Twitter Tips

We’ll be right back!

Marko — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:22:28 +0000

New and improved Twittertips.org coming soon.

Stay tuned!

No related posts.

How to: Really Like Twitter

Marko — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:03:19 +0000

This is a guest post by Manal Assaad from The Manalyst.
You can follow her on Twitter @TheManalyst.

I live in the Middle East and you don’t need statistics to know that people here are more of Facebook fans, probably because we tend to be very talkative and 140 characters simply doesn’t cut it for most of us. Or perhaps because FarmVille doesn’t have an account on Twitter (for which I’m really grateful).

I asked some friends about that, and read some other people’s opinions on it, and barely any of them seemed to really like Twitter. But I kept seeing it everywhere online and was curious enough to try it, and finally took the leap about 2 months ago. After spending all that time interacting with people on Twitter, learning about it and from it, I really liked it and even became addicted to it! So I figured that liking Twitter or not liking it depends on your understanding of it, your experience with it, and basically how you start on it!

Facebook Vs. Twitter

Seriously, stop comparing between these two. I’ve been on Facebook for many years now and I’m practically new on Twitter but I knew they are completely different from my first day on Twitter. I was told that Facebook is much more fun than Twitter and that the latter is basically only updating your status. WRONG! I’ve had more interactions and more fun on Twitter in these 2 months than I’ve had in years on Facebook. Facebook is really great when it comes to keeping in touch with your family and friends easily, and checking out their photos, and sharing things with them. But Twitter is like having the entire world on wheels that keep the fun coming your way. I was also told that Twitter is lame. WRONG AGAIN! I said it before and I say it again now, Twitter is only lame if you’re following lame people (and dare I say, if you’re lame too!). In one hour on Twitter, you will learn more things than you would in a week on Facebook.

If you really learn how to use Twitter, it can be the best thing ever (until something even better comes along in the future, it will for sure, but for now Twitter is doing just great). Now here are some answers that would help you start on Twitter (they’re also good if you’ve already started but not really doing well!):

What Do I Use Twitter For?

Before you decide to use twitter, you need to know WHY you want to use it. Do you have a blog/website that you want to promote? Do you have a business that you want to grow? Or do you just have a lot of spare time and you want something new and cool to have fun doing? If it’s the latter, then you’ve come to the right place, because I tweet for fun mainly. Sure it doesn’t matter to anyone else why you want to be on Twitter (unless you’re a spammer, in which case STAY AWAY!), but it would help you to know what your goal is to know where to go from there. In my opinion, there is no wrong reason to be on Twitter, there are just wrong uses of it. If you’re not sure what the experience is going to be like, then read some posts about it first, but the experience greatly varies from one person to the other. Some people are addicted to it, some people think it’s very useful, and others just can’t understand it and even hate it. So I say the best bet is to just go ahead and try it for yourself!

Tips: If you want to learn everything about Twitter, you can start here with Mashable’s Twitter Guidebook (who you should follow as well).

Who Do I Follow?

There is no general rule here. There are people from everywhere tweeting about everything all the time (Yes, all the time!). So you can decide to follow whoever you want to follow and that depends on your goal as per the previous point. Basically there are different types of tweeters, and you can learn about them from Guy Kawasaki’s The Six Twitter Types or Mashable’s The 10 Users You’ll Meet On Twitter. You might want to follow people in your niche so you can get the scoop on all the related news if you want to use Twitter for professional goals, or follow interesting people who tweet about anything that you can find online, or maybe specialized people (or brands) who just focus on one topic like technology, politics, movies, celebrity news, etc. You can follow all the celebrities you love, if you’re into that sort of things, to keep up with their latest updates, the most active and interesting ones being Ashton Kutcher and Alyssa Milano. And there are non-celebrities but really amazing people that you would want to follow like Guy Kawasaki (He has the greatest stuff but don’t expect him to talk to you though), Diana Adams (The most lovable person on Twitter with lots of interesting links and will reply to you), Blair Semenoff (He keeps the interesting links coming, and he still stops once in a while to thank you for a retweet or retweet something interesting you shared), Scott Stratten (this dude is hilarious, enough said!) and many others (you can just check out my VIP list to see who I personally like).

