Clarity Strategic^TM

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These are basic Twitter lessons I put up on Facebook, to celebrate the start of the Fan page for Social Media Akron.

Twitter Lesson #1 - they say Twitter, a platform of status updates, is for "microblogging." I like the word "microconsulting" better. Ask yourself what you can do in a single short sentence: can you answer one question? can you make one friend? can you get someone to trust you? can you get someone to laugh? If you can, that's power.

Twitter Lesson #2 - as you've heard, Twitter puts limitations on your communications. You get 140 characters (and yeah, that includes spaces) to share your thoughts. That's what people mean by a "tweet." Also 140 characters for a direct message to another user. And only 15 characters for your Twitter handle. I'm rongraham1. Couldn't get just "rongraham." Some dude with one follower beat me to it. :-)

Twitter Lesson #3 - while in Facebook you have "friends," in Twitter you have "followers." Not religious adherents or evil minions, mind you. LOL Just people willing to read what you write. While in Facebook friending is mutual, in Twitter others can follow you without you following them back. You choose what you find valuable.

Laura Stamps:

Well, I've been on Twitter for two weeks and I was talking to my agent today about how strange it is compared to FB. I think it's the 140-character limit on Twit that makes it hard to actually connect with people there. But I'm progressing there, slowly but surely. lol

Leora Wenger:

"Just people willing to read what you write" - I don't think we know that for sure. More like they might possibly read something you tweet some of the time. If you really hit it lucky, they might actually respond, too.

Twitter lesson #4 - the bad news about Twitter is: it's silly with Internet Marketers, Law of Attraction Marketers, Network Marketers, Stealth Marketers, & Social Media Marketers. You will generally know these people by their tendencies (a) to say the same things over and over, and (b) to avoid engagement with us unwashed folk. But, as you see with Facebook, on Twitter there are also many good folks for you to meet.

Twitter Lesson #5 - as is the case with all social media, you're able to create a profile of yourself on Twitter. But it's SHORT! Unlike Facebook, you get only one image - your avatar - and only one Web link in your profile. Many Twitter folks create backgrounds for themselves, as have I, within which they can squeeze extra images and info. I say squeeze because tweets will cover over parts of your background.

http://twittercism.com/make-money-with-twitter

Twitter lesson #6 - I was going to say a few words about trying to make money via Twitter. But these guys say it a whole lot better than I could. In summary: if you try to sell something (other than possibly yourself), the risk is much greater than the reward. Gary Vaynerchuk says give give give give give give give give etc... then ASK.

Twitter lesson #7 - on Facebook, the @ sign is used to mention a Friend in your Status. Twitter calls its use of this sign a Mention also. If you use it, followed by your friend's Twitter handle, whatever is in that tweet appears in a special page Twitter has set aside for your friend's Mentions (also called Replies). This is technically how you engage people on Twitter. Next, we talk about socially how you engage.

Twitter lesson #8 - Twitter offers, as do most social media platforms, the chance to send your friends Direct Messages (DMs) that don't show up to the public. Unfortunately, most Twitter users report that most DMs are being used by Internet Marketers to sell themselves and their stuff to new followers. I must tell you that this practice leaves a bad taste in many mouths. Some block DMs for it. Don't be that guy.

Lisa Sansom:

Addition: an automatically-generated DM to a new follower with your advertising in it is double-bad. Just saying...

http://twittercism.com/targeted-following/

Twitter lesson #9 - Sooner or later people on Twitter decide for themselves whom they will follow. This writer suggests a pair of opposite evils: following everyone who follows you, and following almost nobody. With the former, you get noise; with the latter, you get bias. But, as with everything else, your mileage varies.

Twitter lesson #10 - I said I'd talk about the social aspects of engaging friends and followers. Yeah, like I know. <pfft> But here's a couple things I do that might at least jump start your own imagination: (1) whenever I see a question I CAN answer, I answer it. (2) whatever others are talking about, if it's possible, I assume it has something to do with me, and I jump in. Often that's good for a cheap laugh. LOL