Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’ve probably heard of a little social media phenomenon called Twitter.
Twitter is quickly becoming the most popular social networking site in existence… With over 6 million users and counting, including numerous celebrities and even President Obama…
Twitter is undoubtedly THE HOT PLACE TO BE online.
You can get ‘real time’ data on literally ANYTHING happening in our world today and interact with millions of people LIVE.
I first heard about Twitter months back, but I didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away… I guess I just didn’t see how utterly powerful this site really is until very recently.
But now, Twitter is top of my social media priority list
Check out my newly renovated Twitter page:
http://www.twitter.com/katiefreiling
So recently, a friend and colleague of mine was able to generate over 75 leads for his business just by sending out 1 tweet to his list of over 15,000 dedicated followers.
Do you really grasp how insane that is?!
75 leads in less than 2 minutes for FREE. It would cost you over $375 to get the same amount of leads with Google Adwords… and it would take much much longer.
Check out his Twitter page here:http://www.twitter.com/emiliokaram
If you’re looking to create some serious wealth online and build your own list of dedicated followers, Twitter is aMUST.
So here’s a Step by Step Guide to True and Utter Twitter Domination:
—————
1. Go to http://www.twitter.com to create an account if you haven’t already done so. Be creative with your bio and make sure to include your website link (A blog link is preferred).
2. Set up a professional Twitter background with free tools like http://www.twitbacks.com or http://www.mytweetspace.com.
3. Go to http://www.tweetlater.com to set up a free account with this awesome Twitter tool. This will allow you to send automated welcome messages to new followers and create settings that will automatically follow those who follow you or ‘unfollow’ those who do not follow you.
4. Go to http://www.livelybrowser.com to purchase the Twitter Friend Adder for $50. This is optional, but highly recommended. You can automatically add Twitter friends with this simple and easy tool. If you’re on a budget, just add friends manually by finding others in your same niche.
5. Here are some great tools to use to help you find other like-minded people to network with:
http://www.twellow.comhttp://search.twitter.comhttp://www.twollo.com
6. You can manually unfollow those who don’t follow you with this free tool: http://dossy.org/twitter/karma (If you buy the Twitter Friend Adder, this feature is included).
7. Find good content to share with others. Do not spam your link… Twitter success is dependent on your ability to share valuable content and information with your network. Share anything:
*Enlightening*Educational*Entertaining
8. You can share your own videos, quotes, or blog posts or re-syndicate content that you like from other people. http://www.digg.com and http://www.popurls.com are great places to find good content.
9. It’s not enough to just add new friends, you must actually INTERACT with them. Use the ‘direct message’ and @reply features to interact personally with your new friends.
10. Here are some other great Twitter tools:
http://www.tweetdeckhttp://www.twitpic.comhttp://www.bubbletweet.com
www.tweethandbook.com
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Twittering Tips for Beginners
Yes, it took us a long time to understand the attraction of Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service which lets you post short write-ups known as "tweets" of up to 140 characters, but we're now pretty addicted to it. Simply put, it's a great way to share thoughts, jokes, news, and links with liked-minded individuals online.
To most neophytes though, it's about as hard to describe as it is to understand the appeal. New York Times Tech Columnist David Pogue though does a great job of explaining the basics of Twitter in his latest column, "Twittering Tips for Beginners."
Incidentally, if you're interested in reading our DemystifyingDigital.com-related musings on Twitter, please check us out:@danhavlik
www.tweethandbook.com
To most neophytes though, it's about as hard to describe as it is to understand the appeal. New York Times Tech Columnist David Pogue though does a great job of explaining the basics of Twitter in his latest column, "Twittering Tips for Beginners."
Incidentally, if you're interested in reading our DemystifyingDigital.com-related musings on Twitter, please check us out:@danhavlik
www.tweethandbook.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners
1. Set up your profile
The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile.
2. Follow people with similar interests
Now that you have a profile, start following people. You can find these people in Twitter directories. I use Twellow and JustTweetIt. These sites can introduce you to Twitter users that have the same interest as yours. Follow these people and observe their tweets. You may also try following who these people follow but read up their descriptions and visit their blogs to make sure you’re still on the right niche. Being on the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community with a similar interest.
