Twitter 101 Best Practices Applies to Real People Too

Yesterday, Twitter released “Twitter 101”, a special guide for how businesses can use Twitter. It provides a lot of great information on getting started, key terms, case histories and best practices. Although this guide was created for businesses, I think there’s some great information for real people using Twitter, particularly in the best practices section. Below are some best practices – some taken right from the guide, others altered to fit a real person tweeting, and some of my own thoughts.

·         Think of Twitter as a place to build relationships, not just broadcast information. It’s not just about posting what you had for lunch. It’s more about sharing information, joining the conversations and having some fun too.

·         Include a bio description, location and avatar image. Personally, I don’t follow back people I know nothing about. You may be a spammer or a bot. If people think you’re a spammer or a bot, they may block you.

·         Use a casual, friendly tone in your messages.

·         If you like a particular message, retweet it. People often like the sharing and amplification of their ideas, so retweet cool stuff.

·         Post links to articles and sites you think folks would find interesting. Think about the type of followers you have and what they might be interested in.

·         Don’t spam people. Twitter’s following model means that you have to respect the interests and desires of other people here or they’ll unfollow you. The most common way to run afoul of that understanding – and to thus look like a spammer – is to send unsolicited @messages or DMs, particularly when they include a promotional link.

·         Too make sure you’re not spamming folks, Twitter also recommends to avoid the following:

o   Posting duplicate updates to an account, especially throughout the day.

o   Cross-posting duplicate updates to multiple accounts.

o   Following churn: Following and unfollowing the same people repeatedly, as well as following and unfollowing those who don’t follow back.

o   All of the above could be violations of Twitter’s terms of service which could lead to your account being suspended or shut down.

·         Don’t use any of those “get lots of followers” services. You should build your following organically. It’s not a numbers game on who has the most followers. You want to follow real people or businesses because of the information they share or conversation you may have.

·         Don’t follow hundreds of people all at once without building up a following along the way. When I see an account that follows hundreds or thousands of people, but only has a couple followers and tweets, I’m not likely to follow back. Start off with a few people you know, some local businesses or news networks. Begin engaging and build from there. It can also be overwhelming to follow a ton of people right off the bat. Information overload may scare you off.

So, what do you think? Do you have some best practices to add? Comment below. You can also find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/charno.  To see Twitter’s business guide, click here: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

To Blog or Not to Blog…

That is the question. I started off the year with the best intentions to start this blog and get active with Twitter. As of April, I’m doing pretty good with Twitter, but not the traditional blogging thing. It makes me wonder, do I need to do both.

Today, there are so many places for us to be “social”, share and join the online conversation. I’m active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I’m using FriendFeed, rrs feeds, digging and bookmarking. Now, I’m seeing more use of newer blogging services, such as Tumblr and Posterous, where they make it super easy to post. So many options. If I try to do it all, I’ll spend my entire day online.

Like most people, I need to streamline. I need to find efficiencies in this social media world. Right now, I’m most active with Twitter. It’s fast and easy to use. I could use a blog to expand on thoughts and projects occasionally. Okay, so maybe I’ll continue to do both. The next question – should I invest the time into this blog? Should I try one of the other services, such as Tumblr? What do you think?

My First Week on Twitter

It’s been a week since I began to tweet and it’s not what I expected. Like others, I thought it was basically a Facebook status update, but without all of the other Facebook features. I checked it out a year ago, signed up and tweeted once:

@charno checking out twitter

Then I never went back until last week. Second tweet:

@charno is checking out twitter again

Is that all there is to this? Why do I need to do this? I’m already connected to a bunch of friends on Facebook. How is this different? After a week, I’ve found that I use both in different ways.

Facebook

• I’m connected to people I know in person – real friends and colleagues.
• Status updates are more personal and general – Diane is sick of snow.
• I share more personal stuff like photos.

Twitter

• I’m connected to some people I know in person, but most I don’t know – industry experts (social media, tourism, marketing, etc.), businesses, and news organizations.
• Tweets are less about what I’m eating for lunch and more about connecting and sharing information.
• For me, it’s less out personal play and more about business, tracking the industry, staying up to date on trends and news, as well as learning how others are using Twitter. I also wouldn’t mind getting to know some of the awesome social media mavens out there.

Getting Started

If you’re not tweeting now, maybe you want to check it out. Here are a few tips on getting started.

• Set up a Twitter profile/handle – It’s recommended you use a real photo or avatar and be honest in your bio.
• Connect with people – You can start by using the search email feature on Twitter to find your friends already tweeting. Once you’re connected to a few people, check out who they follow and connect with others you know or want to know. You can also search Twitter for topics of interest and follow those tweeting about the same things.
• Learn the language – Check out the Getting Started area on Twitter. Watch how others are tweeting.
• Manage your tweets – Check out some of the Twitter apps that help you organize your tweets. I like TweetDeck or find some others on the Twitter download page. These apps are nice for creating groups and filtering tweets.
• Start tweeting.

This is a simplified intro for an individual. A business or organization needs a more in depth Twitter strategy developed. Are you ready to tweet? Then follow me @charno on Twitter.