A Note About Using Twitter

Albeit a bit nerdy, Twitter is a great way to stay up on Seahawks news, coverage and conversations.

I know, I know. Twitter is nerdy. “What the hell is a tweet? That sounds so [insert predictable, low-brow homosexuality slur here].” Many find the things people share on Twitter worthless and asinine (comic contains a little bit of salty language, but is hilarious). “I don’t want to hear about a friend that’s going to the store. I don’t care.”

There are plenty of reasons not to like Twitter, I agree. It took me years to finally embrace Twitter and more importantly: find its value to ME, Nick Andron – Seahawks fanatic and blogger. Because I also don’t care about someone’s visit to the grocery store or if they ‘checked in’ at work. I’ve found a pipeline of Seahawks gold (and to a lesser extent, the NFL in general) within Twitter and I’d be mighty despressed (and uninformed) without it.

Currently, I follow (I see people’s updates) and am followed (people see my updates) by approximately 150 people. More than half are either: Seahawks fans, Seahawks bloggers, professional sports writers / columnists and Seahawks players. I’ve had some awesome discussions with fellow fans on Twitter, and the best part is: since Twitter is kinda the “nerdy” social network, you don’t run into a lot of idiots like you do on the ESPN blogs, etc. Most Seahawks Twitter followers are reasonable, intelligent folks that are just as passionate about the Seahawks as you and I.

Other reasons to use Twitter, other than conversing with fellow Seahawks fans:

• Get the inside track on breaking Seahawks or NFL news – It’s often reported on Twitter first, believe it or not. Follow guys like Adam Schefter, Jason La Canfora, or any of the ESPN bloggers, like Mike Sando for this kind of info.
• Get in tune with other kickass Seahawks blogs out there – Guys like Rob Stanton, Brian McIntyre, HawkBlogger, Jonny Peel, John Morgan and others write amazing blogs. You can find links to those sites under “Other Seahawks Fanatic Sites”.
• Converse with Seahawks players on Twitter – many often don’t respond back (they’re often flooded with tweets), but occasionally they will. And it’s pretty cool when they do. Hell, Aaron Curry just “followed” me not too long ago. I did a jig. Some Seahawks players active on Twitter: Mike Williams (@BigMikeWill17), Aaron Curry (@Seahawk59), Lofa Tatupu (@LofaTatupu), Colin Cole (@cacole90), Russell Okung (@BDR76), Matt Hasselbeck (@hasselbeck), Earl Thomas (@Earl_Thomas), Justin Forsett (@JForsett), Golden Tate (@ShowTimeTate), Raheem Brock (@RaheemBrock), Walter Jones (@BJRTH), Will Herring (wherring54).

Give it a shot. And I’ll even help with the legwork so you don’t have to go out and find every Seahawks account worth following. I’ve put together a “list” on Twitter that anyone can follow. A “list” is simply a list of people on Twitter. You can follow a list, and see everyone’s tweets within it. Here is the URL for the list (you don’t even need a Twitter account to view it): http://twitter.com/#!/nandron/a-list-for-seahawks-fanatics.

Sign up for Twitter and “follow” the list. That’ll be the first step. Then simply keep www.twitter.com open on that list and watch it during the day. It updates every few moments (the list follows mostly Seahawks fans, bloggers and beat writers, players, but also a few high level NFL guys that often break news). Just do that. And if you like what you see, start following some of the individual people and conversing with them.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you got about Twitter. Simply write a tweet including “@nandron” (this may be familiar – Facebook copied this functionality so users could ‘mention’ another Facebook user within a status update) and I’ll see it and get right back to you.

Give it a shot. I promise you won’t be disappointed.