3. Get into the conversation
So now that you are following people, you will now see some tweets on your board. Read up on what the people your following are up to and reply if it interests you. For example, a person narrates how he is going to conduct a meeting. You may then reply with ideas. When someone asks a question, don’t hesitate to answer if you know it. Don’t be afraid to interact.
4. Don’t spam
Spam is the cause of many unfollows on Twitter. There is a character limit for a reason. Do not send repeated messages to people. Do not constantly direct message (DM) them with links.
5. Update daily
Alright so you’re blending in the community. Now update daily if possible. I know some Twitter users who unfollow because of inactivity. Reply to people and update people with what’s going on with your life. Soon you’ll be recognized and you’ll get some follows.
6. Find the latest buzz and contribute
Now it’s your time to contribute. Find a topic that will interest your niche and tweet it. Since you have established relationships with your followers (through replies), you will get more attention. It’s a nice strategy to always append “please retweet” at the end of your tweet. There will be some people who will be so interested that they will retweet. There are others who will reply to you about the link you tweeted. But you are not a “nobody” anymore. You are not just talking to yourself. People are now responding to your tweets.
7. Help other people out
The famous saying “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” holds here. Before you can receive retweets, you must help others first by retweeting their messages. Help the people in your niche. One day you’ll be surprised on how eager they are to help you back.
8. Create relationships
Now it’s time to create constant connections. Soon you will find that some users are more active than others. You will get to talk with the same group of people at the same time every night. But don’t get bored. Interact with these people and create relationships. Ask how they are doing and try to touch on their interests.
9. Integrate Twitter with other social networks
Have a blog? Then post to Twitter when you have a post that will interest your niche. Have a Facebook profile? Then ask people to add you. Twitter is really a vital part of web 2.0. It can serve as the core. It can let you build relationships that can branch out to other social networks.
10. Establish relationships even outside Twitter
Have a lot of friends on Twitter? Then take it to another level. Ask for their messenger and talk to these people on a more intimate level. Call them through Skype or even arrange a meet-up. Twitter can create real relationships.
Congratulations! You are now an official member of the Twitter community. You talk, act, think and breathe like us. Perhaps you find yourself spending every five minutes updating Twitter on what you are doing. But I guess I’ll save Twitter addiction for next time.
www.tweethandbook.com
The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile.
2. Follow people with similar interests
Now that you have a profile, start following people. You can find these people in Twitter directories. I use Twellow and JustTweetIt. These sites can introduce you to Twitter users that have the same interest as yours. Follow these people and observe their tweets. You may also try following who these people follow but read up their descriptions and visit their blogs to make sure you’re still on the right niche. Being on the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community with a similar interest.
3. Get into the conversation
So now that you are following people, you will now see some tweets on your board. Read up on what the people your following are up to and reply if it interests you. For example, a person narrates how he is going to conduct a meeting. You may then reply with ideas. When someone asks a question, don’t hesitate to answer if you know it. Don’t be afraid to interact.
4. Don’t spam
Spam is the cause of many unfollows on Twitter. There is a character limit for a reason. Do not send repeated messages to people. Do not constantly direct message (DM) them with links.
5. Update daily
Alright so you’re blending in the community. Now update daily if possible. I know some Twitter users who unfollow because of inactivity. Reply to people and update people with what’s going on with your life. Soon you’ll be recognized and you’ll get some follows.
6. Find the latest buzz and contribute
Now it’s your time to contribute. Find a topic that will interest your niche and tweet it. Since you have established relationships with your followers (through replies), you will get more attention. It’s a nice strategy to always append “please retweet” at the end of your tweet. There will be some people who will be so interested that they will retweet. There are others who will reply to you about the link you tweeted. But you are not a “nobody” anymore. You are not just talking to yourself. People are now responding to your tweets.
7. Help other people out
The famous saying “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” holds here. Before you can receive retweets, you must help others first by retweeting their messages. Help the people in your niche. One day you’ll be surprised on how eager they are to help you back.
