Tag Archives: Twitter Tips

What to TWEET about — Part Two

Best Practices for Using Twitter

Something to Think About
Something to Think About

Since Twitter will be changing all our lives, according to Time magazine’s recent cover story, I was thinking about how my use of Twitter differs from other Tweeple — and whether anyone could really publish a Best Practices for Using Twitter.

Don’t most of us think we are right most of the time?

If I, personally, was “right” on Saturday, May 23, when I posted my first tips on What to Tweet About — a blog entry that has so far been my most popular [732 views to date] — then I’d like to re-visit one of my Tweeting suggestions, i.e. “Share an insight that you’ve gotten all on your own and are dying to share.”

Today’s post will feature a dozen of the personal ideas I tweeted since joining Twitter this past March. My hope is that readers will find at least one of these thoughts that resonates with them in a way that invites validation through a personal story.

So tell me if any of the following ring true for you:

About Business in particular:

1 – People are NOT numbers. When businesses fully understand this, their strategies and tools will adjust.

2 – Participation is today’s Marketing & tomorrow’s Loyal Customer Base

3 – To be an effective manager: Realize that you are smarter OR wiser OR more knowledgeable than your staff . . . and coach accordingly.

About Blogging in particular

4 – Quality of content wins over fitting into someone else’s box.

5 – Content-rich means both “key words” and total substance.

About Life in general:

6 – Multi-tasking is vastly over-rated.

7 – Motivation often comes after the Hard Work is done

8 – A Work in Progress: doesn’t that describe Everything?

9 – One cannot give from a depleted state

10 – We are what we think about

11 – We like doing what we do well: when we focus our efforts on our strengths, we build our reputation and loyal followers.

12 – The more I learn, the more I want to know.

Got an experience to share? Or an insight to add?

And Follow Me on Twitter @sharisax

Next post: Marketing success will depend on tapping into Today’s New Resources

Life on Twitter made easier than Life on Mars — Try Tweetdeck

If you love getting organized, you’ll love Tweetdeck

Untangle your Tweets
Untangle your Tweets

Tweetdeck is the key that not only opens the door to greater accessibility but can make your entire Twitter experience so much fun — especially for those who love easy organization.

How Tweetdeck works:

1. Download Tweetdeck (TweetDeck runs on the Adobe AIR runtime. To use TweetDeck, you will need to install Adobe AIR first.)

2. Login and you will see THREE COLUMNS: One column is a list of the Tweeple you follow [ALL FRIENDS] with the most recent 100 tweets (including your own). The second and third columns are likely to be empty.

3. One of the empty columns is called DIRECT MESSAGES. When you SEND one of your followers a DM [direct message], it will appear in this column.

4. The other empty column is called REPLIES. Here you will see messages that mention your twitter name, i.e., @twittername, e.g., @sharisax. [An “advanced move” is to change this column, but that can wait for a later post from me or you can read about it within a blog called Twittercism.]

5. Now you are ready to take a look at the boxes that run along the top, beginning on the left above your columns. The first box TWEET will open up the text insert line that allows you to write your 140 character message. [The box turns red if your message goes over the limit.] The input line below the tweet line is used for shortening a long URL: simply type in the complete URL, click SHORTEN, and your smaller URL is inserted into your message.  The TWITPIC box next to Shorten allows you to add picture files. When your message is complete, click your enter key and the message will be sent to Twitter.

6.  Tweetdeck has many additional features, but you may want to play with just two of them before you begin further investigation. The sixth box from the left [after the Tweet box] is called GROUP. When you click on Group, another column pops up: ADD A GROUP. You are asked to name the group.

  • Many Tweeple use a column to separate the most interesting and important people they are following from the rest of the pack, so often this column is identified as A-List. You will see a “drop down”  listing of ALL of the people you follow, and you click on those you wish to be in your “A-List” or whatever you choose to call the group.
  • When you are finished selecting group members, simply click on SAVE GROUP at the bottom, and then you will have a separate stream of tweets from group members. This makes it easy for you to “follow” a lot of people and not have to read through all their tweets to get to the ones you want.

7. The final “beginner’s tip” is the box to the right of Group. This is TWITTER SEARCH. When you click here, you will get an input box asking what you are searching for. You can try any topic, even your name. When you hit enter, another column is added with the Tweets mentioning the word or phrase (just as if you had gone to the Twitter Search site.

HINT: When I set up my first additional group and search columns, I thought some had “disappeared” because I couldn’t see them. Then I discovered the movable bar below the columns that allows you to move to the right or left to access all your columns even when they extend past your screen size.

NOTE: Additional sources: Chris Spagnuolo’s EdgeHopper, and here’s a site that answers Tweetdeck FAQ

FINAL SUGGESTION: These tips listed above are just to get you started. The Real Fun begins when you discover some of the functions on your own — So Download Tweetdeck and Enjoy!

Next post:What to Tweet About