others discussing the death of Bin Laden. Twitter not only had the news, but it had the news first.
Need another reason to join? Well, if you are at all serious about your ensuing career then you understand the importance of networking and making connections. There are millions of potential career connections waiting for you on Twitter. You can talk with people you have never met in person, and strengthen ties with those you have. You never know when you may come across a job lead at a company that someone you tweet with either works at, or knows someone who works there, who can pass your information along and give you higher visibility. The twitter community is a loyal bunch for the most part, and you’d be surprised how much we have each other’s backs—even if we only have ever communicated 140 characters at a time.
Deals, news, networking. Need I say more?
@RajNATION
