Twitter is a great tool. It has allowed me to develop relationships with people on a personal level. The power is that it’s a conversation that is only as disruptive as you allow it to be. And rich relationships can be fostered because Twitter allows a window into other people’s lives.
Ogilvy PR has two good posts on corporate use of Twitter:
- Why Twitter should matter to you
- Twitter Best practices
- Why Twitter Should Matter To You: Twustomer Service Edition
There are many resources for getting started. Here are some of the best:
- Caroline Middlebrook has a great guide
- Twitter in Plain English (a clever and fun two-minute video)
- How to use Twitter (a blogger’s solid step-by-step)
- 10 Ways to use Twitter
- List of Twitter101 posts on Delicious thanks to Warren Sukernek
Have patience with Twitter. Until you have some follow people & they follow you it will seem meaningless. Who you follow depends on your interests. Make sure that you keep adding new people because that will give you the opportunity to expand your horizons. Some must follows in my opinion:
- Follow me & I will follow you back
- @chrisbrogan @jowyang @mackcollier @conniereece @kanter
- Community Managers & Social Media
- to add your twitter link – password is build
- List of Brands on Twitter
- Enterprise use of Twitter
- Subject Areas in Twitter
- @fgossieaux – Marketing 2.0 & Community Expert
- @LeeOdden – SEO expert
- @AlbertMaruggi @PhilBaumann – health field
Ideas to find more interesting people:
If you see an interesting conversation click on the @person & see if they will add value to your Twitter stream. Follow them if they look interesting.
Twellow.com is a tool that allows you to search twitter bio’s. What is your area of interest? Mashable has an article on more uses for Twellow.
And Twitter may seem odd & disjointed. Here are two tools to see the messages in a threaded format:
- Quotably.com puts the conversations into perspective (it’s not perfect though).
- Tweeder.com thanks to my sister for that :)
Searching Twitter
- Search.Twitter.com. This is a great tool & you can subscribe to the RSS for the search & monitor it. It’s a great tool for building brand.
- Ways to Search Twitter thanks to @webword
How my use of Twitter has evolved as my number of followers increased
- And I have a number of articles on Twitter.
What are your favorite resources for getting started with Twitter? What advice would you give someone just dipping their toes in? Feel free to leave your Twitter must follows in the comments.
Subscribe to my blog by email (over my photo) or by RSS. My focus is community building, branding & social networking.
Reading @cbensen ‘s post on Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx Also, http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/54446
@jeaston1 here are ideas for twitter friends http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx and I will help too :)
twitter 101 for those who need to know. http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
…superb blog post on how to use Twitter from Connie Bensen:
http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
Twitter 101 http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
Currently Browsing: http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx an excellent twitter 101 – thanks Connie!
[Twitter*feed] Twitter 101 | Connie Bensen http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
Quick post on ‘Twitter 101’ from my friend Connie Benson: http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
Twitter 101 | Connie Bensen – http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
RT Thx Connie. @TheTwitPage: Twitter 101 | Connie Bensen – http://tinyurl.com/3jk9mx
Hi Connie, these are some good basic tips. As I got started, I found it kind of scary to add people (oh no, what if they think I’m a stalker?!) – remember that people have chosen to be on Twitter and are happy to have followers! Just start following people, and as you go along you can refine what and who you’re interested in keeping up with.
On another note, a couple of your links aren’t working for me – the Caroline Middlebrook link has the address repeated so it goes to an error, and @conniereece goes to @mackcollier.
Thanks Emily! I’m having a bad day with links :) You’re the second person mentioning bad ones. (It’s like proof reading – an irritating necessity). I will fix them for you.
I have found Tweader is nice to figure out a converstation.
If you find a twitter and you want to follow the conversation, click on the date to go to the actual twitter. Then from the url of the twitter, copy the ID at the end of the url and paste it into the Tweader, it will give you thread like conversation. I like the chatty style.
Thanks for including me on your must-follow list, Connie. I can say that would be mutual.
When starting out it’s a good idea to ask for recommendations by field of interest. For example, “Who should I be following to learn more about enterprise use of Twitter?” That’s a real question I got this morning and I was able to think of 3-4 people of the top of my head that would be good to follow for their expertise.
I welcome newbies to send me @ messages with questions about how to use Twitter. We were all new once, and it’s nice to have someone respond to your questions. It’s also a good way to get conversations started.
Good advice, Connie, that newcomers need to give Twitter a while to provide value. You have to be following enough people and spend enough time tweeting/responding before it clicks. Those who stick with it for a while usually hit that “aha” moment when the benefits of a service like Twitter finally become apparent.