8. Create relationships
Now it’s time to create constant connections. Soon you will find that some users are more active than others. You will get to talk with the same group of people at the same time every night. But don’t get bored. Interact with these people and create relationships. Ask how they are doing and try to touch on their interests.
9. Integrate Twitter with other social networks
Have a blog? Then post to Twitter when you have a post that will interest your niche. Have a Facebook profile? Then ask people to add you. Twitter is really a vital part of web 2.0. It can serve as the core. It can let you build relationships that can branch out to other social networks.
10. Establish relationships even outside Twitter
Have a lot of friends on Twitter? Then take it to another level. Ask for their messenger and talk to these people on a more intimate level. Call them through Skype or even arrange a meet-up. Twitter can create real relationships.
Congratulations! You are now an official member of the Twitter community. You talk, act, think and breathe like us. Perhaps you find yourself spending every five minutes updating Twitter on what you are doing. But I guess I’ll save Twitter addiction for next time.
www.tweethandbook.com
Twittering Tips for Beginners
As a tech columnist, I’m supposed to be on top of what’s new in tech, but there’s just too much, too fast; it’s like drinking from a fire hose. I can only imagine how hopeless a task it must be for everyone else.
Which brings us to Twitter.
Twitter.com is all the rage among geeks, although it has more hype than users at this point. (When I speak at tech and education conferences, I routinely ask my audience how many are on Twitter. Usually, it’s 1 in 500.)
Basically, you sign up for a free account at Twitter.com. Then you’re supposed to return to that site periodically and type short messages that announce what you’re doing. (Very short — 140 characters max.)
Then, you’re supposed to persuade your friends and admirers to become your audience by subscribing to your utterances (called tweets). Big-name tech pundits amass tens of thousands of followers. Normal people may have five or six.
I’ll admit that, for the longest time, I was exasperated by the Twitter hype. Like the world needs ANOTHER ego-massaging, social-networking time drain? Between e-mail and blogs and Web sites and Facebook and chat and text messages, who on earth has the bandwidth to keep interrupting the day to visit a Web site and type in, “I’m now having lunch”? And to read the same stuff being broadcast by a hundred other people?
Then my eyes were opened. A few months ago, I was one of 12 judges for a MacArthur grant program in Chicago. As we looked over one particular application, someone asked, “Hasn’t this project been tried before?”
Everyone looked blankly at each other.
Then the guy sitting next to me typed into the Twitter box. He posed the question to his followers. Within 30 seconds, two people replied, via Twitter, that it had been done before. And they provided links.
The fellow judge had just harnessed the wisdom of his followers in real time. No e-mail, chat, Web page, phone call or FedEx package could have achieved the same thing.
I was impressed.
So I’ve been Twittering for a couple of months, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m still dubious about Twitter’s prospects for becoming a tool for ordinary people (rather than early-adopter techie types).
But one thing’s for sure: The whole thing would be a lot more palatable if somebody would explain the basics. Something like this:
* You don’t have to open your Web browser and go to Twitter.com to send and receive tweets. In fact, that’s just silly. Instead, people download little programs like Twitterific, Feedalizr or Twinkle, they get the updates on their cellphones as text messages, or they use something like PocketTweets, Tweetie or iTweet for the iPhone. I’ve been using Twitterific for the Mac, which is a tall, narrow window at the side of the screen. Incoming tweets scroll up without distracting you. Much.
* Your followers can respond to your tweets, either publicly or privately.
Suppose someone named Casey responds to one of your tweets. You can reply to Casey in one of two ways. First, you can send a Direct Message, which only Casey sees. Second, you can respond with another public tweet—but as you can imagine, everyone but Casey will be completely baffled. It’s obvious from the number of completely incomprehensible tweets (”No, only in Lichtenstein!”) that not all Twitter fans have yet grasped the difference between these reply types.
On the other hand, if you reply with a private Direct Message, Casey can’t reply to IT—unless you’ve also subscribed to *Casey’s* Twitter feeds. Seems like a pretty dumb design decision. Either you have to follow the whole world, or every conversation fizzles into silence after one exchange.