Tips: You can start by following people based on their interests or professions by checking out sites like www.listorious.com or www.wefollow.com; and you can also follow people from the blogs and websites you like.
P.S.: Don’t go on a following frenzy and follow everyone you see. You are only allowed to follow up to 2,000 people at first, until the number of your followers is right about that much (The rule is you can only follow 10% more than the number of your followers once you get to 2,000).

Who Would Follow Me?

Unless you are a celebrity, you will probably suffer with that a bit. Don’t expect the number of your followers to skyrocket anytime soon, and that’s OK. Don’t worry because you will get followers anyway. But the number and quality of your followers will greatly depend on your tweeting skills. Just expect a lot of spammers (people promising you lots of money or followers), bots (accounts with numbers in their names and pictures of hot chicks, especially if they offer you porn) and marketers (basically the same as those who call you up at inconvenient times, or send you junk emails) to follow you in the beginning. And whatever you do, PLEASE don’t fall for those telling you they can get you thousands of followers. I know we all want to have thousands of followers to brag about, but soon enough you’ll know that getting followers who are really interested in YOU and love what you do is much more rewarding than a huge number of followers who don’t really care about you.

Tips: If you really want to reasonably increase the number of your followers then start by following back those who already took the time to follow you, and also look for others who often follow back but make sure they are worth following (as mentioned in the previous point).

What Do I Tweet?

Of course that’s also your business and no one should tell you what to do with your own account, but if you simply want to tweet about meaningless things in your day (like what you had for lunch or dinner, what your mom just said to you on the phone, how upset you are about something, the color of your PJs, etc), don’t expect people to care enough to follow you. Apart from that, you can tweet about anything you like. You can share interesting links you find online, you can share various news, quotes, your blog posts (if you have one), jokes, etc. It all depends on what kind of followers you want, and on what you enjoy best. In my opinion, it would be best to include a bit of everything, that way you know that no matter who is following you, they would at least like some of your stuff, and that would get you other followers as well. And surely it matters what your followers like because you’re not there tweeting “for your eyes only”. The whole point about Twitter, the way I see it, is that you share things you already know and enjoy with others who you think would enjoy them too. So yes, it is (or at least should be) about sharing! Now the best thing you can share with your followers is a conversation. Make sure you always engage with your followers by initiating conversations with them, commenting on their tweets or answering their questions, retweeting the ones you like, or thanking them for retweeting yours and replying to them as often as you can. Always, ALWAYS, make time to talk to people. It’s not called a “social” network on a whim, you are expected and you should socialize with people.

Tips: If you’re not getting many followers, it might mean you’re not a good tweeter. Try to see what others are tweeting and learn from them. You can also see what your current followers like and retweet, and tweet similar things.

P.S.: When you engage in a conversation with someone, make sure you move that to the Direct Messages so you don’t annoy the rest of the followers, unless you think they’d be interested in it. Also, if you initiate a conversation with someone and they don’t answer you back, it’s not the end of the world! (I’ve come to learn that personally, and I was even featured in a post for it). Perhaps they are very busy, or maybe that’s just their style and they don’t like to talk to people. If you get too irritated with it then you can always unfollow them, unless they really tweet valuable things which would redeem their lack of sociability.

When Do I Tweet?

Practically whenever you want and whenever you have time. Once you get the hang of it, you will probably find yourself addicted to it and browsing the net from site to site to find interesting things to share all the time. But I’m sure you have a job or an actual social offline life, and you can’t afford to tweet at all times. But take note that the frequency of your tweets is related to how many followers you get. If you rarely tweet, then you probably won’t get as many followers as you’d like. So just make sure, if you can, that you would tweet at least a couple of times a day. But seriously there is no rule here either, it all goes back to what you’re comfortable with. Just don’t stress over it. If you can make time to tweet interesting things every day, then do so and you will see the difference it would make. If you can’t, then it’s not a big deal, but just make your time there worth it.

