April 18, 2008 at 11:39 am · Filed under Social Software, TechTalk
Twitter is a pretty simple mechanism. In 140 characters or less, tell the Twitterverse what you are doing, what you’ve been doing, what you plan to do or what is holding you up from doing what needs to be done. Got it?
First, create your account
Twitter is free, but you do need that digital identity so folks can find you. So visit Twitter.com and sign up.
Second, start posting
You really don’t need to do a whole lot if you just want to sample the world of Twitter. Once you are logged into your account, start dropping your Tweets into the What Are You Doing? box.
Third, find folks to follow
Now you will want to build out your network. This is done by finding folks to follow. You may want to find those in your local area or in your industry. You may want to find those who share your interests. Or you may just start picking folks at random. There are a couple of ways to do this. One is to use Twitter’s Search feature to find folks by name or by location. 
Once you find someone that you wish to follow, take a moment to see who they are following. You can quickly and often times effectively expand your network in this fashion, growing geometrically rather than linearly. 
Another recent resource is TwitterPacks. Twitter-ites are adding themselves to this wiki and self-sorting by field, location, and interest.
Fourth, find a good Twitter app
Once your network starts growing, you will likely find that constantly refreshing your Twitter page gets old quick. Once you hit this point, you will want an application that displays your Twitter activity in near real-time. Finding a good Twitter app, or client, is sort of like finding a good pair of shoes. You have to try a few on before you’re happy with the fit. I’ve tried Tweetr, Twhirl and Snitter. I finally settled on Snitter as it had most of the features that I needed/wanted in a Twitter client.
Fifth, manage your network
Your network is organic and I would compare it to the art behind the bonsai tree. Like the bonsai, you need to nurture your network. It requires care, fertilization and sometimes, pruning. There are a number of tools you can use, but that is a topic for a future post. Managing your network is an art form and it deserves greater attention than a few lines can deliver.
Sixth, have fun!
When it comes to Twitter, if you’re not having fun then you are doing something wrong. Twitter is kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Spend some time Tweeting and responding to other Tweeters and pretty soon, when you come online, your Twitterverse will treat you just like Norm (minus the beer)!
There is a wealth of information out there but I’ve found the Twitter Wiki (http://twitter.pbwiki.com/) to be an incredible resource for all things Twitter.
Tags: twitter, how-to, community, collaboration, network
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April 27, 2007 at 11:36 am · Filed under Twitter Log, Web 2.0
This may come as a relief to some but I’ve decided that since I can’t make my Twitter blog posts private by default that I am no longer going to be posting them here. I’m not sure how much they contribute to my readership, although I enjoy having a record of my daily activities.
For those who are actually interested though, I’m not dumping the idea entirely. I’ve moved my Twitter posts to a new blog, johnericmartin.com/Twitter.
I do plan to keep on Twittering though. I really do like the stream of consciousness brain dump outlet it provides.
[tags]twitter[/tags]
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April 21, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- 2800 hits yesterday - Holy smoke! More than double my best day ever. #
- Good morning to my Twitter friends! It’s glorious mornings like these that I wish our conversations were real rather than virtual. #
- @jutecht: Rock on Jeff, that’s one lucky kitten. Still trying to convince our rescued ball python she wants to eat! #
- 70+ degrees and I’m still shoveling snow! Only in New England… But at least I can sit on my deck again! #
- Summer is coming - Beach volleyball on the tube, Sox v. Yanks this afternoon. My first sunburn at yesterday’s media support event. Oh joy! #
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April 20, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Getting prepped for an off-site media setup - big fundraising effort for campus PE center. Lots of big mucky-mucks. Oh boy! #
- @crafty184: Firefox baby! If only to have a backup browser! #
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April 20, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Getting prepped for an off-site media setup - big fundraising effort for campus PE center. Lots of big mucky-mucks. Oh boy! #
- @crafty184: Firefox baby! If only to have a backup browser! #
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April 17, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Well it was a long walk in on what is left of my driveway! Not sure if I’ll be going anywhere tomorrow if the brooks keep rising… #
- In MIS meeting but at least I could get out albeit via 4WD. #
- Making the trek home and wondering how the roads are… #
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April 15, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Watching the snow come down, wondering if the Sox will play and wondering where my life is headed. Am I thinking too small? #
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April 10, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Fighting a cold. Ick. #
- At MIS meeting #
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April 7, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- @jutecht: G’morning! #
- @edtechtalk: Rock on in NYC Jeff! #
- @jutecht: Yah, I’ve been following your Moodle efforts. Sounds like a PITA! #
- @elsua: Yah, I was added by Forecast and some other Twitter zombies. Grr…. #
- @elsua: Hunter and Ethan say thank you. Off to take them to a Reptile Expo in Manchester. #
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April 5, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- BoSox beating the Royals 3-0 top of the 1st, yippee! #
- Remy, quit jinxing Mike Lowell !!!! B2B errors?! #
- Thinking some more about Coop - what about a mega-feed in which you can dump a number of feeds a la SuprGlu? A stream of consciousness feed! #
- Blogging about Coop #
- Kevin Youkilis with a 2 run homer, 6-1 BoSox! #
- BoSox win it 7-1 #
- Hitting the rack, probably shoveling again t’morrow. #
- Catching up on Tweets and avoiding shoveling the 18+” of snow on my deck! #
- @jutecht: Is the PSU course you are facilitating online or will you be here this summer? #
- Still shoveling! #
- Willrich is stirring the pot again - this time on the UMich degree on Social Computing - http://tinyurl.com/29ma54 #
- Snow day treat - BoSox day game with Dice-K pitching his first MLB game! #
- Twitter-blogging? #
- @davecormier: Safe travels #
- Hmm, interesting Twitter action - when I reply to a Tweet using @user, it now adds “in reply to ___” after then when posted. Twit-evolution? #
- Or am I again just now noticing the obvious? #
- Sox still up 2-1, bottom of the 7th #
- Sox win it, Dice-K gets his first MLB win - nice bullpen support! #
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