* It seems clear that you, as a tweet-sender, are not actually expected to respond to every reply. At least I sure HOPE that’s the expectation. I mean, some popular Twitterers have 15,000 followers; you’d spend all day doing nothing but answering them all.
* The Web is full of “rules” about the proper way to Twitter, and a lot of them are just knowier-than-thou garbage: How many tweets a day to send out. How many people you should follow. What you should say. And so on. The first adopters are milking their early advantage for all it’s worth.
I found one rule, though, that answered a long-standing question I had about Twitter: “Don’t tweet about what you’re doing right now.” Which is weird, since that’s precisely how the typing box at Twitter.com is labeled: “What are you doing?”
I’ve always wondered who the heck would be interested in the mundane details of your life. As it turns out, though, most people broadcast other stuff in their tweets. They pose questions. They send links to interesting stuff they’ve found online. They pass along breaking news (Barack Obama announced his running mate on Twitter).
* People can be just as snotty on Twitter as they are everywhere else on the Internet. At first, my own followers on Twitter were friendly and helpful. But I was having a bear of a time. For example, every time I tried to add a photo to appear by my name, it showed up fine on Twitter.com, but refused to appear in Twitterific. Also, if you searched for “Pogue” at Twitter.com, you would find my old, defunct account (”pogue”), but not my current, active one (”DavidPogue”), even though the search box says specifically that it will find people by their real names. (It’s working now, but it was broken a couple weeks ago.)
So I posted these two problems to my 1,900 followers. Most tried to help troubleshoot, but there was the predictable backlash: “Stop asking these newbie questions,” wrote one guy. “Makes you look like a moron.”
* Another person criticized me for not following enough other Twitterers. The implication was that if you send out tweets but don’t subscribe to a lot of other people, you’re an egotist.
So I signed up to follow prominent tech gurus like Guy Kawasaki, Tim O’Reilly and CrunchGear. But then I was astonished to see Guy send out tweets literally *every three minutes.*
“Holy cow,” I thought. “Does this guy do anything all day but sit in front of Twitter?”
I posed this question to my followers, too. They promptly informed me that some people, like Guy, use automated software robots to churn out tweets, largely to promote their own blogs, sites or other products. (That doesn’t seem quite right to me.)
In the end, my impression of Twitter was right and wrong. Twitter IS a massive time drain. It IS yet another way to procrastinate, to make the hours fly by without getting work done, to battle for online status and massage your own ego.
But it’s also a brilliant channel for breaking news, asking questions, and attaining one step of separation from public figures you admire. No other communications channel can match its capacity for real-time, person-to-person broadcasting.
www.tweethandbook.com
Which brings us to Twitter.
Twitter.com is all the rage among geeks, although it has more hype than users at this point. (When I speak at tech and education conferences, I routinely ask my audience how many are on Twitter. Usually, it’s 1 in 500.)
Basically, you sign up for a free account at Twitter.com. Then you’re supposed to return to that site periodically and type short messages that announce what you’re doing. (Very short — 140 characters max.)
Then, you’re supposed to persuade your friends and admirers to become your audience by subscribing to your utterances (called tweets). Big-name tech pundits amass tens of thousands of followers. Normal people may have five or six.
I’ll admit that, for the longest time, I was exasperated by the Twitter hype. Like the world needs ANOTHER ego-massaging, social-networking time drain? Between e-mail and blogs and Web sites and Facebook and chat and text messages, who on earth has the bandwidth to keep interrupting the day to visit a Web site and type in, “I’m now having lunch”? And to read the same stuff being broadcast by a hundred other people?
Then my eyes were opened. A few months ago, I was one of 12 judges for a MacArthur grant program in Chicago. As we looked over one particular application, someone asked, “Hasn’t this project been tried before?”
Everyone looked blankly at each other.
Then the guy sitting next to me typed into the Twitter box. He posed the question to his followers. Within 30 seconds, two people replied, via Twitter, that it had been done before. And they provided links.
The fellow judge had just harnessed the wisdom of his followers in real time. No e-mail, chat, Web page, phone call or FedEx package could have achieved the same thing.
