Wrestling with Twitter

It's the latest trend - TWITTER!

Ok, so you figure out what it is, a 140 character instant message blasted to followers... but what do you do with it?

It's social networking! Use Twitter and you can "get to know people", based on their 140 character "tweets". I hope that doesn't put any undue pressure on you! Don't tweet some crap and screw up your business deal.

If you Tweet about lounging with the Sunday Times, will the faithful think you're skipping Services? Will cat lovers look at you the same when you gush about a puppy?

I've been messing around with computers since the days of BBSes and 300 baud modems on the Commodore. Twitter made me feel like I was back in 1985 again.

"So you have to go on the Internet."

"I go to BBSes. Ain't that it?"

"You go on the Internet and you surf from place to place."

"Surf... like a surf board? I have to keep redialing?? This is Wisconsin, I don't know about surfing!!"

"I don't know. You can make a web page."

"What's a web page?"

"I don't know, it's like a flyer on the board in the grocery store. People can read it."

"Read what? Who's gonna sit in the house all day?"

Well, I learned to "think outside of the box". My friend above didn't and that's why he doesn't use a computer like a vital organ.



So I get on Twitter and start following people. What do they write???

- A lot of people write about Twitter. I picked up a lot more info about Twitter applications. I'll be sharing more on that.

- Spreading the agenda. People can communicate and mobilize. Twitter your friend instead of a DM (Direct Message) and you can educate all your Tweet on the concept of dolphin-free tuna.

- RT (ReTweets) Ok, I don't know how I feel about this one. There's some folks who do RT a lot but do you want to discourage them and have them start a potty training tweet fest? There IS a lot of pressure to write a 140 character ice-breaker at a party of people you can't read (get real life social and physical cues as to their mood.) ... Oh, and I notice you guys who send out the same tweet 4 hours and 8 hours later. The first few times I thought my amnesia was reoccurring. ;)

- Tweet the mundane. Glad to hear you're hitting the Post Office! :) I'm guilty myself:

phoenix2000us Posted at 4:29pm, Mar 26, 2009 from Web

Just got a recorded call from COSTCO. Cranberry nut mix recall, salmonella. Ate it but 5*s for the warning!


Ha ha. I'm always tempted to go mundane with a touch of TMI.

This snippet from the New York Times says it well:

An unabashed user of ghost Twitterers is Guy Kawasaki, a new-media consultant with more than 80,000 followers, who is full of praise for the two employees who enliven his Twitter feed, often posting updates while he is on stage addressing a conference.

“Basically, for 99.9 percent of people on Twitter, it is about updating friends and colleagues about how the cat rolled over,” he said. “For a tenth of a percent it is a marketing tool.”

- Share useful information - Actually, all snarkiness aside, I've been tossed "pearls of wisdom" from all of the people I follow. A lot of people ARE being generous with their expertise and there is a lot to be learned.

Follow the right people on Twitter, learn from their links and you can gain a lot of knowledge.

I just hope I have enough time and enough brain!

http://twitter.com/phoenix2000us