How is Being New to Twitter Different in 2010?

Idecided to write this simply because SO much has changed since Istarted using Twitter more than two years ago, and I can't helpthinking getting started must be different now than it was back then.


It may be hard to believe, but back in 2008, the biggest celebrities using Twitter were Guy Kawasaki and Leo Laporte.Since then, I've taught several others how to use the service, but Ican't help but wonder how different it is for those just gettingstarted today.


I realize many people who read this blog are active Twitter users, but I thought some of you might have insight I don't. If you arenew to Twitter, I am especially interested to hear your questions andfrustrations. It's a much noisier place than it was back when I wasintroduced to the site. In many ways, Twitter is a lot likeother social places online — I tend to think if you've been a blogcontributor, member on an active message board, forum or gamingcommunity, you're likely to get the hang of Twitter pretty quickly.However, learning to navigate the social web is still new andintimidating for most people — especially now that Twitter updatesare aggregated all kinds of places online, including the Library of Congress. Today, Twitter feels more like a stage in many ways, than a simple place to talk and share online.


How brands use Twitteris a different discussion altogether, although some of my Twitterupdates on my personal Twitter account may fall under the category of“brand management” or “company promotion,” this is only because it'snearly impossible to separate personal from professional personas onthe web. What I would like to discuss here is how to get started todaywith a personal Twitter account. Since I'm asking you to share, I thought it might be helpful if I shared how I use Twitter at the moment for personal and professional purposes.



How I Started Using Twitter in 2008: Discovery and Participation

• Followed online publications and breaking news accounts
  
• Searched for people in my local area to follow
  
• Followed people who had a lot of followers
  
• Followed people who were involved in the tech community — bloggers, developers, etc.
  
• Followed other PR pros and the people they were interacting with
  
• Followed people who would post something interesting on the public timeline
  
• Posted links to articles and other items of interest
  
• Asked questions about things others would post
  
• Asked for advice from others who seemed to be getting a lot out of Twitter
  
• Commented on blog posts others were linking to from Twitter
  
• Ididn't worry about whether people followed me back or not, althoughwhen I first started getting followers, I did feel pretty excited aboutthat and would do my best to check out their blogs/websites to learnmore about them
  
• I didn't follow people en masse. I did so over time— maybe 20 or so on a given day, when I felt inclined to do somepoking around
  

How I Use Twitter in 2010: What's in it for THEM?





Forbetter or worse, my use of Twitter is much less about discovering newpeople than it is about keeping up with established contacts and theflow of information. I'm lucky that more people tend to follow me, andI can discover new people by reciprocating. I also tend to follow morepeople I meet in real life since more of them are also on Twitter.

• Keep up with personal and professional contacts — @replies, retweets and some general chatter*
  
• Share links I find useful, interesting or funny — Or, links I think others following me might find useful, interesting or funny
  
• Share links to things I've written, or articles written about me (but make sure I share LOTS of other things, too)
  
• Share links and information about events I may be attending, interested in, or giving a presentation
  
• Share links to resources and toolsthat make the work of social media easier. Since I work in socialmedia, this is my sweet spot, you might do well to share links toresources and tools used in your line of work. For example, I regularlyshare links for FeedMyInboxwith other social media professionals working with companies inregulated industries that need to archive information on branded socialprofiles. Since most social networks have RSS feeds for profileinformation, FeedMyInbox turns any new update posted to a socialprofile into an individual email message. Long story short, this easilyintegrates social media archiving into an existing email archive,rather than creating a need for an entirely new archiving solution.
  
• Share links to job opportunities I think others might find interesting
  
• Answer questions about the company I'm working for*
  
• Share links about, or created by the company I work for*
  
• Search for relevant keywords related to my interests— I search for industry and topical references regularly. Google'saggregation of Twitter updates into real-time search often saves me anextra step these days, but I often search for terms when I'm on Twitteras a quick pulse check.
  
• Retweet links others post on Twitter thatI find interesting, or think others will find interesting. I oftencomment on articles posted to Twitter before retweeting when I havetime and interest.
  
• Answer questions others post on Twitter — informal polls, requests for help, etc.
  
• Chat it up —Twitter is full of many organized chats that take place at regulartimes related to specific topics. Chats are tracked using hashtags i.e.#journchat, #IMCchat (integrated marketing chat), #blogchat. etc. #Journchat was started by Sarah Evans (@PRSarahEvans)as a means of bringing PR professionals and journalists together onTwitter to discuss matters related to their industries, and how theymight work together better. Here is an open list of current Twitter chats on Google Docs (If yours isn't there, feel free to add it to the list).
  
• Make friends and get smart— when someone posts something funny or something that resonates withme, I might choose to chime in or ask them about their point of view. Ieven get into some pretty heated, yet respectful, debates this way. Idon't think networking always needs to be insipid cheerleading, but caninvolve spirited discussions full of disagreements. This may or may notbe your style — I just enjoy a challenging discussion even if itmeans I might eat crow from time to time.
  

*Anytime I post information about an employer or any type of sponsoredinformation, I disclose my relationship to the company. This has alwaysbeen a tenet of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association ethics, but theFTC decided to make it the law as of of December 1, 2009.


Your Turn




Ifyou're just getting started today, how do you do things differently? In2008, there wasn't the amount of spam, or aggressive follower accounts,or even big name celebrities on Twitter. The only journalist I knew ofon Twitter at that time was Jim Long.While I think others use Twitter differently than I do, I do think someways are more effective than others to build your online presence —especially when you don't have the built-in brand equity or socialcapital of a global consumer brand or international celebrity.


Irealize I didn't even touch on the applications and tools like URLshorteners. Is anyone still confounded by the actual mechanics ofposting, or are people more hung up on the performance aspectassociated with online interaction? Do the tactics I listedabove still hold true, or are things a little different for those justgetting started today? What do you tell someone who is just startingout today?


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thanx