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.