Blog of Mr. Tweet

*Note: This is the first part of our series to highlight Twitterers who have achieved significant professional and personal success via Twitter. They share their unique approach towards building great networks here!

Kristi Colvin (@kriscolvin) is a brand builder and product creator who’s passionate about using new technologies, like Twitter, to help people bring their dreams to life. She is the founder of Fresh ID and managing partner of Fresh Webware.

I recently became a newly minted citizen of Kansas when I moved in with my husband. As a software designer and business owner who depended on rich relationships for personal and business prospects, I originally felt like a fish out of water in this strange new land.  Twitter has been a critical component that changed everything for me, both in terms of finding and being found by relevant folks.

 
As opposed to gaming the system to gain followers, I believe in constant engagement and adding value to build up a meaningful network. It works!

Here are just some examples of meaningful relationships and opportunities I have gained by using Twitter.

• Fresh Partnerships: I met two people that I brought into my company, Fresh ID, on Twitter, and I have yet to meet them in person.
• New Clients, Friends & Mentors: I have clients that I would never have known if not for Twitter, friends I cherish, and new mentors like Gary Vaynerchuk and Guy Kawasaki that I draw motivation and inspiration from regularly.
• Own Application: I have designed my own application for Twitter, joining Mr. Tweet and hundreds of others, because of the incredible availability of the Twitter api and creativity such freedom inspires.

Being a big fan of Stephen Covey’s 7 habits, I have loosely adapted them to explain the 7 habits I have practiced consistently in order to achieve the results above. Enjoy, and I would love to hear your feedback!

A lot of people say “Twitter is what you make of it.” I find that to be very true. If you send out links to your site, or try to push your products or services, you’re not liable to get as much out of it as someone who gets to know people before they talk about business. If you ask for advice or competitive information, but never share valuable tidbits when you come across them, you’re not likely to reap the same rewards as someone who is known as a generous sharer.

Jump into Conversations. I get to know people by just jumping into the conversation when I see something that I can respond to. It can be awkward to make random statements to the world at large. Especially when starting out, replying to someone else can be the safe way to get some conversation going. Don’t be shy - when you see someone ask a question and you have the answer, or know where they can find it, don’t hesitate to speak up. I cannot remember all the times when I shared some information that seemed obvious to me, but really helped someone else out because they didn’t know something that I did.

Proactively seek out people to follow. I use Mr. Tweet, because of the way my report gives me advice on who to follow and the related connections so I understand the big picture better.  I have used Twollo to find people to follow based on keywords, and found some awesome user experience people I had never known were out there. I love to visit the Just Tweet It directory because people are organized by their interests, and I’ve even gone to favorite friends follow lists and found really cool people that way. It is not uncommon for me to go on a “find new folks” mission once a week or so and add lots of people that seem interesting to me.

Why are you on Twitter? I admit, I had no idea, really, what was available for me until I read a great article by Darren Rowse on his Problogger site about other bloggers being on Twitter. I had a Twitter account with one update on it - I didn’t understand what to do with it. I was new to blogging, but a lot of the folks he listed seemed cool, so I made it a point to follow 100 of them to get started. Very quickly, I saw that this was a wonderful place to connect with like-minded people. Since I miss the social aspects of working around other people in an office, Twitter soon became my personal “breakroom” - a place I could stop in and visit for a moment with people who get what I’m talking about.

What is the reason you’re on Twitter? My best friend has an autistic son, and is an autism advocate who provides autistic children with a creative outlet in Texas. She uses Twitter to connect with parents of autistic kids and has found a marvelous support system. A coffee shop in Houston uses Twitter to provide service to its customers and bring together people in person who live in Houston, frequent the coffee shop, and use Twitter. Whole Foods Market answers customer questions and passes information along to headquarters, so that customers have a direct communication channel that’s easy and convenient for them.

Despite a lot of people who feel there is a right and wrong way to use Twitter, the truth is there are many valid reasons to participate, and everyone’s is unique. I try not to criticize people (except for spammers) for using Twitter how they want to.

You don’t need a formal mission statement or personal brand, but some internal guidelines will be helpful if you intend to use Twitter in any sort of business capacity. I often self-censor because I use Twitter for general networking and playtime, but am a business owner with clients following me, and this is always in the back of my mind.

