To just not 'get' twitter?

[Geckos48]

I dont understand how it works, I dont know how you have conversations on it.

I was hoping there was a forum for debate but it doesnt seem to work like that? You can just mention people in comments or 'retweet' what they have said?

What is the point of it?

Yabu. As others have said it's invaluable for following events in real time. If the traffic is snarled up in our town I'll get more info from twitter than anywhere else.

I follow news reporters, journalists, writers and they often lead to finding other interesting people. Doctors are entertaining too. It's the real people that make twitter fun.

It also makes watching telly fun for single parents. I don't have anyone to talk to so I watch along with twitter.

It grows organically, it took me a few months to get stuck into it. Find a few people to follow, see who they retweet or follow and start having a nose around.

So i have signed up to twitter again thanks to you lovely lot reeling me in

Now who are the best people to follow?

Did David Cameron follow an escort agency? Ha, missed that.

Yes, apparently it was a mistake. 'Course, dear, why wouldn't we believe you.

I love Twitter and manage several accounts for my workplace. It lets me talk/connect to people I wouldn't have a chance to meet with easily.

It's brilliant for breaking news and big events as well as 'event' tv shows.

It's also great for local news - you can search #YourTown and get instant nuggets of information or share yours!

Just don't follow the boring people! No-one I follow tweets about 'having a cup of tea' and shit like that (mostly).

I hate Facebook. People seem to be able to talk about 'having a cup of tea' in long-winded paragraphs and you have to 'like' it .

I love Twitter. I love hearing all the musings of intelligent folk. It did take me a while to 'follow' the right people for me.

Facebook takes smug self-obsession to a whole new level. I couldn't believe my friend (irl) had 350 photos of her dc. 350! Poor kids!

I don't get it either and I'm o my 26 .

I follow a few celebs, but don't really care about what they tweet. I have not managed to work out how to follow any of my rl friends and some people I don't know have followed me but I didn't have to 'accept' them (like on FB) and I've never Tweeted anything anyway!

I'm so confused

Only*

Yeah I am always amused by the people that don't use twitter and think everyone just tweets about cups of tea and what they had for breakfast. I'm sure there are people that tweet stuff like that but I don't follow any of them. Also 'not interested in what strangers have to say' um isn't that what MN is about??

Toucan you can set up your twitter so that you have to accept people (protect your account)if you like but most people don't have it that way. Kind of the opposite of Facebook in that regard. You'd have to find out your real friends twitter names and search for them (or just search for their real names if they use them).

nickname hard to recommend followers as don't know what you like! Do you like any news sites/journos/writers/celebs or have any specific interests that you can start off with?

Yanbu. I don't get it either. But then I didn't get Pinterest (a load of random loosley connected photos of 'stuff') so no hope for Twitter

I haven't found any 'musings by intelligent people', I have looked at a lot who I know to be intelligent and haven't seen an intelligent comment yet!
It is boring, boring, boring! You also have to waste an incredible amount of time on it. I can see the point of breaking news but nothing more.

You don't have to waste an incredible amount of time on it if you don't want to. I have a quick look once or twice a day for a few minutes. I waste far more time on here.

As well as breaking news I also like it for seeing what the newspapers are writing about. Articles I might have missed otherwise ie features on books etc. on papers or blog I wouldn't normally go on. It's a good source.

Is there a twitter equivalent of MN Classics ?

A sort of compendium/archive of the best stuff that you can dip into to get an idea of what it's like at its best.

Just nipped back to say after joining and persevering with using it I think it will be a fertile ground for info and amusement

To help me I added some people who The Times had written about in an article 50 People You Should Follow On Twitter and bunged in some of my favourite things like Strictly

Only thing is I am now feeling an ipad is essential to me !

Any tips for fun/interesting people to follow welcome

I also love Twitter.

I follow very few people that I actually know, but tend to follow local people (local government/press etc) and people I have met on-line through shared interests. I do follow a few what people might call 'celebritites' - a few sports people, authors and a few actors but it is the local stuff I'm most interested in.

I've found out so much useful information from it, often almost as it happens and welcome the chance it gives for 'Joe Public' to interact with people you would otherwise not get the chance to communicate with directly.

I think another good thing about it is how it makes you realise (even hardened cynics like me) that 'celebrities' are normal and live a life like you and me - doing the gardening, worrying about the dentist or going to parent's evening.

I looked at the ones the Times said were ones to follow and I only bothered with the two I was already following. They were like most of them, boring.

I agree that local stuff can be really useful - our local listings magazine folded a while back, and I never buy the local paper (owned by same company as Daily Mail) but there are lots of twitter accounts putting out news & events, and local councillors and so on do tend to use it to interact with people.

AchyFox - I don't think there would be a 'twitter classics' list anywhere, because it is such an ephemeral medium - something can be really funny in the moment, because it crops up within a minute of a piece of news or something on TV, but it won't really stand the test of time.

For example, watching the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies with half an eye on twitter was hilarious, as are things like the Eurovision song contest - that kind of thing is the only time I really use hashtags, which is one of the main ways you get to see tweets by people you don't follow.

A good way to start might be with picking a few people you find interesting from something like the Times Top 50 that comingintomyown mentioned, or this list of the 200 most influential people on twitter - everything from members of One Direction to some non-celebrities who are big on twitter because they are funny/interesting. Or the Telegraph has done a few things on twitter, e.g. 30 funny people to follow on twitter or even 10 dead people to follow on twitter. And of course MNHQ is on twitter and if you look at who they follow, you'll find a mix of mumsnetters, bloggers and other interesting people.

It tends to kind of snowball - you follow a few people, they retweet things from other people who sound interesting, so you follow them, and so on.

Now, on the whole I think the opposite of what exexpat has suggested. I don't see a great deal of point just following people with 10s of 1000s of followers, even if they are witty.
I prefer those wither fewer followers which allows for possible interaction.

I have a mix of both - I follow a few very popular people, because they are funny or have interesting stuff to say in their own right, but also because they tend to be handed good stuff to retweet - and then I also follow loads of people who are much more niche. But of course the latter are harder to find - you have to go searching for particular topics you are interested in - which is why I suggested looking at some of the top 10/50/100 lists if you just want to get a flavour of what is going on on twitter.

Jay from the Inbetweeners on blogging:
Right, hello bitches. My name’s Jay. First off, this is not one of those blogs that twats write to make them feel like they've achieved something with their lives. "Ooh this is what I think, isn't it important, but also funny." No, it's not. It's embarrassing. No one cares. Grow up. Stop clogging up the internet, you're taking up valuable porn space. Blog twats.
I feel the same way about Twitter.

It's taking up porn space?

Not all twitterers do mini blogs. Gatwick airport gives individual replies to queries, as do certain banks, local traffic or shopping info.