My Twitter experiences so far

Twitter seems to be the latest thing when it comes to keeping in contact with anyone and everyone, or even seeing what people are up to, are about to get up to etc.

I've been on Twitter since the end of March 2009, having originally joined with the intention of boosting my blog (which I've hardly written in) and develop, maybe, a (change of) career in writing and social commentating. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, but I have gone through the addiction, searching for anybody and everybody, posting inane updates (e.g. I'm having beans for dinner), and generally wasted a lot of time. I have found people I know, and added some, and avoided others. However, I have come to some realisations:

Post about relevant stuff and people may follow you.
One thing I've noticed is that when I tweet about relevant or interesting stuff, e.g. Mac/iPhone, my wine and restaurant choices, commentary on TV programs (Masterchef is a good one!) etc, then I sometimes get a response/tweet back or a follower or two.

Contribute to trending topics
Tweet about stuff that's trending, and people will follow you, particularly if you show some humour (e.g. again, Masterchef). The highlight is being 're-tweeted' where someone posts your tweet back

Answer questions asked by fellow tweeters. While it's fun to tweet that you're eating beans, it's actually more fun to interact with fellow tweeps by answering questions or comments if you know the answer. This also means they might follow you.

Be aware of volume
When I consider whether I may follow someone, one thing I do look at is the volume and quality of their tweets. I'd be more inclined to favourite the tweet I thought was interesting if I think that they person tweets too much about not much at all. This one is a funny one though because I have been prone to the quantity, not quality rule at times!

Use favourites
Favourites are handy. 'nuff said.

Get a good Twitter client
Using the web interface is good for occasional use, but if you're going to get into it, get a web client. There are heaps out there. The ones I have used/tried are:

• Tweetdeck
• Nambu
• Tweetie

There are also ones out there that look like an excel spreadsheet, apparently done so your boss doesn't think you're on Twitter!

Also, there are plenty of sites that work in well with Twitter to allow to you post links, pictures etc:

• Twitpic.com
• Tr.im
• pic.im

Happy Tweeting, Tweeps!




p.s. I don't really like beans!