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There have been many posts on Twitter & tutorials keep coming out. Awhile ago I wrote about how I had to shift my use of Twitter.

When I had only 120-150 followers I checked in 3-4 times per day. And I would page back through everyone's tweets & open links that I would read later.

But the twitterstorm that @jowyang created disrupted that & my number started growing. It took me a bit to readjust & I started using some new tools.

Now at 750 followers here is how I use Twitter:

• pop in only on breaks (It's too disruptive to stream)
• chat with my network that is online at the moment
• if I see an interesting comment I may
  • click on the @username for context
  • follow that person
  • put their name into quotably.com to see the thread of the conversation (it works pretty well albeit it's not perfect)
• use quotably.com to check my favorite tweeters & follow their links
• check replies & respond

My Twitter tips:

If you tweet about a broad variety of topics you'll get followers of varied interests

Ask questions - crowdsource your followers - they love to help! (today I asked if I should get a kayak or canoe; on another day it was what to do in Paris) It's also a great place to get tech help (my following is very geeky).

Business related tips:

• Tweetscan.com delivers an email every morning to me with a standing search for:
  • cbensen - for DM's that are missed - Twitter is prone to hiccups)
  • cbenson (people misspelling my name)
  • acdsee - brand monitoring
  • community manager - I'm connecting with like minded people & I like reading the news as people announce their positions or talk about their work
  • take your tweetscan search & share it with others
    • Here's an example that I saw Radian6 using
    • If you use that - make sure you monitor it so there aren't negative tweets on it
    • Get creative with it! It's offered in an RSS feed - where can you embed it? website? blog?

Benefits:

• Networking - I've met a large number of people from Minnesota. After getting to know them I'm ready to attend the Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast next week & meet them in person!
• Branding -
  • repetitive - Use your photo as your avatar
  • memorable - Use a representative photo for your home page & people will see it when they check out your profile or go to DM you. This space offers the opportunity to display your brand logo multiple times. If you have questions on how to do it, let me know - I know of some software that makes it easy!

Resources

• for the beginner - Beginner's Guide to Twitter
• more in-depth - Caroline Middlebrook has a great guide
• And there are tons of Twitter app's out there - Lee Odden lists 5 newer ones & @jowyang has a good list too.