Twitter 101
I joined twitter a few months ago and like John never really understood what it was all about. The twitter site does not do a very good job of explaining why you should use it or what you should do after you sign-up. So I let it sit and did nothing with it. I then read on a local bloggers site (Miss604) about some fun going on at twitter and decided to revisit twitter and how I could use it.
What is twitter?
twitter is a micro blogging system. If you currently blog you most likely blog 200 words or more into your blog on a regular basis. twitter only allows you to post 140 characters per post. This is a great way for you to post links to cool sites, random thoughts, questions, trivia. The possibilities are endless really. Once you get in you start to find yourself almost in a large chat room where you can talk to others. twitter is great for networking with others and developing relationships with people you would normally not know.
How do I get involved in twitter?
The first step is to sign-up for an account. Once you are set up with the account your one third the way done. Next you will want to search for people you know, want to know or are interested in. For example John Chow, Shoemoney, Problogger and DoshDosh post frequently on twitter now. When you find someone choose to follow them. This will then send your twitter account the updates from that person and you can see what they post. Now that you are following people it is time to make it easier to be notified of when they are online. If you are on Windows then Twirl is the tool of choice and if you are on a Mac then Twitterific is very popular. Install one of these on your system and start it up. You will start to receive notifications of when someone you are following posts.
Why should I use twitter?
Networking with others in a web 2.0 world will ultimately be your chance for success in whatever you do. twitter is an easy way to get to know others and be known. Since using twitter full time for two weeks it is now my second biggest referral of traffic and will most likely be number one in a few months. If you join twitter, be helpful and try to keep advertising you do to a minimum you will gain good traffic from twitter.
Are their any cool WordPress plugin’s for twitter?
If you have a WordPress blog there are plugin’s that will allow you to send a notification to your twitter account that you made a new post. I have had been using WordTwit on my blog but another good one is Twitter Tools.
Conclusion
If you are not using twitter yet you should. Once you sign-up send me a shout out by doing an @bluefur <your message> so I can follow you.
This post was guest blogged by Gary Jones from BlueFur.com. BlueFur provides Dedicated Servers in Canada like the one that runs John Chow’s sites.
- Posted in Ramblings
- 59 comments what's your take?
Related posts from the blog
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Loading ...
let’s all get on the bandwagon!
Reply to this commentDone and done!
Great write-up on Twitter!
Reply to this commentThe bandwagon has been taking people for months now. I’m surprised it took John so long to actually get on it!
~ Dave
Reply to this commentNot really. Twitter still hasn’t gone mainstream.
Reply to this commentI think it is mainstream now. I heard it mentioned on PBS
Reply to this commentThanks for the info Gary. I would also join Twitter. I think the site sounds interesting with your explanation.
Reply to this comment
Twitter is pretty cool, i think i should signup
Reply to this commentI am going to jump on and install the wordpress plug in. Very cool that it will notify them. I am hearing more and more about this site every day.
Reply to this commentAre you a twit? lol, that’s what i’ll be asking my friends from now on. …and yes, i’m a twit (joined just recently). I’ll have to check out the wordpress plugin, that could be great.
Reply to this commentI have accounts at most of the social networking sites, but for the life of me, I just don’t “get” this one. It seems totally pointless and a waste of time. People could care less that I am eating at McDonalds… and I could care less that they are doing the same. You just picked up your dry cleaning? Good for you, I don’t care.
Reply to this commentYour following the wrong people then.
Reply to this commentI agree lol
Reply to this commentSeriously, who / what could be so interesting that it is imperative that I know what you are doing?
I’m not trying to be rude, I just don’t get it.
Reply to this commentGreat
You can have twitter sync with wordpress, wow.. And yeah twitter is just good for networking too.
Nice post. If anyone wants to follow me, you can do that from http://twitter.com/sizzler_chetan
Reply to this commentYou also got twitter? Nice Nice
Reply to this commentSynching twitter with a blog via plugin is fine as long as people remember to also do real tweets or else, not only will you be considered a spammer, but people will stop following you (and then who’ll see your spam? no one).
happy twittering
Reply to this commentBest comment I ever read was “twitter feeds consisting entirely of blog post links are probably written by the same people who - when they were little - told their parents about every time they went to the toilet”.
Reply to this commentHi - just wanted to say good blog.
Reply to this commentThis is also a good read for more details on twitter…
http://scobleizer.com/2008/03/23/the-secret-to-twitter/
Reply to this commentRobert Scoble’s blog is a pretty cool blog too
Reply to this comment2nd largest source of traffic? Holy cow.
But I’m STILL not really getting it. So you type a short message into your phone, it goes to everyone who’s following you on their phones, they click through to your website through their phones?
Can somebody please explain this to me like I’m five? Thanks.
Reply to this commentJust want to make sure you understand that you can post from multiple devices like your web browser, phone or the software mentioned in the post.
So here is how I would explain it to my 5 year old.
1. You join.
2. You follow people you want to know.
3. Talk to those you want to know and make friends.
4. Do not use this tool for spam it is to build friendships.
5. Friends help friends and that drives traffic.
Examples of how twitter has been used.
1. Copyblogger asked out to his followers what is creativity to them. He collected the replies and used the one’s he liked in his post.
