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35 Twitter Tips from 35 Twitter Users

Posted By Darren Rowse 25th of January 2008 Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 Comments

As a follow up to my last two posts on Twitter (the Benefits of Twitter and How to Use Twitter – Tips for Bloggers) I thought I’d ask a group of people more qualified to answer the question of ‘how a blogger should use twitter best?’ – my Twitter followers.

update: Check out my new Blog TwiTip for more Twitter Tips.

Following are the first 35 tips by my Twitter followers after I asked the question yesterday. I think there’s some real wisdom in the mix.

  • ryansholin – Be honest. Have fun. Don’t try to sell anything.
  • joiedevie – funny, informative and catchy: choose two.
  • wpcandy – Twitter about stuff that has to do with your blog, but also Twitter stuff that has nothing to do with your blog.
  • scottkarp – Share links, share ideas, ask questions, answer questions — anything but “what are you doing?” unless it’s really interesting
  • cigarjack – This was my problem at first, I just lurked. Get active and follow others. Great tool for tossing around ideas.
  • rosshill – Join the conversation, there are too many blog promoters on twitter who just broadcast. Learn @ and start networking :)
  • soniasimone – Write each word like it matters, because it does.
  • fairminder – share links. share insights and trends, things that are new or timely/current. Be personal. Don’t link only to yourself.
  • travishines – share interesting resources, not just what you ate for lunch. Twitter often, and use it to test potential blog topics.
  • galadarling – No cat anecdotes!
  • theother66 – make use of other Twitter tools to make the most of Twitter (and so it doesn’t suck up all your time)
  • TheNanny612 – Efficient is the key to Twitter…. short & sweet. Basically, get right to the point.
  • vangogh – Respect the people you follow. Be interesting. Listen first, tweat second. Don’t waste words.
  • empty_inbox – I’m new at it all. The #1 thing to help me has been the use of a desktop client. Without “twhirl” I would’ve given up long ago.
  • andrewkhunn – Frequent Twitter updates demand desktop clients: Snitter, twhirl, and Twitterific all bear mentioning.
  • jstamant – This often goes unsaid, but I would suggest not having twitter/twitterific open while writing. It can become very distracting.
  • hamstu – As far as getting followers goes; I find just being friendly and helpful does wonders. And of course shared interests help to.
  • MattJMcD – Don’t follow more people than you can handle. If you’ve got too much going on, you miss a lot of the good stuff.
  • davepit – Keep your Twitter updated and the followers will come. Stay up-to-date and you will reep the benefits.
  • arieanna – stop thinking that twitter is pointless and just try it. It’s all about community – reach out and be a part of it.
  • DrBaher – contribute positively to conversations going on inside twitter
  • sitemost – interact and communicate with others – it’s a social media tool, so be social
  • RuudHein – Share thoughts more than actions: “Pownce will kill Twitter” vs. “I’m going to the toilet”
  • baramunchies – add value to your stream
  • drmani – Look beyond the obvious (traffic, sales etc.) Add value. Build relationships. Think LONG term.
  • CurtMonash – Learn what people care about. I got a glowing link from RSS inventor Dave Winer my first week of active twittering.
  • ericabiz – Use twitterfeed. Instant feedback from readers is the best part of Twitter. Listen to others; engage them; have a conversation.
  • superphly – f you are using WordPress use twittertool much better
  • puppybraille – Advice: Think before you hit send. 140 characters have the power to help, heal or be miss-understood.
  • buxx – use an username as short as possible so you can twit more
  • kidblogger – My tip: “Keep it short” ;-)
  • nhgnikole – re:twitter, I’d share this with them so they could use rss in new ways with twitter and facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3arsm
  • fderfel – first advice is to add good description and link for something that would be too short in a post
  • fderfel – second advice make a good weekly post describing all the twitter for the previous week
  • silvano_v – Probably look at pounce, Im sure its going to overtake twitter, as its more feature rich. Aside from that, update often.

Thanks to all of those who left an answer. To take part in my future Twitter polls like this one follow me at Twitter.

PS – for more Twitter Tips visit TwiTip.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Ok, so maybe it’s time to check out twitter.

    If only there was more time in the day.

    Any chance of a top ten list of twitter tools in the next post?

  2. I need to sign up for an account one of these days to get a second opinion.

  3. I’m a Twitter Addict. 10000+ updates = an addict in my view. Haha.

    I find Twitter has helped my blog, because instead of waiting for all readers to see the new post in their RSS reader, your followers can read it right away, and it also falls under Twitter’s main question: “What are you doing?” …. I’m blogging!

    I love Twitter.

  4. Dang….I was offline when he did the poll. Great tips though, I keep finding new ways to love twitter everyday.

    Bud

  5. I use Tumblr, a Twitter-like tool that’s more powerful and more flexible.

  6. What’s the sudden focus on Twitter. I guess I’m going to sign up now after reading the last three posts on it. Thanks Darren!

  7. Darren, I love this site. So far I’ve been following Problogger for about 3 weeks and I’ve been featured twice — once when I won the Community Consulting contest, and once here. It has made me more engaged with both you and this site, and I visit much more frequently as a result.

