Freebie Friday - I'm in a Twit for Twitter

About a week and a half ago, I got turned onto Twitter by Kelly McCausey.

Twitter describes itself as:


"A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing? Answer on your phone, IM, or right here on the web!"

What a silly thing for an Internet marketer to get involved with, right?

I'd seen the Twitter widgets on Kelly's and other blogs and always thought, "What the heck? What are those people talking about"

Basically, with this service, you create a free account and find people to follow. You'll receive their updates on what they're doing and can even chat a little. You can view messages on the web, by email, via cell phone text message or by a cool Firefox plug in called TwitBin. You can even send private messages, if you want to take something off Twitter.

I tell you - I'm hooked!

Here's what I love about Twitter for business:

1. It helps me with accountability and motivation. If I say I'm working hard on something to my Twitter friends, by golly, I'd better do it!

2. It's reminiscent of being in a "real world" office whre you can chat a bit while you work and connect with co-workers. I just load up my Twitbin on my second monitor and get to work.

3. I hate IM (instant messaging), but still like to feel connected. Twitter is WAY better. With Twitter there is no pressure to keep up conversations when you're supposed to be working. You just talk when you want and don't when you don't want to.

4. It's a supportive environment (at least me and my followers make a nice group!). I can get feedback, encourage people to comment on my blog and do the same for others.

If you're thinking of Twittering, here are my tips:

1. Be involved. Read and respond to others, where appropriate. Don't just post your links all day. Links are TOTALLY fine, but don't make it your only objective or you won't get the most out of Twitter.

2. Follow your followers - but do discriminate. In most cases, if someone follows me, I follow them. If I don't, he or she might address me, but I won't see the message because I didn't choose to follow. The only people I don't follow are the ones who clearly joined to post their links only. I always look at the profile and see what kind of messages to post to see if we're a good fit.

3. Put "@username" before your message when addressing someone. Your followers may not be following the same people as you, so they may have no idea what you're talking about.

Wanna Follow Me?

If you're on Twitter or want to get started, be sure to follow me. My username is imsweetie.

Like I said, I follow just about all my followers. I just check the profile to see if we have similar interests and that the person isn't just there to post links.

So go ahead, follow imsweetie.

Feel free to leave your Twitter name in the comments are, so I know who you are. Or if you have any questions, comments or tips, please post 'em.