Hi Connie,
I love Twitter and I woul suggest it to everyone. It’s not just a tool where you can post your status, but I see it as a learning tool. Since you can foolow people you want, you can use it for a lot of purposes. I personally use it for learning and shareing ideas. I’m already following you for example, my user is “bufo82”. If someone reads this comment feel free to follow me ;)
To reply to advices if you’re new to Twitter:
– start by adding your firends, then follow their replies, you’ll be surprised to see who is using it – even the lady that is celaning your desk every evening ;),
– if you have a blog, Facebook eg. or a LinkedIn profile add it to your links, soon people will start following you
– but unfortunately there is a lot of spammers using it, so before following someone check his updates.
I hope I helped somehow Connie, cheers from Slovenia.
All Twitter newbies should read this post. It’s an excellent source of information.
John P. Kreiss
MorganSullivan, Inc.
http://www.johnpkreiss.com
Nice comprehensive list of instructions and tools to use. I have catalogued over 100 Twitter101 posts (now including this one) on Delicious.com. Hopefully, people will find it helpful http://delicious.com/wss23/twitter101
Hi Connie,
Thanks for mentioning the Brand Index. I’ve also linked to two other lists from my site: one from jdsupra that lists attorneys tweeting and another with spanish twitter accounts.
Be sure to check out the updated site at socialbrandindex.com.
I think the thing about Twitter is that different people use it in many different ways. So it’s hard to explain or give advice.
That said, my personal opinion is that you really have to take part. Yes, you can join Twitter and just sit and watch the stream, but you stand to gain a lot more if you dive in and talk to people. Don’t be afraid to jump into conversations and add your thoughts.
That’s one of the most important things, for me, at least. And it’s something that I’m trying to do more. So yeah, hope it helps.
@Heidi (hmm am I getting my sister addicted?!) thanks for the tip :)
Oh Connie, you reminded me of a link I was going to include – Ogilvie’s best practices for the enterprise
@valentin thanks for the additional tips!
thanks @John for the kudos
wow @warren, I’ll get that link up there – what a great resource
thx @jkash or the resources you maintain
And @derrick I’ve gotten to know all of you in Singapore thru twitter. :) I agree jump in & chat
Great post and valuable resource… will refer back to it often and share. Thanks Connie!
Hey Connie,
Great post and useful to newbies.
Your readers can get some additional hints and tips on my blog devoted to Twitter: http://snipurl.com/3yowh
Connie – superb resource that will keep me busy for some time. Thanks for sharing your research on this. Thanks too to Mark at Twitter Connections (FaceBook) for bringing your post to my attention. I agree with your comments about being patient. I get a follower or two every day but I am very conscious of the need not to clutter my Twitter account with “noise” and “distraction”, so I am selective about who I follow. I do love to follow the humorous and creative as well as the more serious contributors.
Connie:
Thanks for including in your must follow list – I’m in esteemed company.
I’m adding this post to my collection – I love the links you discovered.
http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com/twitter_primer
BTW, I have a step-by-step twitter listening guide here:
http://socialmedia-listening.wikispaces.com/Project+1
I’d love to add another really complete and totally free resource to the mix. it’s the Twitter Handbook
http://twitterhandbook.com/
Thanks for the wonderful post. And I, of course, adore Twitter as a business tool and boredom buster!
Twitter is my absolute favorite “keep connected” tool. I keep in touch with my friends… even if I’ve never met them face to face.
The use of twitter had brand new applications for me during Blog World Expo a few weeks ago. Not only did we organize a huge tweet-up with @WarrenWhitlock and @CoachDeb… but through twitter I was invited to some special round table discussions and dinners.
I kept up with hundreds of my twitter friends who were at the conference and those that couldn’t attend got instant updates from me.
I knew instantly where the action was… and who was going to show up at what party.
Also… I learned how to take notes during each session using Twitter and hash tags. #
When I was “stuck” in a boring (not getting a thing out of this) session… but I could see by using twitter… that I was missing a great session across the hall – I could sneak out and scurry over to get in on the best information.
This isn’t just about using Twitter socially… it’s about using Twitter to run your business more efficiently and getting the most out of those face to face meetings.
Learning to use mTwitter (mobile twitter) on my phone and finding TweetDeck are two of best recommendations for Twitter apps.
Thanks for the great article about some other interesting Twitter applications.
Debra
@DebraConrad on Twitter
[…] you’re just getting started with Twitter I have a post, Twitter 101, with links to resources for getting started. I also provide consulting in the areas of social […]
Best of the best
[…] a list of Twitter resources for personal, professional and corporate use. I want to single out Connie Bensen’s Twitter 101 articles that I found really […]
It is great!
Не пора бы вам начать монетизировать ваш блог?
[…] Twitter 101 – Connie Bensen describes how to find interesting people on Twitter, building a community through Twitter and also mentions the various brands on the service. […]
What can twitter do for you?
I love your website – super work!