Website Managers

What Twitter Is

Twitter is part blog, part instant messaging system. It is more discussion-oriented than social networks because it does not have the other content such as video, photos, or long profiles. Twitter is the social web on hyper-drive. You can use Twitter through your cell phone, on the web site, or through another program written like an instant messenger, but for Twitter.

Twitter is predicted to be the big ticket next year. People looking at it from the outside do not understand why they should, but once you join and start using it, every other social networking site appears to stand still. Twitter is like blogging with just an RSS feed in real time. You may not have a question or need to get a particular piece of information, but the stream of real time reports from across the event allows you to know about everything as it happens.

Using Twitter

Twitter is more like a 10-second digital advertisement. You are limited to 160 characters in each message. People most often use it to broadcast short bits of info. Twitter is taking off like wildfire for its users and for developers who are creating applications to work with it.

Twitter is at its best when you connect to a lot of different people. However, if someone is annoying, I do not feel obligated to keep them in my Twitter list. Twitter is helping me get exposed to new people, ideas and online resources I would have never known about without Twitter. The popularity of Twitter continues to expand at an amazing rate. Twitter is always on and is much faster, provided the person you want to reach is paying attention.

Adding Friends

A good rule of thumb is to follow everyone who follows you. If for no other reason, it makes for fun twit discussions when you are referencing each other’s posts. Follow people who you find interesting and if you keep your messages interesting, they will follow you.

If you want to relate to others in a particular niche market, use the search box and scan through the results. Look at their bio if they wrote one and add them to your friends list. They will get an email saying that you are following them. In turn, you will get an email when someone follows you. That way, you can visit their Twitter profile to see who they are.

Tweeting on Twitter

Do not think of posting to Twitter as a chore, or feel an obligation to post. You should never have to search for something to post about. Post your thoughts about what you are doing, the website you are visiting, blog articles you are writing, short jokes and anything else you want others to know. If you are on a website, just leave space for the URL.

Twitter will keep a history of your posts (tweets) so you can refer to them later and allow others to see them too. You can see just your Twitter friends, your archives or everything that everyone on Twitter is talking about. To address a friend, prefix their username with @. Example: @websitemanagers

Join Twitter

Go ahead, take the plunge into the fast-paced world of Twittering. You can start by connecting with me at Twitter.com.

Disclaimer: By clicking that link and joining Twitter, you agree to hold me harmless if you end up in a Twitter Annonymous group!

Here is another interesting article about Twitter, “Why I Hate Twitter“.

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Jim Hutchinson has studied Internet Marketing from some of the most influential leaders and explores the diverse aspects of SEO. Many of those resources are available on Affiliate Referral Sources.
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Copyright © 2008 Website Managers, LLC. You may reprint this article providing that this copyright notice and resource links all remain intact.

Tags: shoutcast, Social Networking, Twitter

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