How important are your Twitter friends and this social platform to you? For some of us, it’s the first thing we check every morning and our Twitter friends are the last people we communicate with before bed. Others check in every few days, or maybe only once a day. If Twitter is important to you and not something you can use at work, get an iPhone or Blackberry and check in at lunch. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying Twitter so much that it becomes an important part of your day.

Part of Business Process: Having been on Twitter for a number of months, I now have clients that follow me and sometimes they Direct Message me instead of sending an email. For those of us doing business with other Twitter users, it’s as important as having email or internet access.

Set Aside When Need To: However, if Twitter is sucking away your time and distracting you from important tasks, try to put it aside totally for a while and get yourself started on a single task. I have had to do that before, because my friends would not stop sending out fascinating articles and saying interesting things!

Give Love to Followers: It’s been fun to follow celebrities like Lance Armstrong, Demi Moore and Brent Spiner on Twitter. But for the average person, those relationships are fairly one-sided: we send love to the stars we like so much, and they soak it up, but don’t follow many people back or even acknowledge many people with @ replies. How do you treat your followers? What do you give, and what do you take from them?

Get Personal, Not Bottish: I have been very vocal about my dislike of automated Direct Messages from people you follow. They bother me because someone is talking “at me”, not “to me.” If you’ve been on Twitter very long you’ve probably witnessed some disastrous DM’s that make you roll your eyes. For example, and this one happens quite often: someone follows me. I see them, and decide to follow them. Then I get a ridiculous message that thanks me for following them, and says they will check out my bio and possibly follow me within a few days. Now this person I thought was cool, just took a turn for the worse in my eyes. Consequently, I think I end up filtering them out mentally because I prefer other people I don’t see as lame, more. If this same person did not send a thank you when I followed them, but rather waited for an opening and sent me a reply that was helpful, supportive or funny, I would be more likely to forge a friendship with them based on mutual interest.

If Twitter is a place you want to be for a long time, treat followers as you want to be treated… show them respect if you disagree, be courteous, offer sympathy and demonstrate empathy. It takes a big person to put themselves in another persons shoes, though it might seem easy.

We can only relate to what we already understand, so when someone is rubbing you the wrong way, try to imagine their position. If you don’t agree the majority of the time, you don’t have to follow each other. There’s no shame in removing yourself from bad situations. I have done it, and have had people unfollow me that didn’t feel we were a good fit for each other. But be gracious. When people see you are capable of comprehending their point of view, they may become more open-minded about hearing yours.

Synergistic brainstorming is the secret sauce that brings new users to Twitter by leaps and bounds month after month. It is the reason people talk their co-workers, industry colleagues, friends and family members into joining. If people following each other is the fabric, brainstorming is the thread that binds them together and makes individual networks strong.

Community Sharing: I am a designer, though a bit more focused on software design, usability and product marketing than some of my creative pals. The design community on Twitter is amazing… they promote each others work, share ideas, links and articles, support each other if one of them suffers an issue and unconditionally have each others backs. A lot of these creatives, like myself, work alone, but this community effect ensures they are never far from suggestions, feedback or a willing ear to listen when times are tough.

I always feel my followers have made me smarter. There is an evolution of a thought… if left alone, your thought may only go so far, limited by your past, experiences and imagination. Take the same thought, and launch it into the sea of Twitter friends. Now it morphs with another idea added it to it, changes into something new with yet more input, grows when someone smart makes a comment from a new angle you didn’t realize existed. This is how using Twitter on a regular basis can sharpen your mind and improve your thinking. Of course, it helps if you follow smart people!

I have found Twitter to be such a valuable tool, I struggle for words to describe its place in my life. It is woven into my day as much as brushing my teeth, kissing my husband, petting my four-footed children, eating, drinking and sleeping.

I believe it makes me a more effective person… and I know it’s made me a more satisfied person. How has using Twitter changed your life?

Are you a Twitter User? MrTweet can be your personal networking agent, helping you discover and get discovered by highly relevant folks who might love what you are doing. Check him out now!

*Editor’s note: Despite all of Twitter’s issues, and arguments that it will or will not go mainstream, it is undeniable that it has been a huge success. Rohit has some great observations on the factors for their success that we can all learn from. Read on, and as usual, share your thoughts!

