| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Since the last poll on this subject, have you created a twitter account to use professionally? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Since the last poll on this subject, have you created a Twitter account to use professionally?".
View the poll results »
The last poll regarding the use of Twitter for professional purposes was featured on March... See more This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Since the last poll on this subject, have you created a Twitter account to use professionally?".
View the poll results »
The last poll regarding the use of Twitter for professional purposes was featured on March 5th, 2012: http://www.proz.com/polls/archived?poll_id_link=7678 ▲ Collapse
| | | | Julian Holmes 
Japan
Local time: 08:47
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Why should I? I see no advantage whatsoever of using Twitter to help me as a professional technical translator. 
Now, if anyone out can explain the advantages of doing this, then please enlighten me. I'm all ears.
| | | | Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
German to English
+ ...
| What Julian said ... | Nov 5, 2012 |
I have a Twitter account, but don't use it. I don't really get Twitter. It strikes me that you need to put an awful lot of time and effort saying witting or useful things to be retweeted and thus garner followers. But without followers in the first place, it's like standing in an empty field and whispering random snippets!
I think it can be useful for contacting big corporations where there are customer support issues, but for professional marketing purposes it's not even on my rada... See more I have a Twitter account, but don't use it. I don't really get Twitter. It strikes me that you need to put an awful lot of time and effort saying witting or useful things to be retweeted and thus garner followers. But without followers in the first place, it's like standing in an empty field and whispering random snippets!
I think it can be useful for contacting big corporations where there are customer support issues, but for professional marketing purposes it's not even on my radar! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 01:47
Member (2006)
German to English
Julian Holmes wrote: Why should I? I see no advantage whatsoever of using Twitter to help me as a professional technical translator. Now, if anyone out can explain the advantages of doing this, then please enlighten me. I'm all ears.
And I dont really need an enlightenment in this subject as it is just as waste a time as the other social network data collecting agencies!!
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| Bite size snippets! | Nov 5, 2012 |
I like Twitter for its bite size snippets of information, and its mobile-friendly interface. If you have potential clients, it is probably a great way to follow them and see what they are up to. On the other hand, I use it for my personal interests and sharing blog posts - there isn't much in terms of occupational networking in my Twitter feed
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 16:47
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
I will leave all the Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and whatnot-fans and all the people who live, die, discuss underwear of celebrities or give birth live on twitter all to themselves, and I will not disturb them.
| | | | | Social Networks and visibility | Nov 5, 2012 |
The basic idea is that the clients are more likely to find you and see you know about your specialties if you are visible for them and you are talking about your job.
Example:
You put: I am translating this text, and I found very interesting that...
The potential client sees: He is actively working and he is interested on his job.
Hope this explanation helps you to understand why it can be important.
[Edited at 2012-11-05 09:35 GM... See more The basic idea is that the clients are more likely to find you and see you know about your specialties if you are visible for them and you are talking about your job.
Example:
You put: I am translating this text, and I found very interesting that...
The potential client sees: He is actively working and he is interested on his job.
Hope this explanation helps you to understand why it can be important.
[Edited at 2012-11-05 09:35 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I already had one, but... | Nov 5, 2012 |
...like the majority of those who have already commented, I barely use it as I don't see how it could help me in a professional context. The majority of freelance translators and translation agencies I follow on Twitter simply retweet translation-related articles and anecdotes, which may, sometimes, be informative and/or amusing but certainly wouldn't help me improve my productivity.
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| I couldn't agree more. | Nov 5, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
I will leave all the Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and whatnot-fans and all the people who live, die, discuss underwear of celebrities or give birth live on twitter all to themselves, and I will not disturb them.
Nothing more to add really.
| | | | Helen Hagon
Local time: 00:47
Member (2011)
Russian to English
+ ...
If I had a Twitter account I would spend too much time tweeting instead of translating. It's hard enough keeping up with emails without Twitter to contend with as well!
| | | | Mike Hunter (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
English to Flemish
+ ...
| avid Twitter user! | Nov 5, 2012 |
Hi Everyone, since you are all giving Twitter a hard time, thought I would contribute. Firstly, I think its more subtle than getting lots of work, as a translation company CEO I'm much less likely to Tweet "Swedish technical translator needed" and much more likely to put an ad on Proz or a comparable platform. Having said that, we are currently recruiting for a full time translation manager, and I'm using Twitter amongst other social media platforms for raising awareness.
