This is the first answer from the questions posed to me the other day.  Cat wanted to know more about using Twitter, the basics, because she doesn’t feel that she gets it.  Well, it’s not that tricky actually, but it doesn’t happen overnight and I think that’s where people make the mistake with Twitter.  They give up too easily, and it looks overwhelming and they don’t know where to start, so they leave it.

Getting value out of it takes time, you need to build a network.  It only makes sense, and you get value out of it, when you have a network of people that talk about topics that interest you, AND you’re following people that follow each other.  The reasons are the following:

1.  You can only see replies to someone if you follow the person being replied to and the person who is sending the reply.  For example, if I follow A, and A sends a reply to B, I’ll only see it if I follow B too.

2.  People share/tweet information all day about topics they’re interested in (and random stuff too), so if you’re not interested in the topic they’re talking about, you’ll just think it’s noise.  But there’s value in that for someone… Twitter is how I learn.  For example, Cat would probably be interested in design (just guessing here) and parenting, so she’d get value by following other twin moms and some designers and architects.

It’s cool because you end up knowing about things happening in the world way before the news item hits regular radio or TV news, but it’s not overpowering, so you end up learning how to filter out the noise (the random drivel about what people are eating… which could actually be interesting if you’re hungry and need ideas for a meal).  You also get to learn about where people are shopping, and what they’re buying, and what they’re finding cool.  You’re learning from your peers.

Now building the network is the trick, and here’s one way to get there:

1.  If you’re following blogs, chances are that the blogger also tweets.  You already have some kind of interest in what they talk about, so follow them on Twitter too.  Their Twitter handle (name) will be somewhere on their blog… hint… a button that looks like a blue bird.

2.  Find your friends that you’re linked to on Facebook on Twitter… by searching for their names or linking to Facebook to find them.

3.  Now you need to find people that they’re linked to.  There are 2 ways to do this.  One is to go through their “following” list to see who they like to listen to, and start following those people too (don’t go through their follower stream because they might not find those people interesting).  Secondly, open their twitter stream, see who they’re replying to, or retweeting (like forwarding an email which means that they like that that person is saying), and if they’re talking to someone about something that interests you too, then follow them as well (by clicking on that person’s name and pressing the follow button).

4.  Look at the lists that are on your tweeple’s twitter page.  Most people’s lists are made by topic.  If you look at mine, I have one with mom-bloggers, and another with photographers.  If you’re interested in those topics, then start following some of the people on those lists.

5.  Don’t be scared that you’ll offend someone by following them.  It’s not like Facebook where you only link to people you “know”.  No-one on Twitter really cares that you’re following them, they just like their voice being heard.   And if they end up speaking a load of rubbish, unfollow them… again, you won’t offend them.  It’s not as personal as Facebook.

6.  Upload a photo of yourself.  Don’t have a blank avatar because no-one will take you seriously and people will think you’re a spammer.  You have to be real in the space.

7.  Start sharing.  Start tweeting links to sites that you like, or blog posts that you’ve read and think other people will like.  Talk about something.  Reply to someone.  Retweet something you like that someone else has said.

8.  Make sure that you give credit to people. If you’re retweeting something, make sure that the first person who tweeted it is in the tweet.  If you’re tweeting about someone, be sure to add them into your tweet with their handle with the @ sign, that way they’ll see it in their stream even if they don’t follow you.  If you want have a private chat, use the Direct Message format (or DM).

9.  If the website irritates you, like it irritates me, then use a tool to follow your streams like Hootsuite (I use this) or Tweetdeck.  Load a Twitter app on your phone like SocialScope, or Hootsuite or countless others.

And that’s how you do it   And if you want to link to me, then my handle is @jenty