Tips: You can use services like Hootsuite to schedule your tweets to a later time. So if you have some free time now, but you know you will be busy the next day or so, you can tweet a few extra things and schedule them to when you would be offline. One thing I personally do is that I reschedule the really interesting things for 6 hours or 12 hours later so that followers who missed them the first time can check them out the second time when I am offline. Just don’t overdo it and keep the repeated tweets at least 6 hours apart and schedule them for the peak times depending on where your followers are.

Of course, there are a lot more things that you need to learn about Twitter and you can find them everywhere online written by much more experienced tweeters. But the 5 things above are what will directly affect your Twitter experience, the rest are just techniques that would make your journey easier.

If you’re still hung up on the 140 character limit, just remember that some of the best things come in small packages… Just look at how small the iPhone is! Or kittens… those are really cute too.

No related posts.

How Much Is Your Twitter Account Worth?

Marko — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:04:32 +0000

Ever wondered how much your Twitter account is worth? Tweeter Value can put a price tag on your Twitter account. It is more for fun than for anything else. But we all like a bit of fun, don’t we?

What exactly does Tweeter Value do? It puts a theoretical value on a Twitter account, and that’s it. Keep in mind that buying and selling Twitter accounts is against Twitter Terms of Service, so don’t get any ideas. It’s meant to be used for fun.

How does it work? It uses an algorithm to estimate how much Twitter account could be worth. Many things are taken into consideration, including: followers, following and tweets.

And how much is your Twitter profile worth?

No related posts.

Twitter Etiquette: 7 Common Sense Rules for Twitter

Marko — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:34:51 +0000

With Twitter going mainstream and gaining masses of newcomers on a daily basis, I see more and more senseless messages floating around. To be completely honest, it’s not only the new guys, but some seasoned twitters as well. People say “Social media is 90% common sense”. In regard to that, the “rules” I will list in this post, you have probably already figured out on your own, I hope. Apparently not all did, tho’.

In this article I will try to explain you some basic principles that you use when you socialize. Think about what you tweet – on the other side is a person and not a Twitter account. Unfortunately, some people on Twitter and online in general, do things they would not do in person. For instance, when I search on Twitter for a specific topic, I get so many spam like tweets that have nothing to do with the subject. By doing that, you waste your and other people’s time.

The following is a list of 7 common sense rules you should use on Twitter

Get rid of useless ReTweets. Remember #followfriday recommendations? They used to be cool, but these days all you see is people retweeting list of names that has no meaning. I usually ignore these huge RTs. Sometimes people greet multiple friends at once – OK I understand this – but why do ten people have to retweet this?
Don’t be pushy. Don’t know how to exactly explain or name this one, but I will try my best. Sometimes people try to promote their product, which is fine by me, but they take wrong approach. I have seen they send their tweets (with the link to their product) to many users at once, usually those who have many followers, with the tweet containing no real information what the link is about. It is annoying and most of us just ignore such tweets.
Be nice. I think this one is self explanatory. People enjoy pleasant conversations. Say hi sometimes or thank or reply to a question – not every tweet has to contain a link to your website. If you only post information your followers will feel like you don’t care about them. Also, don’t ignore it when people tweet you, take time and reply to them.
Do not repeat yourself. I know you want your blog or product be seen by everyone, but if you repeatedly tweet that link to your followers, they might just ignore or unfollow you. Try to limit that to a few times a day.
People have names. It feels good if people actually address you by your real name sometimes and gives you a feeling you interact with a human being. You don’t have to do it every time, but once in a while is nice.
And they have short memory. Since Twitter lacks threaded conversations, it is sometimes difficult to know what a certain tweet was a response to. Try to include some sort of indication what question you are referring to. I sometimes RT the message in my reply to make it obvious to what I was replying.
Give credit and share. If you find something you like, share it and tell where it comes from. If someone tweets something interesting that you want to retweet, thank him and mention him in your retweet. Again, I know this is hard to do every time, especially if you follow many people, but once in a while is nice.

