Last month I discussed reasons for having a Twitter account and also ways twitter can benefit everyone. You can review last month’s post in case you may have missed this article or need a quick refresher.
Assuming that I was able to convince you on setting up a twitter account, you probably may be actively using Twitter. You’re probably also following many other Twitter users, being followed and putting some of the justifications for Twitter usage from last month’s post to full use. So whats next? How can you continue to use Twitter to its full potential? Well this post will seek to answer these questions by providing a variety of tips to make anyone a Twitter guru.
Practice Twitter etiquette
There are various guidelines that help to make using Twitter a fun experience. Some of these include:
- Use of the @ sign in front of a Twitter user’s name when directing a reply to them. Also, realize when a conversation requires the use of the direct message (DM) feature as sometimes everyone may not want to read certain replies.
- Do not send repeated messages to people. Also, constantly using the direct message (DM) feature and sending links may cause users to think you are a spammer. They could likely unfollow you or worse report you for abuse.
- Do thank users for retweeting or following you. It’s a great conversation starter and may go a long way.
- Yes, Twitter is a public medium and not a medium to vent. Therefore, everyone may read what you wrote at some point.
Integrate Twitter with other mediums
Many of us have other social networking accounts particularly with Facebook and Myspace. There are tools available to link your twitter account with these social networks. Myspace has a status sync tool that allows for Myspace updates to be shown in Twitter. Similarly, Facebook has a twitter application that performs status updates to Twitter.
Use a Desktop client
Although Twitter usage via the web may be sufficient, desktop clients help to unleash features that make Twitter usage more efficient. Some of my recommended Desktop clients include:
Use a Mobile client
One may opt to have access to Twitter on a mobile device which is possible through any web-enabled mobile device including Blackberry, iPhone and Android. Additionally, mobile clients are available should one prefer not using a mobile web browser. Many recent mobile devices now have Twitter mobile clients pre-installed. However, one can easily download ÜberTwitter, Twidroid or Twitterific to name a few.
Now I’d love to hear about your Twitter experiences. Feel free to share and continue to enjoy Tweeting.
