Twitter – Day 2 – Following & Tweeting

Now that you are signed up, let’s figure out how to use this.  Let’s talk about value, following and how to tweet.

VALUE

One of the first things you might notice as you log on to your home page is that it displays the number of people you follow and the number of followers you have.

First and foremost you must understand this principle: The value of Twitter comes in the number and quality of people you follow, not in the number who follow you. Why? In the end, Twitter is about learning.  And here is my theory:

The opening question, “What’s Happening?” or “What are you doing” make very shallow conversations – on or off line.  But if I were to share with you some bit of interesting information – that’s were things could get interesting and a real conversation can take place.  But for that to happen, the information I share should be something you are interested in.  If I tweet, “interesting diagram on intentionality & formality in learning http://is.gd/5n2ar via @csessums” as did @hjarche yesterday, and I was interested in the learning profession, that would be something I would want to check out. (As you can see, it is who you follow that gives you the most value.)

So, Twitter is turning into a medium allowing professionals or other like minded individuals on a topic to share useful information.  This is why the highest demographic of users is between 18-35 (47% of users).  1) They are starting their professions and have a lot to share and 2) they latch on to technological solutions faster than those who are older.  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  The second largest demographic is between 35-49 (31%) and then the next is 50+ (21%)!  And of all Twitter users, 63% have a college degree.  Where are the teens?  They are last at 1% – why?  Texting 1:1 is most important to them.  As they enter the workforce, connections and communicating, 1:many becomes much more important.  So I am not surprised with the change in stats.  Teens are not joining yet only because they don’t ‘get it’ and they don’t need it.

That’s my theory, anyway.

FOLLOWING

Remember – value comes in who you follow.  Go to my Twitter home page (make sure you are logged in).  If what you read you find interesting, follow me.  If not, skip me.

To find others you might want to follow, go to Twitter’s search engine and search a keyword.  “Learing” or “e.20″ or “Social media” or “NASA” or whatever you are interested in.  Find out who is saying what about these topics.

Then click on the name of a person you think you might want to follow.  On their Twitter home page (make sure you are already logged in) click on the FOLLOW button under their picture.  Now, on the right are pictures of people they follow.  Go exploring.  Click on someone. See if they are worth following, if so, do so.

As we go on, you will get the hang of who to follow.

HOW TO TWEET

True, you can tweet from the Twitter page.  But oddly enough, most people don’t.  Why? To read your friend’s tweets or to tweet yourself, you have to open a browser, go to the page and do it there.  It may seem like a no brainer, but it is actually a pain.

Instead, you can download a small program that will keep Twitter open all the time (Tweetie for my Mac is my favorite).  This makes a BIG difference in how and why and when you would use it.  When you do have time, you can look at it or you can quickly tweet.  Another option is to put it on your iPhone or Blackberry.

But, whatever you do, don’t rely on the Twitter home page.  Just don’t do it.

TO DO – Set Yourself Up!  (Difficulty Level: EASY – Time: ???? Depends on you)

Do all the actions I mention above.

• Find followers
• Download a twitter app to your desktop and phone (if you can).

Tomorrow we will talk about Tweeting and sharing and what @ & # & DM & RT mean, and why they are important.

Tagged as: apps, blackberry, iPhone, social media challenge, stats, Twitter, yammer