This is a guest posting by Rohit Bhargava (@rohitbhargava), as part of our ongoing efforts to bring insightful content to users. Rohit wrote the award winning Personality Not Included. He’s a Senior Vice President at Ogilvy, and was a founding member of the pioneering 360 Digital Influence team. See original post here

By any measure, the growth and popularity of Twitter has been phenomenal. To say that Twitter has hit mainstream isn’t really the right metric to use. It’s more powerful to note that for a large group of Twitter enthusiasts, to spend even a day without using it would be as bad (or perhaps even worse) than not having email. It has become just that necessary.

How did the site get to this point? And what are the lessons that any entrepreneur might be able to learn from how it got there? Here are a few thoughts on the real secrets behind Twitter’s success:

 
Despite ALL the issues, Twitter is still growing exponentially with lots of passionate users. What can we learn from them?

1. Focus on real time. For the socially connected online, there is little use for yet another place to talk to your friends. If anything, we all have too many of those to start with. But a site dedicated to RIGHT NOW stands out. It’s useful in a way that none of the other sites we use are.
2. Skip the extra step. Approving every friend request can be a lot of work - even if you’re not the most popular of people. It does make sense on most social networks, but when it comes to posting updates on Twitter, if you do it publicly, anyone can follow you without approval. The result is that any user’s audience on Twitter can grow exponentially without barriers.
3. Force your customers to do less. If you have ever heard the saying that “less is more” - Twitter is the ultimate proof of that. The forced 140 character messages have made us all refocus on brevity, and as a result of this volume decrease, those of us that are constantly overcommunicated look to the site as the one place where we can still feel that we are on top of the flood of communication that rules our lives.
4. Build enough evangelists to compensate when things go wrong. One of the most well known facts about Twitter is that the service has been notoriously unreliable and crashed frequently. Though it is much improved from those days, the site still goes down or loses functionality relatively regularly. Yet it has managed to build up enough power users and evangelists, that people forgive their down times and keep coming back.
5. Integrate with the most popular competition. The single most useful feature I personally uncovered from Twitter was the ability to integrate it into my Facebook page so that may Twitter updates also become my status on Facebook. This demonstrates a fact that many entrepreneurs already know - by integrating with your competition where your “customers” currently are, you make it easier for them to migrate over to your site.
6. Launch where your influencers are. A big reason for the early success of Twitter was their launch at the SXSW Interactive festival two years ago. It was a place where all the influencers that matters for Twitter were already going to be and putting the site in front of them there allowed them to become word of mouth ambassadors for the site following the event.
7. Offer a public ranking or authority. The final element that has helped Twitter to succeed is that it has a built in authority ranking with the number of followers you have. This is located right beneath your username on the site and it’s high visibility means that it is easily the ultimate metric for anyone using the site. And you can’t help but want that number to go higher.

This post was republished with permission from the original post on the author’s blog. If you enjoyed this post, you can read more like it on Rohit’s blog at www.influentialmarketingblog.com

*Updated post with great comments by Heather Rasley and Dean Kakridas, both of whom said much more in 3 paragraphs than I did in one whole blog post.

 
How are you using these tools, and what value do you get from them?

Recently something struck me as I was checking out Facebook in the morning. One of my friends wrote a note for a party he was having, and I left a somewhat raunchy comment (joking of course). Immediately after that I switched over to Twitter, and tweeted a couple of very professional sounding comments and links.

My typical activity on Facebook / Twitter

It struck me how extremely different my use cases have become on Facebook and Twitter. You can argue that Twitter is a subset of Facebook, but the different social and privacy dynamics has made my behavior on each platform very different. This sparked off a tweet where I asked the following:

Vastly different use cases for me. Is it the same for you?

From the replies, it seems like I am certainly not alone. Most of my friends seemed to have distinctively different use cases for each of these platforms. As such, is the whole Facebook vs. Twitter discussion misguided?

 
How about you?

As such, would like to open this up to everyone, and please leave a comment and share your insight on the following questions!

• How do you use each of these platforms?
• What unique value are you getting out of each of them?
• How do you see your usage of these tools evolving?
• In your usage behavior, is Twitter replacing Facebook, or does it replacing Linkedin?

All right folks, looking forward to your great comments! As usual, we will try to reply to every comment of yours. =)

Make sure you see all the comments here!

