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My Twitter Lessons .. No2 (Next Steps)

So the next step in my journey having dipped a couple more toes in the water, was to realise that if I went to the profile of someone very active in the field I was interested (in my case Change) and looked at who they were following (on the basis that they might be of interest to me too) and took a punt on following a load of them.  Many people use automated tools to help them handle twitter (more of these in another lesson), so there is a reasonable chance a fair number will automatically follow you back.  This gives you a chance to see who they are and what they offer, to engage them and share your ideas.  If you don’t like their offerings, it is just as easy to unfollow them (effectively turning off their broadcast to you.)

The next really important thing I learnt was how to use the search function.  You can search for:-

  • Things going on in your area
  • Or places you are visiting
  • Subjects that interest you
  • Specific people

You can also use something called hash tags, which is a phrase prefixed by #, and this enables you to make your content easily found by others with similar interests.  Ecademy used this feature last week for its #twalk (search for it and see!)

These three things enable you to find other people who share your interests, and this gives you an opportunity to link across cyberspace with strangers who could become friends or partners.

Happy tweeting, and remember you’ll never learn to dance if you don’t go to the ball!

You can follow me on @RichardDerwentC

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 06:00 and is filed under Blogging, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “My Twitter Lessons .. No2 (Next Steps)”

  1. Marcus Ide says:
    7 June , 2009 at 15:51

    Master Richie, I’m on the same bus.

    The problem I find is whether or not to follow people from other countries in my specialist(ish) field, property. Obvious really as different rules govern different markets but should I be so picky? What I find myself doing is something akin to ‘cyber interviewing’; I look at endless profiles that contain the word property and see if it’s worth me interacting with them – writing this is making me think I’m being a touch superior, idiot. (Lesson to self, must revise and adapt)

    Funny thing, what’s easier for me is connecting with people from other fields, fields that I have a passing interest in. This seems logical to me as most people have interests outside of their normal work, normally referred to as hobbies. This being the case, is it acceptable for businesses to use Twitter for play as well as work?

    Keep ‘em coming, best wishes,

    Marcus

  2. richardderwentcooke says:
    7 June , 2009 at 19:14

    Marcus,
    I absolutely understand your dilemma. i have wondered why I should fill up my inbox with tweets I can’t understand but the other side of this is that though they tweet in German, they may also be able to read English.

    I think with regards to mixing the personal and business sides of your life, I asked this question at the seminar and the advice was “Be yourself”. i think the thing is that Twitter is so new that there is only one real rule “If it works, it is okay!…. If not do something different”

    Happy twittering

  3. Terri Rau says:
    10 June , 2009 at 09:45

    Because I am very interested in Internet Marketing, I chose to follow people like Mike Dillard and Perry Belcher.

    I then heard from Mike Dillard (who had over 10,000 followers) that he would be “un-following” those who he wasn’t “truly following” and not to take it personally. He cut his list of those he followed from thousands to just over 100. I realized that these were people he admired and possibly learned from so I chose to follow some of those folks.

    Also, there isn’t much point in following someone who doesn’t follow you unless they are one of your “true followees” those you really find interesting, not the autofollows.

    Cheers!
    Terri

  4. richardderwentcooke says:
    10 June , 2009 at 09:48

    Good advice and I completely agree Terri thanks for this

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