Twitter Basics

This article was originally posted by me on APSense. Feel free to view the original article and give it a tops.

Either you get Twitter, or you don’t. I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing or not that there isn’t much middle ground. Hopefully though, this will help turn some of the “do not get” into “got it.”

Before diving in, let’s scatter the bird of misconceptions. Twitter isn’t just a bunch of meaningless, mundane updates interspersed with spam. While there are people who post stuff that honestly they only care about and some people than think it’s like a advertising free-for-all, those types are truly in the minority.

A person who uses Twitter smartly will discover it to be a powerful personal branding and communication tool. Whereas many people shy away from using forums and contact forms on websites, often due not being sure if anyone will hear them, this restriction is largely lost at Twitter. Despite the character limitation of updates, it is quite easy to make sure whatever concerns, and kudos, you have are heard clearly. Twitter is a pretty good way to get some real feedback.

So, how to squeeze the most of this tool?

1. Put others first.
Search for a few people to follow. About five at a time (or per day) is good. Just make sure you’re interested in their twitter content. Do not follow people just to get follow backs¹. Many businesses have twitter pages and not only provide some customer support via Twitter, but often offer deals to followers. When visiting your favorite websites, keep an eye out for “follow me” links to Twitter. Having a method to your following practices shows others that you are interested in the Twitter community, not just trying to suck it dry for a few cents.

2. Throw away that super link gun.
If you’re running a blog or your OWN website, it’s okay to link in to articles and posts from twitter. With light usage, throwing in links to other places is fine too. There’s plenty of cool tools to shorten links, even track clicks. Just keep the number of links small compared to your total number of posts. Twitter is not the place for hard selling.

3. Communicate.
Twitter is not a blog where you talk to people. It looks strikingly similar, but Twitter is a social platform more like Facebook where you talk with people. That means it is a good idea to interact with other people. Re-tweet updates you think are cool, reply to other people’s tweets with your (polite) thoughts, and when someone responds to you, don’t just act like it never happened. It says a lot about a company when they’re more than willing to send updates, but never respond to people sending messages and updates their way. That “says a lot” usually isn’t very nice.

4. Understand the shortcuts used by the community.
You can find the official shortcuts under the help section, which is linked to in the upper right corner of Twitter. Under the Getting Started category.

As an example, a hashtag is the pound/hash symbol (#) followed directly by a keyword. Hash tags are used to make it easier to find updates related to the keyword. It’s a good idea to observe hashtags being used by others before jumping right in.

5. Mind your manners.
If you have a bone to pick, fine, but make sure you think through whether it’s okay for a particular comment to live forever. A tweet is like your own voice. Once you say something out loud, you can’t take it back and with Twitter, there are a couple hundred services archiving every single tweet that passes through Twitter, including yours. Even hitting the delete button right afterward offers no guarantee.

6. Throw in meaningful updates.
Offer tips and mention news regarding your favorite subjects. Give information relevant to your business’ niche. Offer to help people with stuff that you can. This tip ties in with number 1, but with emphasis on your tweets, rather than your “buddy up” routine.

7. Stay connected
Visiting the Twitter site daily is one way to keep your flow going, but if you are serious about taking advantage of this social platform, consider installing a desktop client on your computer that supports Twitter.
Personally, Digsby is my choice. Not only does it do Twitter, but it keeps me updated on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Myspace activity, plus handles my messengers so I don’t have a bunch of programs running at once.

Just started on Twitter or looking for some fresh tweets? Feel free to follow me: @erythisis