2. Problogger asked his followers for their best posts of the week. He then put them together into a post on his blog.
3. Affiliate Summit held a live trivia contest and was sending out $50 per winner of each question.
There are lots of uses for this tool. Do not think of it as a tool to just say where you are now because it has evolved already above that.
Reply to this commentOkay, now it’s making some sense. I thought this was only for text messaging.
I checked out the site months ago and there was no real explanation. I also just now noticed they put up a video. Thanks for the clarification.
Reply to this commentIt makes a lot more sense when you list uses for twitter like that, as opposed to using twitter for posting links or other spam.
Reply to this comment~Terry
I’m on Twitter. It’s great for networking and helps you become more creative (saying what you want to say in 140 characters is a challenge). My feed is http://www.twitter.com/rhyswynne
Reply to this commenti’ve been enjoying my time on twitter too, its fun to see what’s going on with else.
Reply to this commenttwit me up: http://www.twitter.com/moneyreign
Twitter = the new spamming place
-Mike
Reply to this commentI agree. All such heavy promoted place becomes a SPAM ZONE…bad
Reply to this commentI agree too. I signed up for too many social network websites that I can’t read my good email no more.
Reply to this commentI disagree. Unlike email you can block followers and just unfollow people you think are spam.
If you spam you will end up just spamming to yourself.
Reply to this commentYou can block people in email as well.
Reply to this commentGreat post Gary! I just joined 5 days ago too… it’s so addictive. It’s a drug I tell you.
It’s pretty funky to use - similar to a facebook “status” update too but with more random people. I’m looking for those with similar interests too so I can get some insight on investments/deals.
If anybody else is also into investments, saving money, and making money, my twitter is http://twitter.com/trustful88
Let’s start a bandwagon and get us all linkedin!
Reply to this comment-Albert
I will try it out.
Reply to this commentWhy are you writing this the second time?
Reply to this commentYour just copying what John Chow just said in his post!
I’m still confuse. What do you mean by using twitter, setting my blog in there or whether I can blog in twitter and getting some traffic to my blog about fishing? I love fishing and I don’t know if I can blog about fishing in twitter.. need to check it out then
Reply to this commentYou can blog about fishing. Then find people to follow who also like fishing and talk to them about it.
Reply to this commenti posted a comment but it does not appear. where does it went to?
Reply to this commentI’ve checked it out, but personally it doesn’t seem to do anything for me. I just don’t see the point/usefulness.
Reply to this commentDid you follow people that you want to get to know?
For example I follow a lot of web designers because that is my taget market. Following them and interacting with them helps me understand that market more.
For your blog you might want to seek out investors and follow them.
Reply to this commentNice post there bluefar.
Reply to this commentTwitter is a nice tool and you will get addicted to it soon.
Whoohooo! (oops is that trademarked by WAMU?)
Reply to this commentI just jumped aboard the twit-wagon!
http://twitter.com/yeu2dotcom
twitter is good to drive some traffic to your blog.. you can enter text with more than 140 characters in twitter using twitzer: http://i-stuff.blogspot.com/2008/03/enter-longer-text-more-than-140.html
Reply to this commentWhat is this Twitter all about? I wonder what the meaning of this word is?
Reply to this commentWhat I want to know is how could I use them to advertise my site?
Reply to this commentI have to say I am in the camp that does not get this service. I think it is better said I don’t want to get this service. I saw someone above linking to Robert Scoble. Ahhhhhh! another guy that drives me crazy. He said in an article on CNet News that speakers at tech conferences should take “twitter breaks” DURING their speech in order to take in the comments of the back channel commenters. Just shoot me.
Reply to this commentI visited Twitter today and it really a cool site.
Reply to this commentIt is a useful method to improve traffics and readers,
Reply to this commentI’m another non-getter. I joined a while ago and still don’t get it. You say “find people you want to follow, and follow them”? That’s the problem - every time I’ve checked it out there is NO ONE there I have the slightest interest in. If there’s intelligent life there, it’s well hidden.
Reply to this commenttwitter is just another thing nothing special … I decided not to waste my time making an account there.
Reply to this commentI guess I’ll have to try twitter out. Uhh, all these internet social sites give me a headache. Entrecard, Sitehoppin, Blogexplosion and now Twitter.
Reply to this commentIt’s interesting to see the growth of twitter over the last 6 months and how it’s growing now. Some are using twitter just to network and some for PR/marking. I use twitter for it all but still try to answer the question what are you doing?
The key to me is finding the right tools to help you manage your twitter community and decide how many followers you want to stay in contact with. You can go hyper-local on twitter or world wide and follow everyone.
Good post
Reply to this commentI’m @waynesutton on twitter and I approve this post.
Here’s a cool video tutorial: Twitter in Plain English (http://blip.tv/file/719841). I signed up a while ago and invited friends to follow me but haven’t been using it. I’d like to add the application that lets me twitter to Facebook so I don’t do it twice. Hopefully I’ll get around to that soon (after I’m done updating all my online social networking sites!).
Carmina, aka Mogulette-in-the-making
Reply to this commenthttp://mogulette.blogspot.com
another good marketing tool good stuff this time
Reply to this comment