    This has really made me think about how I can engage my blog’s visitors through Twitter. Every blog post I write is designed to make people think about finances, investing, or entrepreneurship in a different way. Now, thanks to you, I can make my blog more of a community. This post and others on how your readers use Twitter are brilliant examples of how your readers’ thoughts can become your next blog entry. Great work!

    -Erica
    http://twitter.com/ericabiz
    http://www.erica.biz/

  8. I like the tip from rosshill the best. I’ve been a twitterer for less than two days and already I’m enraged by people who are just there to paste links to their own blogs every two seconds!

  9. joiedevie’s is great, I am going to make myself a little note so I can see that every day.

    Read, I use Tumblr and Twitter, but I see them as entirely different tools with different purposes.

    I like how Darren posts a lot of pointers to other people’s stuff on Twitter. Very classy.

  10. Heh.. “joiedevie” went to Harvey Mudd University?

  11. I always see twitter everywhere so it must be good. I have been hearing a lot about it these past few months. I just started my first serious try at blogging so it wouldnt hurt to give twitter a whirl.

  12. I highly recommend Brett Terpstra’s MoodBlast for Mac. It works with Twitter, Facebook, Adium, iChat, Skype etc. MoodBlast can also be integrated with Quicksilver, so sending a tweet is simple and quick. Super fast and updates all of my networking apps.

    Now I just gotta find more to Tweet about :)

  13. Thanks for taking our suggestions Darren, I hope these are helpful to people. Twitter on!

  14. A good command to use is the ‘track’ command. If you type in ‘track’ followed by a keyword twitter will notify you when that keyword is twittered by anyone, even by people you’re not following.

  15. I have a twitter account but have been very hesitant to use it. These are some great ideas. I had the misconception that twitter was only used to catalog your every move. My day job prevents me from logging my activities publicly. (I could tell you but would have to kill you sort of stuff.) The other thing is that I travel and generally do not like to advertise when I have left my wife home alone with the kids with me 500 miles up the road for a week.

    Anyway..Thanks for the posts. You finally got my attention after THREE POSTS in two days on Twitter. Have you made a recent investment in Twitter or what?

  16. Just downloaded twhirl but it will not recognize my twitter account.

    Any ideas?

  17. Use Twitter the way *you* want to use Twitter. That can be following 10 people or 1000 people. So many ways to use Twitter. There really are no hard and fast rules. In fact, watch out for folks who tell you *how* to Twitter. There are many ways to utilize the service and *that’s* what’s great about it! But, I will warn you, you will become addicted. Peace.

  18. What a diverse and helpful round up of tips. CurtMonash’s was particularly great–inspired me to rethink what might be useful to others.

  19. Darren, the tiny url is missing a letter on the end. It’s

    http://tinyurl.com/3arsmp

    It’s showing up as a broken link now.

  20. Great list of tips, especially my own, haha.
    But can you edit the text for me, there is an little dutch piece in it:

    buxx – use an username as short as possible so ZOU AAN twit more

    Should be:
    buxx – use an username as short as possible so you can twit more

  21. If there were 30 hours in a day, I might have time for another social networking website.

  22. I need to start using Twitter more, its fun and you do some great ideas with it, and it is definitely a great networking tool

  23. Lee Odden says: 01/28/2008 at 4:56 am

    Getting Twitter tips from Twitter users, hmmm. I’ve seen that somewhere before! LOL

  24. Thank you for gathering ALL this information. I found it extremely helpful. I’m still pretty new to Twitter but this page clarified alot.

  25. Enjoyed this list, thanks!

  26. This is great. I follow most of these tips on a daily basis. For the most part, I like to follow those who follow me. I use TweetDeck to sort people by groups so that I don’t miss anything good. Thanks!

  27. Things in this post very much describes twitter at its best.

  28. Hope this tip helps someone: Tweetdeck allows you to filter your tweets by any text, so if you filter by a question mark ‘?’ (without quotes) in your All Friends column, you get mostly tweets that are asking questions. Simply reply to any questions of interest and start a conversation.

  29. How much money does twitter actually make? Can it make any money in the future?

  30. Signing up for Twitter just a few weeks prior, I see the great potential Twitter has for the future. I am currently creating a Twitter blog for new Twitter users which will also serve as a connection when I need 140+ words. I am by all means twitter addicted or I should say twitterpated! http://www.twitter.com/glamorousamanda

  31. I am just learning about Twitter, I am anxious to connect with others. I want to share my knowledge, experience and know-how about being a professional sales person and sales leader. I have written a book entitled; “Thoughts While Shaving, Selling and Leadership Ideas that Worked for Me”.

    For additional information tweet me at [email protected]

  32. Really enjoyed this and I’ve bookmarked your article to pass onto the next person who asks for some Twitter tips.

    Also added a link to it on our Twitter forum. http://www.globalsocialmedia.info/twitter/87-how-use-twitter-tips-new-twitter-users.html

    Really like the credits / links to the Twitter users – it’s good they they get a shout out!

    @jennysimpson

  33. Twitter is very useful for me, as one of the media to increase traffic to my blog.
    thank you the information

    warm regards,
    As a reference book available on
    twitter-power-how-to-dominate|

  34. Nice post, and useful collection of tips ;-) It’s the basic tips that make the biggest difference.

    Terrance Charles
    http://terrancecharles.com/blog

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