Who Twitters?

[KristineS]

I just started using Twitter ( I know late adopter). I've heard good things about it, but I'm having trouble getting into using it. I just feel like I'm talking to the void.

How many of are on Twitter? Do you find it useful? If you care to share your user name that would be good too. I'd like to find some more people to follow.

[Evan]

I am on Twitter, but it's very much for my "personal" life and not that professional. [It's not bad, it's just my life!] If you're interested, message me and I'll give you the username.

It is nice to be able to send updates from my phone, so no matter where I am I can update my status. There are a few applications as well that then transfer this status to other applications, such as AIM or Facebook.

[vangogh]

I'm on Twitter, though it's been awhile since I've checked in. Way too many things going on lately, but in a week or so I should be back regularly. Here's my profile (http://twitter.com/vangogh) if you want to follow me and I'll be sure to follow you back.

Sometimes it can seem like your talking to the void if you don't have others following you. The way I started was to follow a few people who I knew were using Twitter. In the beginning I just listened. Then I started replying using @ and before too long people replied to my replies and followed me. It helps too if you've encountered the people in other place. For example you know if I see something you tweet I'm likely to reply to it. Also when looking for new people to follow find someone you know who follows a lot of people and look through that list. If you know the first person odds are you'll know some of the people they follow.

I try to follow people I know, people I'd like to know, and people I find interesting even if they probably won't ever reply to me.

Some people have so many others following them that I think they miss the @s.

Naturally people on Twitter are still people so someone who'd be rude to you or ignore you if they saw you in person is probably still going to do the same on Twitter. However I've found people are usually a little more open on Twitter and more receptive to talking to strangers than they might be in other places. I've had conversations with people who probably wouldn't have responded if I'd reached out to them through another medium.

[KristineS]

I guess I just need to get into it more and to start posting more regularly. I suppose that was one of the things I liked about Plurk, you could see a lot of conversations going on at once, so you could jump into the ones that interested you. Of course, there were a lot of inane conversations going on, but you could also find things that were educational.

I suppose I just haven't gotten the swing of Twitter yet.

[vangogh]

Twitter will just take a little more time till you're following conversations. Plurk was definitely better at making it easy for new people to jump into the conversation and the reply to a thread feature was nice. Twitter will take a little time till you're following enough people. You can also follow news sources like cnn, etc.

I see you're following me now. Next time I log in I'll make sure to follow you back. Hopefully by later in the week I'll be twittering regularly again.

[Watchdog]

To me it was justa time vacuum. I want to try to be in the know with it..but it's just like sucking the time off my clock here and there are a million things to get done...

and you're right on the followers? Until you have them, you're talking to your self :) and I do that just fine without using twitter?

[vangogh]

Twitter can be a big time waster and I won't suggest it will be useful for everyone. Still it can be a good way to connect with others. Of course when it comes to networking you have to be where the people you want to network with are. If they aren't using Twitter than you probably won't find the service as useful as others.

[Steve B]

One of my customers found me through Twitter. She seemed a little embarassed to tell me that when I asked how she found Derby's Pet Fence. She said she met someone on Twitter that told her about us. Since I never heard of it, I went on to the site for a few minutes. I swear I saw ads for "swinging" so I quickly got off and never thought the same of that customer again. I'm taking it that I just have judged the site too quickly? Or, maybe I typed in the wrong thing!

[Evan]

For me it works great as a personal networking tool. I have several of my friends with Twitter accounts so I can track what's going on. I also subscribe to CNN Headlines, so important news comes to my cell phone as well.

Twitter wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't for the updates via text messages. For me, it's great. But I don't think it does well for many businesses unless you have constantly headlines that are newsworthy.

[orion_joel]

I must say that i never have really looked at twitter, i have spent probably to much time looking at facebook, and doing similar to what twitter sounds like with the status update there.

[Evan]

Joel -- there is a Facebook application to import your Twitter feed. That's what I do... So the 9 people following me on Twitter are joined by the 900 or so friends on Facebook from across the globe.

[greenoak]

im pretty sure i wouldnt have time for it..way to busy....and i sure woulndt want my workers twittering...
..i havent heard very much that would possibly relate to my business....maybe i just dont get it, but whats the point?
ann

[seolman]

I've just started on Twitter a short time ago. Kind of an experiment. I just followed VG/ I'm gonna follow a few other guys I recognize following him to see who else follow me around. Looks interesting as a way to keep in touch with a lot of people at the same time.

