Science Book Reviews

The Twitter Book

From Twitter-sceptic to Twitter-phile just about sums up my assessment. For many months I remained steadfastly unconvinced about the potential of Twitter to be anything other than a toy: amusing and fun, but a total waste of time. But now that I know how it really works, thanks to this fine new book from O'Reilly, I've done a mental 180 degree turn.  

For those not in the know, Twitter first debuted in March 2006. Users post messages of up to 140 characters that can include links to external websites or other Twitter posts, including posts made by other users. To keep in touch with what people are saying you elect to "follow" them, meaning that whenever they post an item it pops up on your twitter page for you to read. And there are plenty of people around to follow - current statistics suggest that the site has 10 million regular users.

At the Naked Scientists we've also joined in the phenomenon. As well as posting personal notes we also announce the publication of each of our new podcasts and when we answer interesting questions on our discussion forum. You can catch our Naked Scientists Twitter feed here

But how do you get the best out of Twitter? One way is trial and error, which might suit a casual user, but for those eager to use it to boost their blog or business popularity, raise their online profile or make thousands of new contacts then some inside information is what's needed.

This is precisely what this new title from O'Reilly delivers. It's a handy-sized paperback, beautifully laid out and very easy to follow. And whilst it starts simple it definitely doesn't dumb down. After half an hour's reading I suddenly understood what Twitter was really all about and how I could use it much more effectively.

In the space of 234 large-print pages The Twitter Book takes you through the basics, then onto the cleverer stuff and finally onto business and even how to use Twitter commercially.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Chris Smith