I spend a lot of time on Twitter these days and everyone has something to say about the new Social Media. They're all experts. I'm not. I'm just going to tell you what I'm doing there, how I do it and what I'm getting out of it so far.
- The software I use for my interface is Tweetdeck. It allows me to track various levels of conversation in columns.
- I run Tweetdeck in the background of my day, everyday and at different times of the day, and when I can, I devote time to being "active" on it.
- I follow people who I can help professionally, who can help me, have valuable information, expand my notion of the world or who I find entertaining.
- I maintain a positive "face" on Twitter without being inauthentic. If I'm not in a good place, I read and keep quiet or retweet other people's content that IS worthwhile.
- I run a search on a phrase like "business plan" to find everyone who's talking about them.
- I devote a certain amount of time each week to do the above.
- I find people I know I want to follow and then choose to follow some of the people they are following.
- If I'm notified that someone is following me and they seem interesting to me, I follow them as well and thank them for following me.
- I read the RT (retweets) and check out the original author of content that interests me.
- I am aware of my timezone, and tailor my tweets accordingly.
- I post my knitting and business blog posts everyday to gain more readership.
- When I notice a particular persons "tweets" are really negative over a long period of time, I stop following them.
- I follow people in three different areas: Small biz development, Fiberarts, Friends.
- There are a LOT of life coaches.
- There are folks who are interesting (most likely) but only post about what they just ate or what they are going to eat next ;-)
- There are a lot of people selling other people's perceptions instead of their own.
- Interesting people creating things and taking pictures of it.
- People talking about why they do what they do.
- "Famous" people realizing that they are talking to a vast audience and not everyone will understand their acronyms, etc.
- Generosity (there is a lot, but still...)
Nice post, Melissa... refreshing, actually, in the world of twitter posts. I like hearing one person's take on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see more folks post about their personal reasons for using an online social network and how they use it for themselves. I have a different tool that I find works best for me at the moment, mostly Twitterfox, and sometimes Twirl. I found Tweetdeck cumbersome to scroll thru easily. But I might try it again. I like how Twitterfox just sits in the corner of Firefox.
I started out following some folks I knew 'of', some fiberart friends, some friends I knew and checked out who they followed. Very slowly, I should say. It was thanks to @GuidoS that I found out about Podcamps.. and specifically, Podcamp Boston, last year.. where I met a bunch of folks that I now follow.. plus Podcamp Philly in September. A melange of socialmedia, web people, and Search Optimization people.. an area I am continually seeking to improve in.
I tend to be cautious of who I follow these days, I check out their tweets, their website. If they're overly selly I usually won't follow them. I rarely thank someone for following me. Maybe it's the overuse of automated 'thank you for following me' DMs that soured me. So I won't usually do it unless I have something that will personally connect me to that follower.
I think I use Twitter nowadays for a combination of social observation, conversation with web people, personal development, and finding good uses of the medium to show my clients as examples. I like connecting on a variety of topics, whether fiber, web, seo, social stuff, Bollywood, or local Vermont business. I agree it's important to be ones' self and authentic.
cheers,
Sadia
@sadiavt