Archive for May, 2009

Do you ever follow those people on Twitter who don’t have photos? I’ll be honest: Unless I know the individual associated with the profile personally, I don’t.

That’s not because I hate that little default graphic Twitter supplies (although I do). It’s mainly because experience has shown me that 99% of the accounts that don’t have a picture belong to spammers and robot accounts–not the kind of “people” I need in my social network.

So, if you don’t have a picture for your Twitter profile, I’m not following you. And I’m not alone.

You look suspicious. You don’t appear to be invested in participating. You bear a strange resemblance to a spambot. That’s not your best look.

If you don’t have a picture up yet, get one there now. If, for some reason, you don’t have a little picture of yourself, find a stock photo of a cottonwood tree on a summer day or a cute puppy or something. Just put something in that space.

Let us know that you’re a real person. Please.

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There are different ways to get Twitter followers. You can follow everyone and their house pets yourself, hoping that enough of them will reciprocate to boost your follower total through the stratosphere.

You can make a concerted effort to promote your Twitter URL at every turn, hoping to find new followers from the population that visits your website or blog.

There’s another way to do it. The third route, by the way, is the one that works the best.

If you Tweet quality, you’ll get followers. Good followers. The kind who want to listen to what you say and who are willing to follow your advice.

When you’re Tweeting the “good stuff”, people notice. They re-Tweet you. They recommend you. They respond to you. And every time one those things happens, more people become aware of you and the fact that you’re doing something special on Twitter.

Want to get a nice big collection of rapid followers who can actually produce results? Start bringing your “A” game to the Twittersphere. When your dropping great Tweets, people will find you. There’s a magnetic thing about quality that makes it happen. Every time.

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You know the deal about snowflakes, right?  Every one is unique. They’re all different and you can dig through a snow bank after a mountain blizzard to prove it.  You’ll never find the same design twice.

Twitters are a lot like snowflakes.  There all different, too.

Did I say Twitters with an “s” instead of plain old “Twitter”? 

Absolutely.  And I did it on purpose. 

You see, people too often think of Twitter as a sort of  monolithic thing that everyone uses and sees the same way.  It isn’t.  Everyone’s experience with the fast-growing social networking service is different.  Unique.  Like snowflakes.

My Twitter isn’t going to be like your Twitter.  Your Twitter won’t be like anyone else’s, either.  We all have the chance to use the same tool to create very different realities–with benefits that uniquely suit us.

Are you getting the most out of Twitter?  If you’ve never thought of it as being millions of separate experiences, you might not be on the right page yet.  It might be time for you to start thinking about the best ways to use Twitter to create a set of circumstances that will really work for you.

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Don’t believe the critics and cynics who are having a good time roasting Twitter.  They like to think of it as a narcissism-driven site where people wildly shout out trivia about their boring lives hoping that someone is listening.

Yes, there’s a component of that happening.  And it is sort of amusing in a sad way.

However, there’s real value under the surface of Twitter.  There are people sharing important information and ideas.  There are experts offering guidance.  There are potential customers talking about what they really want to see in products.

It’s a huge and growing population.  A chunk of it is boring everyone to death by sharing details about the dressing on the salad served at lunch.  There’s a substantial user population, however, that’s making exciting things happen.

If you’ve believed the critics and you’re not part of Twitter, it’s time to rethink your position.  You can become a part of this exciting collection of social networks.  And I promise:  You won’t be forced to share your lunch stories with anyone.  Honest.

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