I follow ... See more Hi Everyone, since you are all giving Twitter a hard time, thought I would contribute. Firstly, I think its more subtle than getting lots of work, as a translation company CEO I'm much less likely to Tweet "Swedish technical translator needed" and much more likely to put an ad on Proz or a comparable platform. Having said that, we are currently recruiting for a full time translation manager, and I'm using Twitter amongst other social media platforms for raising awareness.
I follow a few freelancers who are active on Twitter, and tend to find them informative, sometimes funny, and definitely worth following. Twitter can also be good for campaigning, freelancers campaigning about the MOJ contract for interpreting in the UK, is a good example of using Twitter to lobby for the perceived benefit of the translation industry.
Regarding the comments about celebs, etc. I think Twitter works best if you are real with your audience, so if you are screaming at the TV about the antics of some celebrity, by all means it may be worth Tweeting about - but if your last 100 Tweets were all about Justin Beiber, don't expect me to follow you!
I think the real benefit of Twitter is as another tool to build community online, and in this respect its probably underused by freelancers, if you are working alone, and feel like throwing your laptop through the window as Trados crashes for the third time (no it never happens to me either), or you are having problems with the format of a document, at the very least Tweeting about it may make you feel better. You may even get a helpful reply.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Mike
@betterlanguages
[Edited at 2012-11-05 10:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | DianeGM
Local time: 02:47
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
+ ...
No doesn't seem emphatic enough to cover it so ... OXI!
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Nicole Schnell wrote:
I will leave all the Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and whatnot-fans and all the people who live, die, discuss underwear of celebrities or give birth live on twitter all to themselves, and I will not disturb them.
No interest whatsoever and no time to waste on this kind of social networks!
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 01:47
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Teresa Borges wrote: Nicole Schnell wrote:
I will leave all the Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and whatnot-fans and all the people who live, die, discuss underwear of celebrities or give birth live on twitter all to themselves, and I will not disturb them. No interest whatsoever and no time to waste on this kind of social networks!
Ladies, you took the words right out of my finger tips.
Life is simply too precious to be wasted on highly unimportant discussions about who did what or didn't do it while being under the influence of.... have your pick.
[Edited at 2012-11-05 11:20 GMT]
| | | | Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
Spanish to English
| I already had one | Nov 5, 2012 |
Thayenga wrote: Teresa Borges wrote: Nicole Schnell wrote:
I will leave all the Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and whatnot-fans and all the people who live, die, discuss underwear of celebrities or give birth live on twitter all to themselves, and I will not disturb them. No interest whatsoever and no time to waste on this kind of social networks! Ladies, you took the words right out of my finger tips. Life is simply too precious to be wasted on highly unimportant discussions about who did what or didn't do it while being under the influence of.... have your pick. [Edited at 2012-11-05 11:20 GMT]
Ladies, you are entirely missing the point and grossly exaggerating. Twitter is what you make of it, and will only be full of celebrity gossip if you happen to follow people who tweet about this, which I imagine you would not.
I quite like Twitter and wish I had more time for it. I use TweetDeck, which means I have several columns of tweets, so, for example, besides "All Friends", I have #xl8 and #t9n (which follow tweets containing these translation-related hash tags), news, politics, green and environmental issues, and a few other hast tags I might be interested in following for a while, including one on my local area. Consequently, whenever I go on Twitter, I read about matters I am interested in, catch up with local, national and international news, etc. There are indeed people who seem to be on Twitter a lot posting links to translation blogs and articles, etc., and I mostly ignore these unless something really captures my attention. I have also had many interesting and informative discussions with other translators on various subjects, and been given advice on lots of things I have asked about as well. This contact with colleagues has been of great use to me, and a welcome break when hard at work and needing a breather, so a big thank you to all you fellow tweeters for being there.
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