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Paul Boag is the founder of UK Web design agency Headscape, author of the Website Owners Manual and host of award-winning Web design podcast Boagworld.com. This article originally appeared on Paul’s blog, and then edited on Smashing Magazine (a fantastic publication!)

Twitter is the new big thing. With everybody from Britney Spears to Barack Obama now on Twitter, it is safe to say the social networking platform has gone mainstream. (Editor note: 69% of readers agree. See poll here) For many users worldwide Twitter has become a crucial tool for maintaining contacts, exchanging opinions and making new connections. But what does this mean for the service, and how can we, website owners, actually use it for our purposes?

I posted my first tweet in November of 2006, only 7 months after the service launched. For me, it was a way to keep in touch with new friends. It was less intrusive than instant messaging and less formal than email. I quickly became hooked. For the longest time, it was the tool of geeks. My friends laughed at me as I tweeted from the pub; my family stared blankly as I explained the service. However, that has all changed now.

Twitter is the new big thing. With everybody from Britney Spears to Barack Obama now on Twitter, it is safe to say the social networking platform has gone mainstream.

Some time ago I was wrong to lament on Twitter about it becoming a marketing tool; I should embrace it as a tool I can use. Nevertheless, like everybody else, I need to be careful how I use it. I do not believe Twitter users will allow the tool to be reduced to a broadcast mechanism for pimping the latest blog post or special offer.

So how do I use Twitter? I guess the first thing to say is that I am not a huge Twitter success story. However, Twitter is turning into the third facet of my online presence, alongside my blog and podcast. With that in mind, let me share a few tips that have helped me better use this interesting new tool.

1. Above All, Keep It Personal

Although Twitterers like CNN breaking news have been very successful, generally, corporate Twitter accounts are a mistake. Twitter is about person-to-person communication and not a broadcast tool for faceless corporations. To use it in that way is to miss the potential of Twitter.

 
CNN Breaking News Twitter Page

Does that mean you cannot have a Twitter account for your organization? Not at all. For example, if John Boardley created a Twitter account, you may not recognize the name. However, if he used the name ILoveTypography, you would be more likely to follow because you know the I Love Typography website.

It is not the name that matters so much as the tone of the posts. Tweets should be more than an endless string of press releases and links. They should include personal content and a dialogue with followers.

This is important because it enables you to make a connection with your followers. An open and honest relationship with followers is very powerful. It builds trust, loyalty and engagement. It encourages repeat traffic and word-of-mouth recommendation.

2. Learn From Others

I have learned a lot about Twitter just by reading the tweets of those I admire. Merlin Mann, for example, injects a lot of humor into his posts, and his followers really respond to that. Darren Rowse, on the other hand, strikes a good balance between recommending content others have written and promoting his own posts.

In addition to examining the styles of others, you could also examine statistics. Use a tool like TweetStats to examine how often others tweet and how often they reply to their followers. All of this helps to build a picture of what makes a successful tweeter.

There is also a growing number of great websites that give advice on how to get the most out of Twitter. One of my personal favorites is TwiTip, which covers such subjects as “The Merit of Twitter Competitions” and “How to Get Unfollowed on Twitter.”

3. Get A Good Desktop Client

Without a shadow of doubt, the most powerful Twitter client currently available is TweetDeck. This AIR application not only runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, but also provides a range of superb tools for managing your life on Twitter.

TweetDeck is the most powerful desktop Twitter tool available

With TweetDeck, you can create groups, filter tweets, monitor certain subjects as well as post tweets, replies and retweets. In fact, it is so powerful that it can be somewhat intimidating at first. Don’t let that put you off. Check out thisshort tutorial on TweetDeck’s core features, and you’ll be up and running in no time.

4. Use Twitter On The Road

If your Twitter account is going to be personal as well as professional, then you will almost certainly want to use it on the road. One option is simply to useTwitter’s mobile website. However, if you are fortunate enough to have an iPhone, then there is a wealth of Twitter clients available to you.

I have paid for and tried almost every Twitter client on the iPhone, but the winner hands down is Tweetie. I love Tweetie. It has a clean, easy-to-use interface and yet is packed with powerful features, including the ability to:

• handle multiple Twitter accounts,
• navigate reply chains,
• view Twitter trends and perform custom searches,
• access complete user profiles.

In many ways, it is even better than TweetDeck because it has much of TweetDeck’s power but in a much cleaner interface. If only they made a desktop application!