I was impressed.
So I’ve been Twittering for a couple of months, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m still dubious about Twitter’s prospects for becoming a tool for ordinary people (rather than early-adopter techie types).
But one thing’s for sure: The whole thing would be a lot more palatable if somebody would explain the basics. Something like this:
* You don’t have to open your Web browser and go to Twitter.com to send and receive tweets. In fact, that’s just silly. Instead, people download little programs like Twitterific, Feedalizr or Twinkle, they get the updates on their cellphones as text messages, or they use something like PocketTweets, Tweetie or iTweet for the iPhone. I’ve been using Twitterific for the Mac, which is a tall, narrow window at the side of the screen. Incoming tweets scroll up without distracting you. Much.
* Your followers can respond to your tweets, either publicly or privately.
Suppose someone named Casey responds to one of your tweets. You can reply to Casey in one of two ways. First, you can send a Direct Message, which only Casey sees. Second, you can respond with another public tweet—but as you can imagine, everyone but Casey will be completely baffled. It’s obvious from the number of completely incomprehensible tweets (”No, only in Lichtenstein!”) that not all Twitter fans have yet grasped the difference between these reply types.
On the other hand, if you reply with a private Direct Message, Casey can’t reply to IT—unless you’ve also subscribed to *Casey’s* Twitter feeds. Seems like a pretty dumb design decision. Either you have to follow the whole world, or every conversation fizzles into silence after one exchange.
* It seems clear that you, as a tweet-sender, are not actually expected to respond to every reply. At least I sure HOPE that’s the expectation. I mean, some popular Twitterers have 15,000 followers; you’d spend all day doing nothing but answering them all.
* The Web is full of “rules” about the proper way to Twitter, and a lot of them are just knowier-than-thou garbage: How many tweets a day to send out. How many people you should follow. What you should say. And so on. The first adopters are milking their early advantage for all it’s worth.
I found one rule, though, that answered a long-standing question I had about Twitter: “Don’t tweet about what you’re doing right now.” Which is weird, since that’s precisely how the typing box at Twitter.com is labeled: “What are you doing?”
I’ve always wondered who the heck would be interested in the mundane details of your life. As it turns out, though, most people broadcast other stuff in their tweets. They pose questions. They send links to interesting stuff they’ve found online. They pass along breaking news (Barack Obama announced his running mate on Twitter).
* People can be just as snotty on Twitter as they are everywhere else on the Internet. At first, my own followers on Twitter were friendly and helpful. But I was having a bear of a time. For example, every time I tried to add a photo to appear by my name, it showed up fine on Twitter.com, but refused to appear in Twitterific. Also, if you searched for “Pogue” at Twitter.com, you would find my old, defunct account (”pogue”), but not my current, active one (”DavidPogue”), even though the search box says specifically that it will find people by their real names. (It’s working now, but it was broken a couple weeks ago.)
So I posted these two problems to my 1,900 followers. Most tried to help troubleshoot, but there was the predictable backlash: “Stop asking these newbie questions,” wrote one guy. “Makes you look like a moron.”
* Another person criticized me for not following enough other Twitterers. The implication was that if you send out tweets but don’t subscribe to a lot of other people, you’re an egotist.
So I signed up to follow prominent tech gurus like Guy Kawasaki, Tim O’Reilly and CrunchGear. But then I was astonished to see Guy send out tweets literally *every three minutes.*
“Holy cow,” I thought. “Does this guy do anything all day but sit in front of Twitter?”
I posed this question to my followers, too. They promptly informed me that some people, like Guy, use automated software robots to churn out tweets, largely to promote their own blogs, sites or other products. (That doesn’t seem quite right to me.)
In the end, my impression of Twitter was right and wrong. Twitter IS a massive time drain. It IS yet another way to procrastinate, to make the hours fly by without getting work done, to battle for online status and massage your own ego.
But it’s also a brilliant channel for breaking news, asking questions, and attaining one step of separation from public figures you admire. No other communications channel can match its capacity for real-time, person-to-person broadcasting.
www.tweethandbook.com
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