We all have twitter account. Well, almost, and if you don’t, you don’t know what you are missing out on. My mother doesn’t have one and she has a happy life as we say ignorance is bliss. Does that make her less educated – I dare say no way but not having social media sure impeding her learning curve.
For those of us who do live a digital life, not having an account on any social media platform like Facebook, Orkut (it is still active?), Google+ and so forth is like a social taboo. And believe me it is a social taboo. Where organizations are going ‘social’ in all ways including recruiting, it is time you build your SocialGlamor!
I won’t get into the rhetorical argument of why twitter is better or worse than Facebook or Google+ but most of the people I know, don’t seriously know how to make most of the twitter power. I read an update a while ago by one of my friends, “Missing my bf.” Now with tweets like this, twitter is useless.
How to get the best:
- Follow relevant people: Your twitter intelligence or vitality depends on whom you follow. If you are interested in new technologies, you have to follow people who have the content and are active in sharing it. Same goes for any other field. Follow me if you want to be updated on Social Learning and Communities (http://twitter.com/khalidraza9), however following one person will not provide the complete view, follow more relevant people.
- Don’t worry: Twitter is like a timeline, a running commentary, if you miss something; it’s gone under a pile of other tweets. But rest assured, if it is something important and interesting, it will get re-tweeted. I am sure ‘missing my bf’ tweet will not be, and don’t worry if you miss that, it won’t hurt anyone’s life.
- Contribute freely: If you get something worth sharing, share it. That’s how social networking and social learning works. I share what I know and you share what you know. Don’t be a lurker who just sits and opens links all the time. If you want people to follow and respect you, share responsibly and intelligently.
- Re-tweet: Does this help? Read point 2. Re-tweet if the tweet asks for it, don’t do it to become famous.
- Use hashtags: I am sure, you know what a hash tag is and ensure you use the relevant hash tag to support your tweet. Don’t randomly add multiple hash tags as it will make the tweet content verbose and tacky. Use #socialglamor when you tweet this article 😉
Some tips to further enhance your tweeting experience:
Twitter Clients
The Twitter web interface lacks a lot of the functionality Twitter is capable of. A number of developers have created client programs that use the Twitter API to create a better interface for using Twitter. Some of the most popular clients are:
- TweetDeck is a free app that runs on Adobe Air. It’s also available as an iPhone app.
- Twhilr is another Adobe Air client for both Twitter and other social media services like identi.ca or seesmic.
- Tweetie is a Twitter app for iPhone.
- TwitterFox is a simple Firefox extension for using Twitter.
- Twittelator is another iPhone app for Twitter.
- Twidroid is an Android Twitter app.
- Swift is another Android Twitter app.
There are plenty of other Twitter clients out there, including mobile apps.
Happy tweeting 🙂
Good one Kahlid good one. Pls consider posting on edtech.ly as well.
Cheers!
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Sure Tarun. Thanks for your words and encouragement!
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Nice post! Although Twitter still seems a complete waste to me, personally, unless, you constantly keep filtering only relevant following. But all of this is relevant to social networking of any kind. Happy tweeting 🙂
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@Juilie – Everything in social media, including Twitter, is a very personal choice of networking, and that’s the best part of it, always opt-in. I have been tweeting since last couple of years and I have had tremendous learning. In early days, I was also little disappointed, but majorly because of the people I followed (like Bollywood stars and my FB friends). But that has changed now – I follow relevant people, those who are eminent in my field of work and I get latest news, articles, bytes.
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Nice article Khalid.
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Thank You Hasan for stopping by and acknowledging the article.Somehow a lot people still are not able to appreciate the value of knowing the highlighted points. 🙂
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Thank you for sharing this! I will create a twitter account and will try to find the relevant people to follow! Thanks again!
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