The Twitter About Twitter: Episode II

Yes, I was up late last night. I was reading, and I was tweeting. The only thing new about that is the tweeting. I have begun to answer the question, "How much work is this going to be?" The answer is, "Not as much as I thought."

Like anything else multidimensional, I could get deeper and deeper and deeper into Twitter. I could analyze the dynamics of "crowdsourcing." I could concentrate on building my personal brand, and fitting that into my work life. I suspect I will do some of each. Here's what I've learned after two whole days:

• Pay attention - Notice how others are tweeting, both form and content
• Watch out for the predators who are only following you so that they can sell you something you weren't looking for in the first place
• Keep your guard up
• Set some goals for yourself, and some limits, e.g., "I'll tweet at least 4 times today, but I won't stay up 2 hours late"
• If you are using Twitter as an advertising tool, don't make it personal
• If you are using Twitter—as many claim to be—as a writing improvement exercise, craft your tweets carefully. They will need to be more poetry than prose, and every word will count
• Search for people and for content - Look around and absorb

There's plenty of advice out there about how to use Twitter effectively and Twitter 101. Once you decide that you are going to take this plunge, do a little research, and sign up for that account.

Give it some thought.