Are you wondering about how to make the best use of Twitter? If the “sold out” attendance at Seltzer Design’s program on social media is any indication, I think many people are. Moreover, I think different things work for different people.
How I use Twitter:
I mainly use Twitter to stay abreast of what’s happening in my profession, my industry, and the world. I do this in three ways.
I use Twitter as a newspaper. Instead of scanning the headlines of a print publication, I “follow” reporters and publications that tweet headlines of breaking stories with links to the full article. When I want to learn more, I click the link to the full story.
I use Twitter as a peer-reviewed publication–and empower others to sift through the news, highlight articles of interest, and provide useful insights. Instead of subscribing to a print journal that arrives once a month or six times a year, I “follow” a group of thought leaders I’ve identified as providers of interesting content.
The third way I use Twitter is as an antenna. With the help of Tweetdeck (described below), I scan everyone’s tweets, including people I don’t know, to learn what others are saying about topics I find interesting.
I do this by setting up a permanent search in Tweetdeck and checking the results whenever I have time. When I find useful information, I often start “following” the person who posted the tweet–and “retweet” his/her post to those that follow me.
How others use Twitter:
I use Twitter mostly for listening but of course that means someone needs to be talking–I mean tweeting. Annie Schmidt, the Senior Designer and Strategist, identifies six ways people can tweet: curatorial, tips and advice, shout-out, self-promotional, responses and retweets.
Curatorial tweets identify topics of interest and provide useful insights. Shout-outs are requests for help and/or ideas. Retweets are posts that Twitter readers forward, with full attribution, to those that follow them.
Twitter tools:
There are a number of tools that extend the power of Twitter. Examples include Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and Seesmic’s Twitter desktop client. Shortly, after the Seltzer seminar, I came across a great Tweetdeck demo that John McTigue posted on one of the Linked In groups to which I subscribe.
Are you atwitter about twitter?
I am. Reach me at @bbmarketingplus!
Related posts:
- Social Media Marketing for Job Search
- The power of Twitter Hashtags: Crowdsourcing gems and soundbites
Tags: curatorial, Tweetdeck, Twitter
Twitter
Thanks for providing the first really useful explanation of why I should be using Twitter. I hate to fritter my time – and you provide some specific, actionable steps for newbies like me.
Barbara,
Good post about how you use Twitter. By using Twitter Search, and following specific people and firms, information you want is funneled to you.
These same functions however exist with other tools, (Google, tracker, etc.)
I feel that the “visible” use of twitter, i.e., using it as a communication tool to “followers” is about to run its course. Very few people are interested in reading that I just finished breakfast…nor do very many business people have the time to comment about their hourly activities.
Recent reports show that overall Twitter growth has slowed, and in-depth reports show that only a small percentage of users tweet more than once.
Could it be that Twitter and/or TweetDeck will turn into an information aggregator, especially with TweetDeck’s linkage to Facebook and MySpace?
Bob
Thanks for your comment Bob. I’m not sure that Twitter has run its course as a communications tool just because people aren’t interested in reading about others’ hourly activities.
I love the “curating” function whereby others point me to items of interest. Perhaps that’s what you mean by aggregation–but it’s also communication. I used to use Google alerts but now find that much of what I get is spam (which of course could happen to Twitter as well).
The other advantage of Twitter is that I can “follow” people who always provide useful information. For me, that might be professional news. For a mother of small children, it may be what they ate for breakfast–if, of course, her children tweeted…
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Thanks! That’s a high compliment from an organization that vets so many articles!