How to Get Friends Interested in Twitter?

Honestly, Facebook fans are very stubborn about Twitter. They complain that it is useless and annoying. I've tried converting at least five people and only one has really stuck with it, and they've slowed down significantly lately.

Facebook people claim that Facebook is better because it lets you share pictures and do games and comment and chat, but do you really need that? I don't think so. And besides, very few parents are on Twitter right now. That is a major selling point for me :)

Twitter is a cleaner, more simplified, easier to use and access version of Facebook. Since the parents are still trying to figure out Facebook, we can be sure they won't find us all on Twitter for a year or so. That is a huge selling point for me.

What to do to convert Facebook people? Make them sign up for an account and force them to interact with you. Mention them more than necessary. If they don't post in a 24-hour period, DM them or call them up on the phone and tell them to update! It works best if you convert multiple people at a time, trust me. Some also might need a run through on how the messages are viewed by other people. I have a friend that only did it with her phone and she was confused as to how to send DMs to me or how to mention me. Drawing up something, even if it is Paint, helps them a lot.

But honestly, good luck with converting them. Facebook fans are VERY stubborn.

Tell them that simply by having a Twitter account they can sign up to have the opportunity to view one of the last two Space Shuttle launches ever from the press site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida thanks to NASA Tweetups. NASA has held over 12 tweetups (a gathering of people who met or interact on Twitter) at various NASA sites, including at previous Shuttle launches. I have attended two such events -- one at Mission Control Houston during a Shuttle mission and one (November 2009, STS-129, Space Shuttle Atlantis) at Kennedy Space Center for a Shuttle launch (which is EPIC is experience in person, even if you aren't a hard core space geek like me.)

From @nasatweetup: Mark your calendars! Registration opens Aug. 24-25 for next NASATweetup at November 1, 2010, Shuttle launch. http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup

There are a lot of similar things that I never would have had the opportunity to do, contests I wouldn't have won (books, t-shirts, geek gear, gift certificates--all without spamming my Twitter followers with retweets, by the way,) and people I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know, talk to and now consider good friends, were it not for Twitter. Facebook's too bogged down in all the extraneous stuff (games, useless polls, etc.)

Once you find "your people" and/or your niche/interest group on Twitter and follow the people that are movers and shakers in whatever area that is, you immediately realize the value of Twitter both as a professional and personal resource.

All this said, I can't get my folks to use Twitter -- they insist on using Facebook, and even that they don't use much. Some people, many people actually, won't be persuaded one way or the other.

Just ask them to try in, plead with them, Sometimes that will work...