Twitter Goes from Fun to Essential
Submitted by Jeremy Palmer on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 18:00.
About a month ago I wrote a post about my first experiences with Twitter. After giving it a 30 day test drive I was hooked. I started to recognize it as a good way to network with friends and customers.
After 30 more days, Twitter went from being a fun networking tool to a vital part of my business. Check this out...
- Twitter is now the # 2 referring site for QuitYourDayJob.com
- I receive more traffic from Twitter than Google natural search (Shawn Collins from Affiliate Summit also mentioned this)
- I've created nearly 1,000 connections with friends, colleagues, and members of QYDJ
- I'm learning valuable information about my customers
- I've received high quality assistance and advice from a number of subject matter experts
- I've discovered dozens of great sites, blogs, and articles through my network of friends
Twitter is starting to catch fire and even Fortune 500 companies like Comcast are joining the conversation. Earlier this morning I mentioned that I was having problems with e-mail delivery on Comcast's network, and within 10 minutes I received a reply from an official Comcast service representative offering to help. I also received sage advice from other e-mail delivery experts (thanks @comcastcares | @rolet | @markgilbert | @andrewwee)
The utility of Twitter comes from the quality and activity of your network. I follow a lot of smart people who tend to be very active on Twitter, which improves my own experience on the site.
I think a lot of new Twitterers sign-up and fade out because they don't grow their network. It's important that you make connections early and often to get the most out of the site.
I don't recommend signing up and following 1,000 strangers. This makes you look like a Twitter spammer or extremely desperate. Start with people you know, and then consider adding people they follow. For example, I recently setup an account for the Black Ink Project (@blackinkproject) to encourage participants to network and get to know each other.
You'll find Twitter is most useful when you have a good balance of followers and followees. If you follow 1,000 people and only 10 people follow you back you're missing the point.
Finally, I recommend that you schedule Twitter time the same way you do e-mail or phone calls. If you leave a Twitter window open all day you'll kill your productivity, but if you set aside designated times to check it out it won't own you and you can stay on top of it (@jangro has some good tips at the beginning of his latest podcast about Twitter time management.)
If you're not on Twitter it's time to take it for a test drive. When you get there don't forget to stop by @quityourdayjob and say "Hi".
See you in the Twitterverse ;)
Yep, as you know, I quit it
Yep, as you know, I quit it early on, but then realized that my brand MUST be there. It's beyond "fun" for me, it's part of my business.
Twitter is hard to explain
Twitter is hard to explain to someone who has never seen it. I usual start here. It seems so banal at first but it really does go way beyond 'what am I doing'. If you tell someone to 'get on twitter' the ultimate result is they end up watching paint dry. I usually tell people tha have no twitter network to turn to at all to try following a few people with the same interests or preffesion here. Listen, engage, network.
I am amazed how many people I follow as a result of a conversation between them and someone I already follow. I am amazed how many blogs and new blog posts I discover.
Be patient, as twitter will not bloom for you over night. Listen. Engage. Network.
Great advice and the same goes for FaceBook
Great advice Jeremy
I find that advice is the same for Facebook also. I mean i have recieved 100s of request to be friend of people i don't know. Because of the viral nature of facebook it can get out of hand real fast. I recieved request from friends of friends and found some pretty werid people out there. While you may be tempted to grow a massive list of friends, be selective in your list. One day on face book and im already geting spamed.
Couldn't agree more...
Just in the last week I've learned a few technical things that helped me out. Great place to learn and network. Must learn to budget my time better, it can get addictive.
Twittering
I check twitter/qydj, Twitter/black ink, qydj, and every other blog that will keep me informed, and updated on next weeks class. I very much appreciate the chance to learn. I check in several times a day, before, during, and after work. I hope to have something of benefit to contribute, in the future. Thank you so very much. Robert
Server Overload
With it being such a hugely popular service, let's hope the folks at Twitter can keep the servers running as the demand increases.
Agreed - Twitter is essential!
I agree 110% and am glad I joined twitter. One thing I've seen, though, is that it's good to have a strategy. If you just go on to give updates of what you're doing (ie. ate hear today, yelled at this person while driving, etc.) it may not have the same result.
What are strategies you use to make twitter most effective? How do you sort the "wheat from the tares" - if I follow too many people, it seems I get lots of almost spam comments.
I'd like to write a blog post with some of your answers at http://MollerMarketing.com and refer my readers to your ideas. Thanks.
