Some things I've learned about Twitter (Part 1)

OK, let me say, first and foremost: I am NOT a social media expert. There, that feels so much better. Having said that, I have been plugging away faithfully, trying to learn about what works and doesn't work so well in the realm of social media and I like to think I've learned a few things. I'm going to focus specifically on how I view and use Twitter to narrow the focus a bit.

Lesson #1: Find a Good Way To Manage What You See

One of the funny things about Twitter is that the basic interface provided is practically unusable once you start following more than a handful of frequent updaters. The problem is that you will see so many tweets pass by with each refresh that you will miss most tweets throughout the day. There are a couple of ways to deal with this problem.  First, you can keep your list of people that you follow down to a bare minimum. But, this pretty much defeats the purpose of participating in a social network. Second, you can use some of the functionality built into Twitter combined with the plethora of desktop applications available.  For example, I use the list functionality in Twitter to categorize people I follow. I have a list for other attorneys, people who live in the Twin Cities/Minnesota, writers, etc. I combine this with Tweetdeck in such a way that each list has its own column so I can easily find out what the other attorneys are talking about or what is going on in the Twin Cities.

The primary takeaway here is that you need to figure out a way to take the firehose of information and filter it down to something that a human can actually understand. Tweetdeck isn't your only choice either, find what works for you!

Lesson #2 Be Mindful of What You Say on Twitter

In the early days of working with Twitter I really didn't know what I was doing and it showed. I had a hard time figuring out what I could say that was meaningful in 140 characters. I still can't claim that I'm some kind of Twitter master, but I sure know what doesn't work. This feels more like a list, so here goes:

• Don't mindlessly repeat quotes from other people. Especially if they only tangentially related to what it is you do in the real world. This isn't to say that an inspirational quote or two is a bad thing, but definitely keep it to a minimum and, if possible, be sure it ties into your business and/or reason for being on Twitter. You and I know Ghandi was amazing, I just don't need to see every thing he ever said up on my timeline EVERY DAY.
• Don't let your first contact with a new person be a sales pitch. I'm not 100% sure where I heard this, but treat Twitter like you would a party, mixer, etc. Twitter is a great place to make connections, get interesting ideas and build friendships. If you met a person in an informal setting such as a party and the first thing they said to you was "Learn how to grow your Twitter following and make ca$h!" I'm pretty sure you'd think they were a bit off.
• Don't make the mistake of assuming that everyone is interested in you. Take an interest in others! It's a simple thing that goes a long way to boosting your reputation. React to what others are talking about and contribute to the conversation.

Stay tuned for Part 2, I'll talk a bit more about Twitter Search, Trending Topics, Hashtags and what I think works in the Twitter world!