Top Three Social Networks: Part 2
The Twitter craze; it's everywhere, from convicts to presidents and sports pros. Twitter is a mix between the ultimate stalker patrol and "I don't give a flying rat's ass what you are doing." People love twitter, though. I'm talking, like, when someone tweets they're running an errand and the reponses are like, "OMGGGG!!! No way!! You seriously are at Walmart buying undies and milk?!" Don't take this the wrong way. I've been on Twitter since Sept. 4, 2007, pretty much before the craze. And I do tweet utterly useless info. I love Twitter, even though no one comments or replies. But, my overstuffed, conceited brain thinks someone out there is listening to me. Think of Twitter like this: Your brain is telling you what's up and your brain needs to tell other brains what's up, too.
Twitter is probably one of the best ways to get something heard. I'm talking, like, if you have a product, idea, complaint or useless bathroom tweet, you always know someone out there is going to see it. And, if it's not useless to them, they are going to retweet and spread the word even more. One simple retweet can, like, change the face of how we know what we know.
People take advantage of Twitter, though. I'm talking about spamming. Think of it this way: spam kills time.
Let me give you an example. Let's say you get a spam tweet. You'll take up to about 2 minutes to deal with that spam, either deleting it, blocking it, or replying with how stupid they are
for spamming you (Ah, man, that last one brings back memories). Now, when it comes to celebrities and a tweet, we're talking total chaos. Let's say, for example, I need to get something across and I have a few celebrites as friends, or I'm a celebrity. I post the tweet and - BLAOW! - the magic happens. We're talking, everyone retweets it.
For example, just 'cause I have thousands of followers doesn't mean whatever I post will be retweeted. Let's say, for example, that I'm running for president. I know some celebrities are for me, and I need as much publicity as possible, so what would I do? Why not have some celebs tweet about me? Then - BLAOW! - the people will come.
Here are some ideas on using Twitter effectively:
When you need to get a point across, dont spam. Twitter isnt meant for someone to spam links all day long. Yes, people do that, and if you are spamming information, then it's fine. But, if you are saying stuff like, "Hey, check out my product.com", I'm pretty confident it won't work how you want it. If you are trying to sponsor your or someone else's product, be legit and sincere. Don't be conceited or show off. Just state useable facts, like, "Did you know XYZ product can change your eyes?" and then add the link, or "Ugh! My eyes are crap! I'm going to switch to XYZ" and then the link. You're being real, and you'll see way more traffic than you would think. And remember to use a URL shorting site like bit.ly
. You'll even be able to get stats on how that tweet worked.
Have a personal account that isn't your business account. So, for example, if I tweet, "Man, this bathroom smells like crap! Has to be the #3 stall", I'm pretty sure you don't want that going out to potential or current clients. But, if it's your personal account, then tweet all day long 'cause I'm sure someone is just dying to hear what you have to say about stall No. 3.
There are hundreds of third-party sites out there, but this is vital: only sign up using Oauth. It lets you use that third party without giving them your username or password. But make sure to read the fine print on these sites. A lot of them will send a tweet for you, spamming your account.
In my last post in this series, I'll be taking about my third most favorite social networking site:Foursquare.
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