Twitter is more than a website
I think what is really cool about twitter is that it's much more than a website, it's a communication service/platform. So, there are many different ways to send and receive tweets. For example, I rarely visit the twitter site and log in. I usually either point my iPhone browser at TwitterForiPhone or I'll use Twitterrific running on my macbook. Of course you can use it on your cell phone too, but I don't have any input on that since I've only used my iPhone.
Twitter is a good thing
I was skeptical about Twitter because it looked like a time-waster at first. To my surprise and delight, though, it's been quite the contrary. After only a week or so I've already connected with some outstanding people... a few right here in Tucson! Even better, several who know me through Meetups are now Twits. How cool is that!? The possibilities are exciting!
Being selective about who to follow is important ... sticking with people who have common or similar interests as me. I couldn't care less about building a massive list of people to follow or followers who don't share anything in common with me.... there's no benefit.
Jeremy and the others are right about scheduling Twitter time. During the first couple of days I was totally distracted and got little else done but reading tweats. Now I drop by in the AM and PM so I don't get sidetracked by the conversations. The only exception are occasions like yesterday when I was waiting for my car to be repaired. Thanks to my Treo and Twitter, those two boring hours seemed to zip by.
Yisel Guajardo @yisel suggested adding Twhirl to manage Twitter and I find it works well. Also tried Twitter Fox, but it won't work at all with my setup.
I'm still new to and learning about social media, but I'm really liking the results so far.
Kerri Mackenzie
www.Small-Biz-Ideas.com
Good Stuff for Entrepreneurs
Twitter @kerrimackenzie
twitter can't change the world
In addition to affiliate marketing I am also trying to get social media including twitter working to help me save the world.
It doesn't work.
I am sure this is largely my own fault for not having enough connections.
I posted messages to all sorts of places for people to tweet me their local gas prices....nothing.
Sure this may sound like a goofy or far-fetched idea to some but if it was the idea of a top twitterer it may have worked.
Once I am a 'Jeremy Palmer' a 'Shawn' or someone important I will once again try to save the world.
For now -
I'm just cougarmark
Thought it was a silly site @ first.....But the value WOW!
When I first looked at Twitter from Jeremy's recommendation I thought "what is this? and why would people do it?" I thought it was another way, just like facebook, to say "I am sleeping now" "I am waking up now" "I am eating, going to school, work...etc" It is I suppose to some. But build a network of like minded internet business people and you have a network of people sharing everything from their WP set up trouble to cool resources and information. Some of this is affiliate links, but I have found that the few that are, are referring to quality products/services.
Keeping up on what others are up to helps to keep me moving and motivated and excited about the business that we are in.....Its really cool! So much is happening, so much potential for anyone with a few smarts and now Twitter has moved in with such a simple model and become a essential business communication/networking tool, love it!
Cheers and best of luck all!
Jeromy
http://twitter.com/JeromyS
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.
Napoleon Hill
Trying to learn Twitter also
If Jeremy, John Reese and others think Twitter is worth learning and using, then I'll give it a shot. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be addicting like some have mentioned. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is (anyone have a few to spare that I can have?)
http://twitter.com/SJSieloff
or
http://www.stevesieloff.com
Ok, back to finding some more twits or whatever they're called.
Steve
Twitter takes patience for less popular of us
Hi Jeremy,
If newbies sign up for Twitter and think their websites are going to get shelled, they need to reconsider why they joined.
Like you've mentioned, Twitter has a tremendous potential for building both informative and profitable relationships. You have to take the time to and think about who you're going to follow. I check out every follower email and actually look at their site. I can tell quickly if they're somebody I want to follow. I would recommend this approach to others.
Don't mistake automatically following somebody who follows you for proper 'netiquette'. You don't automatically subscribe to a spammer's email. The same thought process should be at work here.
Finally, excellent point about not underestimating the time-sucking potential. I use Twhirl and only log in at intervals during the day. Keeping it up(and I don't follow that many)is like trying to type on a slot machine.
Great content as usual!
Looking forward to starting the Black Ink Project on Monday.
Best,
Jeff
twitter helps :)
I found twitter really helpful when i have questions. It helps me to understand different things.
_________
Josh henwood
{url removed}
Josh, Your signature is
Josh,
Your signature is not a billboard. Please refrain from placing affiliate links in your signature.
Cheers,
Jason Woods
A Twitter Fan
I've been active on Twitter for a few weeks and love it so far (BTW, I'm following you now! @studio747). A few glitches here and there, but I realize that it's going through some growing pains. It can become addictive if you're not disciplined with your time, but otherwise it's a great way to connect with people on a more personal level.