5. Tracking The Results

TweetStats is just the tip of the statistical iceberg. There is an ever-growing number of tools you can use to track your activity on Twitter. However, the ones that really interest me are those that track click-throughs. What I really want to know is, if I post a link on Twitter, how many people click through?

If the link points to one of my own websites, I could use Google Analytics’ URL tagging tool. However, this is somewhat fiddly and only works if I am linking to my own website. What’s more, these URLs can get long, which is a problem when you’re limited to 140 characters.

Fortunately, there is a tool called TwitterBurner, which solves these problems. It shortens URLs and tracks all click-throughs, even to websites you do not run yourself. Best of all, it is now supported directly in TweetDeck (although not in Tweetie, unfortunately).

6. Follow And Be Followed

*Editor’s note: We had no role in Paul’s decision here to write this here, and it is because of the seven other tips that we decided to publish this posting. =)

Always remember that Twitter is a two-way conversation. A big part of successful tweeting is replying to those who tweet you. Twitter is not just about who follows you, either. It is also about who you follow. One service I find particularly useful is Mr Tweet. Mr Tweet provides two type of information:

• First, it suggests people you might want to consider following, because they fall within your broader network (i.e. people who are followed by your friends),
• Secondly, it suggests those from your list of followers who you should follow back.

For each of these people, it provides various statistics, including:

• the number of followers they have,
• the chances of them replying to you,
• how often they update.

This is a great way to extend your network of contacts and increase the chances that your tweets will be retweeted. It’s also a great way to meet new people!

7. Integrate Whenever Possible

If you intend to use Twitter for anything other than personal use, it needs to be incorporated in the rest of your Web strategy. That means it needs to link to your other online activity, including your website and other social networks. There is no shortage of tools to help you do this, from the basic Twitter widget to a tool for sending your tweets to Facebook.

One tool that caught my attention is called TwitterFeed. It posts content from an RSS feed to Twitter, which is a convenient way to update your followers on new posts. However, use any tool that automatically posts to Twitter with caution. It can easily become annoying if used too much. Also, it lacks the friendliness of a personal post.

8. Don’t Over-Think It

Of course, the problem with all these tools, statistics and analysis is that they can suck the spontaneity and personality from your tweets. While some of those late-night drunken tweets are best left behind, you want to avoid making your tweets too sterile.

Let me explain. I am naturally a fairly good public speaker. However, once I attended a public speaking workshop. The instructors taught me about all of the techniques that make for an exceptional speaker. However, instead of improving my skills, they made me so amazingly self-conscious that I was paralyzed. I started over-analyzing what I was doing.

The danger is the same with Twitter. Sure, Twitter can be used as a marketing tool, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be fun too. Don’t let articles like this suck the joy out of tweeting!

Are you a Twitter user? Mr Tweet regularly shows you good people you are missing out on, recommends you to others, and updates stats on your Twitter usage. Click here to see more!

This is Part 2 of Creating Tangible Results With Twitter (Part 1 here) If you like these postings, get them via email! 

Update: Within a very short time, 3 comments from their fans came in to reinforce the point. Included these points at the bottom of the post!

This series is created by Erica OGrady (@ericaogrady), where she explores creating tangible results with Twitter. She is currently the Chief Experience Officer at Peanut Butter Media, and On the Road Correspondent for The Business Maker’s Radio Show heard on Talk Radio 950.

Differentiating from The Crowd With Twitter

The Web Application world is an extremely competitive space, which is why FreshBooks (an online invoicing and time-tracking service) had to find a way to distinguish themselves from their competition.  “For us - it’s always been about great customer service and giving people the best experience possible” says Saul Colt, Head of Magic at FreshBooks. 

With over 600,000 customers world wide, and growing - FreshBooks like most big companies, is very active in the Social Media space.  In fact, they were one of the first companies to really use Twitter as a Customer Service Platform. 

For FreshBooks - it was a simple 140 character message on Twitter that solidified their reputation as a company that truly cares about their customers.

Listen to what your users are Tweeting about, because each Tweet is an opportunity for a lasting relationship!

On May 29th, 2008 they saw a message from one of their users @chelpixie on Twitter.  Michelle Wolverton (@chelpixie) is a Boston Based Virtual Assistant who’d been using the FreshBooks online invoicing service for just a few months. 

