What the Heck is a “Twitter”?

Even after Twitter’s exposure in the news over the last few months — Mumbai terror attacks, the plane landing in the Hudson, etc. — I still get asked this question by people still trying to figure out what Twitter is all about.

Then, after rather ineptly explaining that it’s a service whereby you’re constantly answering the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less for dozens, hundreds, or perhaps thousands of “followers”… inevitably the blank stare and the “What for?” ensue.

Well if you’re like me and you can’t seem to help people “get it” without spending lots of time (I recently was asked to teach the concept to a group of marketing students and it took over 2 hours), here’s an 8-minute clip from Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. He manages to do an amazing job of conveying the concept in a relatively short period of time.

And um… no guarantees. If your wife, husband, significant other, employer, business partner, etc still doesn’t get it after this… you’re on your own.

(Unless that is you’re looking to figure out how to use it for business. In that case, I’m ready to teach. Just head on over to the Epiphany Marketing site and sign up for updates. We’ll be sure to notify you when registration opens for our upcoming training course on social media for business.)

Oh… and if you’re already addicted to Twitter, be sure to Tweet This and follow me!