Home

Week 4 - Social Networking

Thing 13: Join Twitter and start tweeting

You've undoubtedly heard the buzz about Twitter by now.

It's by far the most popular of the micro-blogging sites. The concept here is that you can post anything you want (just like a blog), but with a catch: You have to do it in 140 or fewer characters.

"What can anybody say in 140 or fewer characters?" you ask.

You'd be surprised.

People have proposed marriage, raised money for charity, prevented suicides, extended (and accepted) job offers and scooped the major news organizations time and time again, all in 140-character "tweets" on Twitter. (Read "10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates.")

Businesses, meanwhile, are finding Twitter to be particularly effective in the communications, marketing and customer service areas.

How does it work?
In a nutshell, once you join Twitter, you choose to "follow" people whose tweets interest you. They could be friends or complete strangers who have personal or professional interests that are similar to yours.

Once you follow some people, whenever you are logged into Twitter's Web site, you will see your followers' tweets on the home page. In turn, the people who are following you will see your tweets.

Twitter is a great way to share information and resources, seek (and offer) advice, and just have fun.

More than anything, though, it's like networking on steroids. I've met people with accounting and social media backgrounds literally from all over the world on Twitter. These are people who, thanks to the information they share on Twitter, have become part of my trusted circle of professional colleagues -- and I never would have met them otherwise.

How do you get started?
It's easy. Simply go to Twitter.com and create an account. It's free to do so. Then start posting.

How do I find people to follow?
Good question. Twitter won't mean much to you unless you're following a bunch of quality people who post quality content. So where do you find those people?

1. You can use Twitter's own search engine to search for people or topics that interest you. That's a great way to start.
2. Once you find someone to follow, take a look at the people he or she is following. Chances are that person is following other people whom you might find interesting.
3. Use a third-party service like Listorious, which will suggest relevant people whom you might want to consider following.
4. Post really interesting, useful content. If people like what you're writing, they'll follow you -- and you might want to follow them as well.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do at first is listen. Twitter is like a big cocktail party, and when you're at a cocktail party, what's the first thing you do (after grabbing a drink)? If you're like me, you sidle up to a group of people and listen to what they're saying. If their conversation interests you, you join in. If it doesn't, you move on to the next group of people.

Listen to what your followers are saying on Twitter, and add your two cents whenever appropriate.

How do I keep track of everything that's being posted to Twitter?
It's not easy. Once you build up a team of people whom you are following, the tweets come fast and furious. The sheer volume of information can seem overwhelming at times.

That's when it's time to turn to one of the awesome third-party clients that make using Twitter incredibly easy. They include:

1. Tweetdeck
2. Twhirl
3. HootSuite (my personal favorite)
4. Power Twitter
5. TwitterFox
6. Twitterific
7. Twitterfeed

You can also manage your tweets quite well on your mobile devices. Some applications that allow you to do this include:

1. TwitterBerry
2. SocialScope
3. Hahlo

Your assignment
So, your assignment this week, should you choose to accept it, is as follows:

1. Join Twitter.
2. Find some people to follow.
3. Post a few tweets, reply to a few others, and see what happens.
4. Download a Twitter client like Tweetdeck or Twhirl and use it for a few days -- long enough to get the hang of it.

And remember ...
You probably won't get Twitter overnight. It takes a while to build up a roster of valuable people to follow, and to find your own voice. Give it some time. Give it a fair chance. My guess is that, before long, you'll see the value in it, too.

Thing 20: Join Facebook and find some friends

Your Thing 19 assignment
Now that you've joined MySpace, it's time to do the same thing with Facebook. Here are the steps involved:

1. Visit www.Facebook.com and click on the green "Sign Up" button.
2. Fill out the information requested by Facebook, then click the "Sign up now" button. (View a screenshot.)
3. Facebook will then send you an e-mail. Click the link in the e-mail to confirm your registration.
4. Invite some people to be your Facebook "friends," post some comments on your page, join some groups ... whatever. Facebook makes it easy!
5. If you know anyone who's a Facebook member, invite some of them to be your Facebook friends.

Now comes the fun part ... explore! Find some Facebook groups that sound interesting and join them, upload some of your photos or do anything else that looks like fun. And take notes ... we'll be blogging about our experiences later this week. 

Thing 21: Blog about Twitter and Facebook

Now that you've played around a little bit with Twitter and Facebook, tell us what you think. Go back to your personal blog and create a post that examines these social networking sites.

1. What do you like and dislike about these social networks?
2. Try to think of some ways in which your organization can use sites like these to benefit our members.
3. What do you think are some of the hidden downfalls of sites like these?
4. If you've used these sites in the past, what are some of the creative ways in which you have used them?