That night, Michelle had been stood up by her date.  FreshBooks was following her stream of tweets and responded with the following:

 
Responding to Chelpixie’s Tweet that she had been stood up by a date

Sweet - and maybe even remarkable.  But it’s what they did next that earned FreshBooks the love of users everywhere. 

Concretizing Relationships with… Flowers and T-Shirts!

Since @chelpixie was a client - they looked up her address and the next day - they sent her flowers.  Now, when was the last time you received flowers from a service provider after being stood up?

 
When was the last time your web app sent you flowers after you got stood up?

Besides this one special incident, it’s also clear that they live up to these values every single day on Twitter, listening closely, and grabbing every chance to build a relationship with their customers.

 
 “Sometimes we’ll see a tweet from someone saying they like our shirts - a week later they’ll find a FreshBooks T-shirt in their mailbox” says Colt.

Where else can you stay on such close terms with the customer?

Creating Measurable Results With Twitter

FreshBooks core values are Fun, Professionalism, and Simplicity. But it’s not all fun and games. Twitter has made a tangible difference to FreshBooks bottom line. Measuring direct and quantifiable ROI in Social Media can be difficult. As Jason Falls, Director of Social Media for Doe-Anderson says: “The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable.”

In the case of FreshBooks, the results are definitely measurable.  According to Colt, “Customer service calls have gone down considerably since we started using Twitter.  We used to respond to every single tweet that mentioned us.  But now - we’re finding we don’t have to.  Most of the time our users beat us to the punch”.

Twitter is not only saving FreshBooks time.  It’s saving them money too. By mining customer feedback to see which features should be added or improved they can find out what’s most important to their users before spending time and money developing needless features.

 
Giving Users Easy Way of Channeling Requests and Feedback

Investment Needed? Definitely.

Results Acquired? An Army of Brand Evangelists

The level of engagement and camaraderie that surrounds the FreshBooks Brand can be expressed as nothing short of fascinating, with 5 pages worth of tweets about the company in a single day.

One user Tweeted:  “The support crew at @freshbooks just blew my mind. I just sent them a really low priority request and got a response/fix back in 10 minutes.” (via @jeremysanchez)

And another: “@rlangdon last night I sent my first invoice using @freshbooks and loved it :)” (via @CRschilliger)

The goal of a great Social Media Campaign is to delight your users and create evangelists for your product, service, or brand.  In Saul’s words…

This makes Twitter “the absolute best, simplest, and easiest way to connect with your customers all over the world.  It’s the greatest Market Research out there - and it’s FREE!”

Saul’s Colt, Head of Magic at Freshbooks
Photo by @wmmarc

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Michael Litman (@litmanlive) is a young, twenty something rising star of social media in London, having burst on to the scene in 2008. He was headhunted on Twitter in late 2008 by @PBizzle (Head of Digital) for his new job at Consolidated PR as Social Media Strategist. See original posting here. You can get Michael at his blog or on his Twitter.

Note from Mr. Tweet: We were inspired by this story, and we believe you might be as well! If so, remember to share this with your friends. =)

A month ago, I came across this WSJ article entitled ‘Twitter yourself a job’ today of all days and also incidentally via Twitter. I came across it through Mitch Joel who was retweeting a message from Steve Rubel (phew, that was some mouthful!)

So why did I think it was so apt? Why should I care? Here’s why.

I started work as a Social Media Strategist for Consolidated PR as of Monday 5th January 2009. I was hired through Twitter. No recruitment agencies involved, no external costs, no bells, no whistles. Just me, @PBizzle and Twitter. Well, a mutual friend recommended me to @PBizzle who then sent me a message and it all went from there.

That’s a pretty big deal when you think about the costs of recruitment for one new hire for the average company who would typically be looking in to advertising the position online, advertising in specialized print publications and on top of that, getting a recruitment agency like Reed on the case also. It all costs and learnings can be taken from this. You can eliminate all of those costs in one fell swoop and be seen to be a very forward thinking company at the same time.

You’ve probably seen a fairly heavy emphasis towards Twitter related content recently and that’s because although it’s starting to garner mainstream attention, there’s a lot of people out there who don’t get it. I’m trying to help, to provoke thoughts, to provide a sounding board. I’d be very rich if I was given £1 for every person that’s asked me “Why Twitter?” I’m not saying I ‘get it’ but I’ve been using it fairly religiously for the past few months and it seems like I’m learning something new about the tool daily.

