Julie Bestry | | I have to admit, I was flummoxed by the whole idea at first. To me, Twitter seemed as pointless and arrogant as personal blogging. I don't care what you had for lunch, what your kid is doing that annoys you (especially if you're not using your parenting skills to subvert bad behavior) or what you're watching on TV. If I cared, I'd know you well enough that you'd call me and share it all in person. :-)
However, from a business perspective, I'm seeing the advantage. For example, if you're on Facebook, you can link Twitter to your Facebook status update, so rather than having to keep up with both, your status will update automatically whenever you twitter. People who use their 140 characters to Twitter about business, not for selling but informing are worthy of my attention, even if they're yoohooing me to a just-posted business blog entry.
How do I choose whom to follow? (And note, I've only really been doing it a month or so...):
--if someone has proven to be a useful resource, I'll follow. For example, last week, I took a series of informative webinars and teleclasses, and I decided to "follow" to read the tweets of those presenters who seemed to have really useful, linkable resources and hot information
--if I like, know and trust someone, I'll follow. I have a few friends who text from their cells to Twitter all day long. I don't have time to catch up with them in the real world, but I can keep tabs via tweets.
--if people are following me, but I either don't know them, or know them but don't have a strong use for their material, I don't follow them
--if someone is fabulous, but I'm already seeing what they have to say elsewhere (like Felicia's status updates at Facebook, which unless I hear to the contrary, I assume to be identical to what she'd put in a tweet)
To ask someone to follow you, you just tell them your ID. For example, mine is ProfOrganizer, though someone going to Twitter.com can just search for anyone by name, and assuming you've included your REAL name in your profile (as it's suggested you do), then people can find you easily that way, too.
Although I tend to find most Web 2.0 sites hard to navigate, Twitter seems pretty easy to me:
1. On the "home" page (i.e., what you get when you're logged in and go to http://www.Twitter.com/home), you can type your answer to "What are you doing?"--that's what sends your tweet out into the universe. Below that, you'll see the most recent posts, in reverse chronological order, of anyone you've followed. You'll also see your own tweets.
2. From any page, click "find and follow" at the top of your page, and it asks "Are Your Friends On Twitter?" You get the choice of inviting friends from other networks (which I ignore, because I don't use webmail and my address book lives only on my hard drive) or "invite by email", where you just enter the email address of the person you'd like to follow you or at least join you at Twitter.
3. From any page, click on "Settings" at the top of the page, and you can adjust your account info, passwords, your "devices" (i.e., if you want tweets sent to your cell or Instant Message program), your notifications (i.e., do you want to be informed when someone starts following you?), your picture (your photo or logo that appears next to your tweets, or your Twitter page's design. I'm not much for azure or teal or whatever the default color is, so I made my page the same color combo as my web site; it's pointless but pleasing.
The only other menus at the top are HELP and SIGN OUT.
The little options on the side menu let you see the IDs of those following you and whom you're following, in case you want to edit (winnow or add) names.
That's about it. Another way to waste your time? Sure, but so is the telephone. The point, I think, is to come up with a strategy so that you're using this little telegram-style platform as a mini-blog to say only what you think is REALLY important for your followers to know. And remember, you may not have oodles of followers, per se, but if you link your Twitter account to your Facebook (or other social networking accounts), all of your contacts will, in effect, be following you.
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Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
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