One of my resolutions for 2009 is to become a more dedicated Twitter-er. I’ve just read Mike Filsaime’s post on Twitter and have been skimming through all kinds of blog posts made in the last year about the web’s favorite microblog.
If you do what I’m doing, Googling and following massive links from every major and minor blog on the web that mentioned Twitter this year, you will quickly see an entire universe of interest, arguments (over what Twitter is really best used for), and pleas for more information or help.
All This from 140 Characters?
It’s really quite amazing how a microblog that only allows you to post 140 characters per post has generated books, forums, blogs, and literally countless conversations about itself.
There are Twitter guides that purport to teach you everything you need to know to “dominate” Twitter. As if the first thing normal people want to do with anything that becomes popular is “dominate” it.
What strikes me is how the advice from different groups of people on how to use Twitter serves the purpose and inclinations of each group.
- Marketers want to dominate it – so they release guides on how to get a lot of followers really fast and, usually, leave the reason for this up to you.
- Bloggers want more traffic through it - They are busy people with far more to say than 140 characters will allow, but microblogging is therapeutic, and, everyone else is doing it so let’s not be left out.
- Regular surfers seek meaning from it – Most people still have no idea what Twitter is all about. Which is appropriate, if you think about it. Clearly no one can give a definitive answer on what Twitter is all about that suits every user.
- Corporations want to understand it – Seems like Dell has used Twitter to great advantage in 2008, reportedly pulling down an extra million or so by running Twitter-only specials. But they already have the attention of their market, so running a sale anywhere on their market stream would generate a lot of sales. So, what was their point?
- And everyone who uses it thinks they know the best way to use it – Not only that, but they feel like they know exactly what YOU want from it and are ready to tell you all about why you want to use it. There are seemingly thousands of Twitter tools. Everyone thinks the way they use those tools to Tweet is the best way, even if their favorite tools are duplicates of others with their own hugely evangelistic following.
When you really start diving into Twitter and following a mere fraction of the conversations going on around it, you learn that this little tool that organizes everything nicely into packages of 140 characters or less, has created utter chaos all around it.
It seems like the chaos of people shouting out their favorite ways of using Twitter, what Twitter is for, and the things you MUST do to use Twitter properly, would turn anyone new to the whole thing into a nervous wreck.
So I Have a Twitter Resolution
I have been an on again off again user of Twitter. I have my blog streaming to my account so I don’t look so bad for being an infrequent Tweeter. Then I get fired up about it and Tweet like mad for a few days. I’ve used and discarded tons of Twitter apps aimed at helping me use Twitter “better.”
I have over 1000 followers today and am following around 70 others. So I know a little about it. But I still haven’t made up my mind about how it becomes and integral part of what I do online as opposed to a fall-back when I am bored or feel guilty for not Tweeting in a week.
I am not offering any answers in this post as to how or why you should use Twitter.
There’s a lot of interesting stuff from marketers on why and how you should use it. But I am going to dive in and follow advice from people with much larger follower lists than mine, use my own ideas on how best to use Twitter for my business, and come back here with updates on the process.
There’s plenty information out there about how to get thousands of followers, but less on what it means to have thousands of real followers and what that can do for your business (with examples!).
I’d like to see some information on tests people have done or some stats on a single Tweet’s effect on a large following. Like increased sales, more RSS subscribers, more blog comments, etc. I’ve seen traffic increases on my blog as well as increased sales as a result of Tweeting about new products or something I wanted to alert followers to, but I didn’t really record them.
So my resolution: Take a more logical, regular approach to Twitter as if I had built it myself as a communication tool for my business. And then report back here with hard results of tests I conduct.
I’d love to hear from you as well! Please feel free to comment on your confusion, success, test results, or the tools you like to use with Twitter below…
Oh yeah, and follow me on Twitter!
More Twitter Resources
- Developing a Twitter Landing Page (I really like this one and will incorporate a Twitter landing page here at FTR)
- Twitip – a “Think Tank” for Twitter strategies by Darren Rowse. Really cool stuff here. Bookmark it.
- 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter
- How to Get More Twitter Followers
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