How to Avoid Being Filtered from Twitter Search

Marko — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:53:35 +0000

If you use Twitter search, you probably noticed that all tweets do not show up. That is because Twitter started filtering out certain tweets from Twitter search. And there are not many worse things than your tweets not showing up in the search results, especially if you use Twitter for business. Being filtered out is not good for your social presence either.

What kind of tweets are being filtered you ask? Recurring tweets, meaning if you post same sentence a few times in a row it will only show up once among the search results. Tweets from people who are often blocked by others. And of course, tweets sent from accounts marked as spam will also be filtered. And believe me people use Twitter search a lot, I do on a daily basis. Being filtered out, you will have a hard time connecting with other people.

A few tips to not get filtered from Twitter search

Don’t spam. That one’s easy.
Don’t post the same thing every few seconds. If you want to promote your website or whatever, better do it over a couple of hours. It’s also annoying to see your product or blog linked five times in a row.
Don’t retweet spammers. You’ll have to learn how to spot spammers. Check out people’s profiles, watch their tweets.
Mix the words. If you really have to tweet about the same thing many times in a short period of time, you can mix the words to avoid filtering.

Oh, there’s one more thing you can do. Check if your profile is showing up in Twitter search. Go to Twitter search and type in your username without the @. Or better yet, type in from:yourusername. Make sure your last tweets are shown. That’s about it. If you have any more ideas, post them below in the comments.

How to get the most out of Twitter search

Optimize Your Twitter Bio to Get More Followers

Marko — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:09:13 +0000

What’s the first thing you look at when you check someones profile? Most of us read the bio first and that is one of the decisive factors when deciding whether to follow or not follow that person. If your bio is not filled out or is not very descriptive, you are missing out on potential followers. Unlike the 140-character limit for tweets, Twitter gives you 160 characters for your bio. Use them all! In this post I will focus only on the bio section of your Twitter profile.

Will having a bio and website link in your Twitter profile really make a difference in the number of followers you have? The answer is yes. I’ve found an interesting research post on whether having a Twitter bio will get you more followers. You can read it here. Statistics in this report show that Twitter profiles that contain a bio will attract eight times as many followers as one without a bio.

While writing a good bio in 160 characters can be quite a challenge, keep in mind that you don’t have to tell us everything about you. Focus on a few critical keywords that really describe you. These keywords will also be used when people run a search on Twitter. Think about it as SEO (search engine optimization) for Twitter. Just as you would when optimizing a website for search engines, when you write your Twitter bio think about what kind of followers you want to attract.

My recommendations when writing a Twitter bio:

Be you and be real, and tell us what you do and what you like. Do not rush, take time to create the best bio you can. Describe yourself, mention your hobbies or interests. And finally, think about your niche and what kind of followers you want to attract – so select your keywords wisely.

If you haven’t taken the time to write a proper Twitter bio, now is a good time to do so. And for the love of god, please do not tell us that you are an expert or guru. Really, just don’t.

Real Twitter Insights Gained Through Personal Observation

Marko — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:58:04 +0000

Guest post by Ryan from AdMazing. Check out his blog, and follow him @admazing.

The Twitter invasion is here. True, Twitter has been here for a while now, but the hype is finally topping the scales. Everybody who’s anybody has entered the exciting world of microblogging and is expanding their network. Many are professing to be that expert or guru in order to increase their follower block. Outrageous “get rich quick” schemes are becoming commonplace. Spammers have found a new haven.

Or have they?

True, Twitter is a groundbreaking communication technology that is here to stay. But from personal observation, far too many tweeters are missing the point.

At the turn of the century, many people were so intrigued with the rise of the Internet that they granted it the status of mysterious, almost magical. The possibilities seemed limitless. Open up any kind of online store, become a millionaire. Easily.