How I did it and how you can do it too.

My experiences thus far had been in the Digital / Social Media / Online PR realm. Even if you are not involved in the slightest with any of the above, it can still be applicable to any industry. Replace Edelman for an example with a company of your choice in said industry. They however, may or may not have a presence on Twitter.

1. Use your real name. Most have their name @joebloggs, a nickname @joeyb or the name of their blog for consistency @joesblog. Mine’s @litmanlive to tie in with the blog. Using your name is the easiest for people to remember I reckon but I always seem to do things the hard way..

2. Write a bio. I don’t follow people without a bio. It might sound rude but I’m selective with the people I follow. I don’t follow everyone that follows me. Similarly, I like to follow people who share the same interests, more often than not work in the same industry or have a website that I visit regularly. There has to be some common ground or why am I choosing to follow them?

3. Who inspires you? Think about the people who inspire you in the industry you’re looking to go in to. A few, if not quite a few of them will be on Twitter, dependant on industry.

For example, some of the first industry people I followed were: 
@wadds, @bmcmichael, @chris_reed, @simoncollister & @dirkthecow.

Similarly, who do you want to work for? Same applies. Do they have a presence on Twitter?

4. You don’t have to have a blog. But it shows another side of your personality to a potential employer. Put a link to it in your bio. One of the biggest drivers of regular traffic to my blog is my Twitter profile. With a blog, employers can instantly see what interests you (what you write about) and often reveals a lot more than any CV can.

5. Be yourself. Be true. Be genuine. Don’t write about things you don’t know anything about or say you can do things you can’t. It will become evident sooner rather than later. If you talk about the things that interest you then an employer would hire you for being you. They call it being transparent.

6. Bring something to the table. Have an opinion. What do you think about topic X or topic Y?

7. Help people out. If they have a question and you can answer it, don’t hold back, go for it. They’ll thank you for it and it’s a great way to build relationships with like minded people.

8. If someone follows you, say hi. They won’t bite. I engaged in random conversation a few times with my soon to be manager. Completely unaware that a few months later he’d be hiring for a suitable position.

9. Get job alerts on Twitter. Examples, Add EdelmanHR and keep up to date with positions available within the company straight in to your Twitter stream. Journalism.co.uk will also deliver all sorts of jobs, from Entry Level to Editor and ranging from freelance to contract to permanent!

10. Invest the time. Finally, I don’t wish to try and put a square peg in to a round hole, I’ve been there myself. All this online micro blogging malarky is not for everyone. It takes time to get in to, for some, weeks, months or a year! If you think it’s for you then it’s definitely worth the investment.

Would you recommend Twitter as a resource for job finding like WSJ?

My original motivation for joining Twitter wasn’t to find a job through it, I was interested in a new way of communicating, a tool which is a round the clock way of getting answers to questions from all across the world. It’s always on and always useful!

Are you a Twitter user? Mr Tweet regularly shows you good people you are missing out on, recommends you to others, and updates stats on your Twitter usage. Click here to see more!

On 1/24, we conducted a poll asking whether Twitter will go mainstream. There was great response, and we received about 500 great opinions in total.  We worked on condensing the insights received into 2 parts. This is the first part, where we explore why Twitter WILL go mainstream.

Will Twitter go mainstream? We asked, and you responded with great enthusiasm. 69% if you think it will in a couple of years, and 29% of you think it is unlikely or will be in a long time in coming, and the rest expressed ambivalence. In Part 1, we will cover the 7 main reasons why 69% of you folks are so optimistic, and we’ll cover the rest in Part 2.

Quick Poll Notes

1) Total of 500 comments were received. Full list here
2) Our user base hail from a diverse range of industries/ demographics
3) Compulsory reasons = Fewer entries but increased quality. =)

1) Mainstream Media Is Pushing Twitter into the Mainstream
 You can run, but you can’t hide from all the atwittering in the mainstream!

 
“CNN mentions Twitter on a regular basis, Barack Obama is the #1 user & other “mainstream” celebs have their own accounts!”

This was probably the number one reason that you gave us- the heavy mainstream media reports Twitter was getting, the intense coverage at the important events (Election, Inauguration, Mumbai), the multitude of celebrities (or their managers) on Twitter were pushing the mainstream audience into being consciousness of what Twitter is.