[vangogh]

For those of you who haven't given it a try Twitter is kind of like Instant Messaging on steroids. You follow some people and then you get to see what they're tweeting. People tweet all sorts of things. Some is interesting and some not so interesting. People tweet links to interesting things and they also tweet links to their own stuff.

Lots of people use it in different ways. I find it most useful as a networking tool. It's strengthened relationships with people I knew elsewhere and it's helped to begin building relationships with people I didn't know before.

I have a hard time with IM since it distracts me too much. With Twitter I can check out the conversation for a little while when I feel like it and ignore it when I'm working on something else. With IM if you stop talking the conversation ends. With Twitter the conversation goes on with or without you and you can join in at any time.

Once again it's going to be more useful if you're following and being followed by at least some people. And naturally you'd want those followers to be people you'd like to chat with. The service isn't necessarily for everyone, but everyone here would probably say that networking is an important part of growing your business and Twitter gives you a chance to network with people.

[orion_joel]

I think that networking is very important to both personal and business growth. That is really why i started using facebook and myspace, was to keep track of my personal friends and the few business ones that are on there. More recently i joined linked in, so far no actual connections but am still getting into it. I may have a look and give twitter a try. See what it is like.

[KristineS]

I'm still getting adjusted to Twitter. I'm not sure I like it yet. I have a corporate account for one of our companies, and I find it easier to keep that one fairly current. My personal Twitter account has been severely neglected. I just feel like I'm talking into a void. I'm going to keep working with it, as I have seen some interesting pieces of information there. I guess I just need to build up my network.

[vangogh]

Try following a number of people first. Find someone you're familiar with online and then look through who that person follows and start adding names you recognize. Follow enough people so there's a stream of conversation. See what some of the more followed people are tweeting to get a feel for what seems to be working.

Then start tweeting. Mix in some of your own messages with replies to others. For example throughout the day I might have a quick thought I want to share or maybe I find an interesting article I think other people will like and post the link. Sometimes you can ask questions. When I switched from the PC to the Mac a few months ago I didn't know what code editors existed. I searched the usual places and also asked for recommendations on Twitter.

When you see someone else say something and you have something to add reply to them with your comment. They won't necessarily reply to your reply. Some people won't unless they know you. Some may not even see the reply. Some people will reply though and you can have a short conversation with them. Remember that person and start some other conversations with them later in the day or week. When someone replies to you their followers will see your username. That almost always leads to a few new people following you.

[orion_joel]

I find that i get the feeling of talking to a void with my blogs, while i know i must be getting an odd reader or two, as i would really hope that the unique visitor count is not just a couple of hundred bots. But it still feels like i am talking to no one really but it is letting me be open with what i say, even if i do have 100 people reading it i don't know them at least i don't think that i do, and it means that i can be more open without feeling that i am going to be judged in the same way as if maybe my family or direct contact's may judge me.

[orion_joel]

Well i joined twitter now. One thing that i find quite annoying is the inability to properly search for people. You can provide your email account which most sites for me pick up my hotmail address book, however twitter did not. Otherwise you can invite by email. Even if you could connect with facebook or myspace friends may be helpful.

[vangogh]

Joel there are a lot of tools available for Twitter that make the service easier to use, including some search engines for Twitter. Do a quick search for Twitter tools or similar. Even though I use Twitter, I hardly ever use it through the site.

Don't forget to post a link to your profile.

As far as feeling like you're blogging or tweeting to the void both can feel that way. Just trust that someone is listening. The worst case where no one is listening means you get to practice your writing.

[orion_joel]

Yeah, that is kind of how i look at blogging, is that i am getting some good writing practice, if one day i decided to write something a little more in depth.

At this point i often have no problems putting together a 1000 word post, and feeling that it is valuable in some way, whether others believe this or not is still something that i am trying to figure out.

I did connect twitter to my facebook profile, and the link for my twitter profile is Twitter / Orionjoel (http://twitter.com/orionjoel) . I going to have a bit more of a look for tools though and see what i can do with this.

[vangogh]

I'm pretty sure very few people were reading when I first started blogging, but it did give me time to work out how to blog better. By the time people were paying attention I had a much better idea what to do.

If you want people to read you do have to get yourself out there. Comment on similar blogs, spend some time with things like Twitter. It takes a little time, but it does pay off if you keep at it.