And then…the bubble popped.

Don’t get me wrong–I believe Twitter definitely has the potential to grow with stability and avoid the bubble-popping madness that followed the rise of the Internet age. But for that to happen, Tweeters must recognize that Twitter has no inherent fairy dust. The same business rules apply that have always applied. Don’t just be there to be heard. Interact. Provide real value. Help others (and that entails more than simply mentioning it in your bio).

If you want your brand (either personal or corporate) to have a significant and growing presence on Twitter, send occassional direct messages that aren’t automated. Retweet interesting tweets. Thank others for their retweets. Be human, and don’t profess to be the all-knowing expert or guru that everyone else is professing to be. And for pete’s sake, don’t promise people you’ll help them earn $20,000 from one tweet or help them double their followers in an hour.

Speaking of increasing followers, don’t get caught up in the hype. Most of those 20,000 followers other people have are either spammers or “experts” seeking nothing more than to increase their own pool of followers. You want an audience, not followers. Quality will trump quantity every time. Look for those who have a few hundred followers or less. Those are the people who will actually read and appreciate your tweets and will be much more likely to retweet them.

Just like any successful business practice, a successful Twitter campaign is focused on relationships, reciprocity, and respect. The rules really haven’t changed.

How to get More People to Retweet You on Twitter

7 Best Ways to Share Videos on Twitter

Marko — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:55:20 +0000

Just like there’s a big competition between photo sharing sites for Twitter, there’s also a good competition in video sharing. Even tho’ there’s yet to be a single video sharing site for Twitter that has managed to attract the same number of users as TwitPic, these sites are clearly gaining in popularity. Hopefully we will get Twitter video sharing services integrated in our favorite desktop clients soon. I’ll give you a quick list of 7 best ways to tweet video. Some of these even support photo and video sharing, allow webcam recordings, and track video mentions across Twitter.

TwitVid.io is really simple to use. Log in with your Twitter credentials, choose a video file and post. Works pretty much the same as TwitPic.
Twiddeo is a powerful but simple service that let’s you do one thing very well: Twitter updates with Video. Upload from the web, your cameraphone and record from your webcam.
TwitC is a great tool for sharing photos, videos, and a myriad of different file types with Twitter, it’s a multipurpose hosting service for Twitter.
TwitLENS is another tool that handles both video and photo sharing. What I like about it is that it supports Twitter OAuth for secure login.
TweeTube allows you to share webcam videos, YouTube videos, photos and website URLs. The site looks neat.
12seconds helps you update your friends and family with short video clips that you record with your webcam, mobile phone, or upload. It uses Twitter OAuth for secure login too.
TwitVid.com is almost the same as TwitVid.io.

Do we need this many video options for Twitter? Well, probably not, but the competition is always good. Which one do you prefer?

How Much Time Do You Spend on Twitter?

Marko — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:16:58 +0000

It’s time for another poll. This time I would like to know how much time do you spend on Twitter each day. Did you ever check how much time did you spend tweeting and reading tweets, checking all these links people post and reading your new follower’s profiles? Time goes by really fast when you do something fun.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

No related posts.

Twitter Tips

We’ll be right back!

How to: Really Like Twitter

Facebook Vs. Twitter

What Do I Use Twitter For?

Who Do I Follow?

Who Would Follow Me?

What Do I Tweet?

When Do I Tweet?

How Much Is Your Twitter Account Worth?

Twitter Etiquette: 7 Common Sense Rules for Twitter

The following is a list of 7 common sense rules you should use on Twitter

How to Avoid Being Filtered from Twitter Search

A few tips to not get filtered from Twitter search

Top 6 Twitter Tips and Tutorials for Beginners

Optimize Your Twitter Bio to Get More Followers

My recommendations when writing a Twitter bio:

Real Twitter Insights Gained Through Personal Observation

7 Best Ways to Share Videos on Twitter

How Much Time Do You Spend on Twitter?