2) Stunning Growth Momentum - Nothing speaks like numbers

Despite having a relatively small user base, Twitter experienced an 974% increase of usage in Britain, and a stunning 16-fold growth in the U.S. since January. With growth numbers forecast to continue growing at breakneck pace, it is hard to deny the fact that Twitter will probably play an even bigger role in the social landscape for 2009.

 

3) Swiss Army Knife of Web Apps - One simple tool, infinite usages

As many users pointed out, maybe Twitter will go mainstream because well, it is useful. Website owners are integrating it into their sites in myriad of ways, while users are finding many different and unique uses for Twitter. Users are passionate about the Twitterverse’s ability to deliver breaking news, “attend” live events, and the general excellent level of knowledge sharing. 

 
“Twitter is the Swiss Army Knife of Web Apps” - @monoclemonkey

4) 3rd Party Apps + Twitter = FB Status Updates on Steroids
“Twitter is focused on the most useful feature of Facebook, and 3rd party apps are increasing that usefulness exponentially. “

 
“Twitter is fb status on steroids. Tools that are emerging each day: Mr Tweet, Twitsnear are showing how twitter is here to stay!” - @jamjoen

Very often people mention that Twitter is a subset of Facebook’s functionality. However, what we are hearing from our users is this: Twitter is focused on the most useful feature of Facebook, and 3rd party apps are increasing that usefulness exponentially.

This is the first time we are hearing it expressed with such clarity, so thanks everyone for all the comments which lead to this!

5) Diverse, Passionate and Intellectual User Base

“Everyone i know is using Twitter. If not, I get them to join :)” -AceArtemis7

“Washing machines and plants are twittering about their status” - @iFloris

Probably Twitter’s most powerful asset that no other network in the world has is its sprawling and passionate user base. This was certainly a point elaborated by survey respondents again and again, as they marveled at the number of characters, and how passionate Twitter users are about spreading the service. Several users have also commented on how Twitter’s userbase is exceptionally good at sharing knowledge, and helping each other. Indeed, we think this is Twitter’s key asset indeed!

“Even cats use it (sockington and friends)” - @mislav

6) Unique Medium between Company and Customers

Many users pointed out how the fact that the companies getting on Twitter will in fact lead to an increase in incentive for their users to get onto Twitter as well.

Twitter is becoming an increasingly marketing tool for companies, ranging from e-commerce stores like Zappos, to huge chains like Starbucks, or local coffeeshops like Coffeegroundz.

Twitter has several key advantages over other social platforms- 1) Due to the conversational medium, consumers pay much more attention on Twitter (4% CTR) than ads on Facebook. 2) Due to the openness, it is also very easy to monitor in real time what people are saying about your brand. Example here.

As such, major brands are taking notice (see list here) and jumping into Twitter in a big way. If they utilize Twitter to serve their users the right way, there is no doubt that it will also increase the incentive for users to join, further driving it up mainstream!

“Companies can listen in real time, and use value adding messages to draw users, giving both the company and their consumers additional incentive to be on Twitter!”

7) Twitter Fills Basic Human Needs

Saving the more nuanced points for the last. Several users believe that Twitter will go mainstream simply because it fits in very well several of our basic human tendencies - the need to feel connected, the need for attention, a certain sense of narcissism, and a want to know in detail what it is like to be in touch with people we are in awe of, celebrities, politicians, business leaders alike. That is certainly true for anyone, mainstream or otherwise!

 
Twitter and human nature

Summary - Do you agree?

@Neutel summarized it up the best, when he said: “My basis is Twitter’s usefulness, its ease of use (no need to build an entire website) its security, its networking capability, its format, its army of experienced evangelists, the high level of intellect of its early adopters, the number of apps it is spawning, the potential it has to do good globally as a dissemination point for information on an almost instantaneous basis.  Also, because of human nature.“

There you go - the 7 main reasons why 69% of our users think that Twitter will go mainstream. Do you agree?

Part 2 will explain why does 29%  of our users think that Twitter will not reach the average businessman or student. Stay tuned!

Are you a Twitter user? Mr Tweet regularly shows you good people you are missing out on, recommends you to others, and updates stats on your Twitter usage. Click here to see more!