Getting into Twitter

I’m currently reading “The Whuffie Factor“…my social networking bible of the moment (other snippets to follow soon!)…and I’m just pulling out some notes on Twitter as a few of my clients have been asking me for more info.

What is Twitter?

A “micro-blogging” tool for sending short messages or “tweets” answering the question what are you doing right now? Look out for the little blue bird and “follow me” icons scattered all over the web.

What’s the point?

Admittedly I struggled to find the point of Twitter for a while but having spent more time with it, for me, it is useful for:

• finding out about new blog posts and latest news in the web design world
• receiving latest jobs/events/announcements for my area of work and local to me
• following industry professionals and connecting with web designers anywhere in the world (and yes, marketing myself a little at the same time I hope!)
• asking my twitter community quick questions and advice, eg design tips/software help/feedback

So it’s all about networking, interacting with your community of interest, getting people interested in you and what you do, connecting with potential clients/customers/employers/peers on a more personal level than just by good old email.

If you’re feeling this is just another addition to the chaos then I can really recommend reading Tara Hunt’s The Whuffie Factor to help make sense of it all. And if you don’t have time to read then check out this (if not only for Cameo “Word up” playing in the background!)…

What to “Tweet”

Share what’s going on in your world by tweeting:

• a link to your latest blog post
• your latest business news
• announcements: special offers, changes to class times, meeting places.
• info on industry/business events you have been to or that are coming up
• give a shout out to people that have inspired you or blog posts, websites and YouTube videos that you like

How to manage it all

Update your social networks automatically with your tweets

• Add a Twitter widget to your facebook page to update your Facebook status with your tweets, step by step blog article on how to do this here
• Add a Twitter widget to your Wordpress blog to pull in and display your latest tweets in your blog/page sidebar
• Add a Twitter plugin to Wordpress to automatically send a tweet to your twitter profile whenever you add a new blog post

(My clients can ask me about adding a Twitter widget to their blogs)

On your phone/desktop

• Add a Twitter application to your iPhone, I’ve been using TwitterFon, which is nice and easy to use when I’m on the move and means I don’t have to always be sat at my PC.
• Use a Twitter application on your PC/desktop so you don’t have to keep going back to your Twitter profile and refreshing the page. I’ve recently started using Tweetdeck, which updates automatically, had nice organizational features and makes a quiet chirping sound when a new tweet comes in!

Twitter commands

Use the following commands in your tweets for more control:

• Use the # hash tag symbol before a word to add your tweet to a subject group. For example…Sun is shining in #Brighton gonna be a hot weekend!
  For a list of hash tags being used on Twitter see http://hashtags.org/ and how to use them at http://twitter.pbworks.com/Hashtags
• Use @twittername to respond publicly to a tweet from a “tweeter”
• Use D twittername to send a private message to a tweeter