I will always be grateful for my friend Phillybits for urging me to join Twitter. The response from my non-Twitter friends has been interesting, however. For the most part, they hate the idea of Twitter. They envision it as a humdrum version of Facebook where everyone elaborates on their breakfast/boring lives/etc. Well, it can be that too, but it can also be a fantastic conversation between fascinating people you would have never met in real life.
Here are five things you should know about Twitter:
- Don’t judge it until you’ve used it. Don’t tell me Twitter is stupid. Unless you’re on Twitter and have used it consistently for a month. And by consistently I mean updated/followed people/been followed. Because to be honest, I hated Twitter for the first few weeks I was on it. I didn’t get it. Then I got it. And now I’m an addict. And I try to get others to be addicts. So try it. Then tell me I’m stupid.
- Don’t post every thought that crosses your mind. Unless you deliberately decide to use Twitter as a narcissistic tool that tells the word about things only a mother would care about (and she doesn’t really, trust me), don’t post the first thing that comes to mind. The most interesting folks on Twitter I know write down witty thoughts that come to them (and it isn’t me, I swear) and save them for later. But I confess to straying into the realm of the boring Tweets every now and then. But remember, Twitter is all about sharing information. So share important, interesting information with people and it’ll come back to you ten-fold.
- Don’t follow everyone who follows you. This isn’t Facebook. You have the choice to follow your followers. Take your time with this. I made the rookie mistake of thinking I should be polite and tried to follow 500+ folks all at once. But that make me miss the Tweets from the people I really wanted to follow. So follow wisely.
- Don’t market on Twitter. If you’re a spammer trying to Tweet….well…here’s me slamming the phone on you. *Slam. If you have a cause, that’s great. Selling your stuff? Fine. But don’t be obnoxious. You can sell your brand without over-tweeting about your product.
- People make real friends on Twitter. Twitter is the equivalent to Internet dating. Only you’re making friends, not blind dates. I’m not ashamed to say that half of the people I see socially nowadays I met on Twitter. And they’re awesome. You know why? Because they share the same interests as I do. I wouldn’t have found them without Twitter.
In conclusion, being on Twitter is like having a roadmap for every sample sale in NYC. You knows news before it becomes news. You find out about the coolest events in your city. You get into awesome discussions with random, intriguing people from all over the world. You learn how you think. You learn about other people think. And you laugh. A lot. Which is always a good thing.
real phillygrrls tweet
You know I’m with you on this one. It’s great for just listening in too…
Great point! Don’t judge it until you’ve used it. It’s like judging a book by it’s cover. :-)
I spend all day long trying to explain this very concept to clients! Thank you for summing it up so nicely.
Is there anyway I could please excerpt this on my blog (with full attribution and linkback of course!)?
Absolutely, Kevin. Feel free!
Thanks: http://netweave.posterous.com/twitter-dont-knock-it-until-youve-really-trie
Thanks for an inspiring article. Indeed Twitter is about building RELATIONS, and certainly over-tweeting in any direction would always be hurtful.
I do love to share on Twitter, so people do get a lot when they follow @henrikblunck
Great points. Let me add few more notes on how to use Twitter based on my own experience:
- Start a conversation with your followers. Twitter is a good tool to make your own community or part of a bigger network.
- Do not just link every news or interesting articles. Don’t forget to mention why you think your followers should read it.
- If you are a blogger, do not just post your blog links. As the same time, do not just re-tweet every blog posts from your network. Do not re-tweet your friend’s blog post because she has done the same thing for yours.
- Do not use Twitter as another instant messenger tool. Twitter is good medium to say something or follow up with your friends instantly, but do not start long conversations with your friends. It would be hard for your followers to understand what’s going on unless they also follow your other friends.
- Do not twit every other seconds about any live events, sport matches or any promotions. Live events or live sport matches can be effectively summarized in a blog post. I really don’t like when ppl start tweeting about what speakers say when they are at a conference or when they tweet about every shots when they are at any sport events.
- Give credits to your Twitter friends by re-tweeting if you like their twits.
Cheers,
Pritesh
http://twitter.com/mehta1p
Thanks, PM. Starting a conversation, great point. About using Twitter as an IM device? I’ve made the mistake, but I try to move the conversation onto Direct Messaging when it becomes too detailed. Live tweeting? Not my thing. Unless a celebrity is doing something really stupid in front of me :P
Retweeting is the best bet when you’re feeling Twitter uninspired!
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