Remember that when you enter a posting, or tweet as they are called, to Twitter that you are broadcasting information to anyone that meets either of these conditions unless you have secured your tweets on your profile.
- Those who are following you will see the tweet as soon as they go to Twitter and log in.
- Others will be able to see it if they search on the relevant subject area.
You will receive only the tweets from people you are following unless you are searching on a subject. When doing that, you receive the tweets relative to that subject.
Security Issues:
You should exercise caution when entering your posts if your postings are not secured – the default mode. If you are leaving on a trip, don’t advertise it on Twitter. There are those who scan Twitter to see who won’t be home for awhile and take advantage of that. DO tweet about your trip when you get back. If you are getting a divorce, one of the first things your lawyer will do is scan your postings to see what you have been doing online. If you are looking for a job today, there is about a 50% chance the prospective employer will scan the Internet for information about you. In the same way, it is not wise to post company information or your concerns about your employer.
Many people violate this rule. I try to honor it. Even if I’m out for the evening, I tweet about it AFTER I get back.
You can set the security of your tweets so that only those who follow you can see them from your Settings option. If set to private, only followers can see your tweets and Twitter will not index them.
More tips:
Setting Up Your Account
- In setting up your account, use some variation of your first name. Using a variation of your last name is not personal enough on something like Twitter. And keep it short, which gives you (and those that reply) more message space. And your Twitter account name is important in the optimization of your tweets in the search engines.
- Use a picture that shows a close-up of your face is normally best for your avatar. Smiling face, of course. With only the default clipart picture Twitter uses, don’t expect people to follow you.
- Be sure to fill out your bio information. Use your full name. Use keyword phrases there that will trip those you want to meet. Share your personality here. You have 160 characters.
- If you set the tweets to private, only your followers can see them. In addition, Google and Twitter Search will not index them.
- When twittering for a company, these rules still hold. Use the logo as the background. Use a personal photo as your avatar. Let the bio show the company’s identity. Post as a person, not a depersonalized organization. Be sure to follow company policies on your tweeting for this account.
Using Twitter
- Click the Reply button in the lower right of a tweet to reply only to that individual. Click the Retweet button if you wish to tweet their tweet to all your followers.
- You have only 140 characters for a posting. Use them wisely. Tease and motivate the reader, then lead them to Facebook, your blog, or your website. To save characters, use web sites such as http://bit.ly to shorten the URL for the destination.
- Use your cell phone as an extension of your computer postings. The twitter address is 40404;. For example, to send an direct twitter message from your phone to another Twitter account, you would enter: (To) 40404; and (body): d accountname message. Great for keeping up with friends when traveling! You can also send to a list.
- You will quickly learn the abbreviations your friends are using: great becomes gr8, before becomes b4, you becomes u.
Keep your postings interesting. Who cares what you had for breakfast? If something relational happened at breakfast, you should tweet on that. - When someone tweets that they are following you, send them a thank-you, you will see this in your normal email. Reply to them direct mail from within Tweeter. (Remember you cannot direct mail someone unless they are following you.)
You will notice that some of your followers occasionally will tweet a posting that is a thank-you to a list of friends. Looks boring, but it is important. Scan their list in their post – you may find a new friend there and you can click and follow. The reverse is also true. If someone helps you on Twitter, thank them. - How often to tweet? Everyone has their own answer on this. Don’t tweet just to be tweeting or your people will quite following you. If you don’t tweet for a day or two, watch your visitor traffic fall off to your account, the web site, and your blog. Keep your life interesting and tell people about it.
- To find if someone is on Twitter from Google, search on firstname lastname Twitter. Use caution here. The results returned may not be a real person (C. S. Lewis, for example, is no longer alive but has a fan page.) Or it may not be the person you expect. Or a fake account on a real person.
- There are lots of good plug-ins for your Twitter account, but use caution. Some plug-ins are malware. Check with friends and get reviews first.
- Here’s a good URL to find tools for Twitter: http://oneforty.com/. Twitter’s mobile web site is http://m.twitter.com.
If you are running a conference on Twitter, Have everyone agree to a hashtag and tweet against that using an application such as TweetDeck. - Use http://MrTweet.com (@mrtweet) to find other interesting people to follow.(At the moment this is down until 9/10/2010.)
- Link your web site to Twitter. Link Twitter to your web site on your Twitter profile page.
- Check your “grade” on twitter at http://twitter.grader.com.
- Use Twitter to tease people into your blog. Twitter entries are indexed immediately.
Save tweets you wish to explore or use later. To do this, click on the time line that is under the tweet that shows how long ago the tweet was initiated. This brings up the tweet. The URL that is displayed now in the browser is the URL for that tweet. Save it in the browser Favorites. Another alternative is to save that tweet URL in an external program such as delicious.com or related tool.
Need consulting help on this or related issues? Contact us! http://www.netadventures.biz
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