Do you Twit?
Or my favorite-are you on the Twittersphere?
What is Twitter?
Twitter first came on the scene in 2006. I just couldn't imagine why anyone would want to tell the world what they were up to on a continual basis... my thoughts were: Who really Cares?? Apparently, a lot of people do.
As more and more people I knew and encountered on a regular basis began living with their cell phones attached to their hands, I began to realize that there was something to this Twitter thing. That didn't mean I would Tweet, but I didn't scoff quite as much. Reading blogs and checking Facebook a few times a day was enough for me.
Something funny happened in late 2010. I had a sort of routine where I'd check blogs and chat on FB, but I gradually began to realize I was missing part of the "conversation". People were posting stories on their blogs, and giving intermittent updates on FB, but it was like they were all in on some kind of a private joke. They were tweeting to each other... and I was AGAINST Twitter, so I was an outsider. I begrudgingly signed up for an account, checked it here and there, but refused to post anything.
Fast forward a few months. I'd been writing on and off most of my life, but after the birth of my son I decided I'd like to see about getting something published, maybe make a career out of my hobby. So, I researched the publishing world and guess what? People everywhere sang praise to Twitter! "Build your 'platform'," they said. "Communicate with the literary community, interact with agents and editors!" o_O
Why are so many people on Twitter?
- To drive traffic to their personal website
- To connect with their peers
- To share important dates
- To gather feedback
Three tips to use Twitter to build your platform
- Be helpful- Don't just go on Twitter to spread the word about yourself. Share things you think other people would be interested in, retweet their important info, just be open to being helpful.
- Be interesting- Yes, it's important to tweet about trending topics. But, nobody will care if it's the same old recycled info. Put your own unique spin on topics people want to talk about.
- Be transparent- Put forth your best self, but also your real self. Sharing a small amount of personal information is acceptable as long as it's not too personal. In fact, it's important to be a real person, someone with feelings about things other than what their book is about and how their sales are this month.
Twitter is simple to use, and so many people are on it, it's definitely worth a try if you're serious about growing your influence online. If we're not connected yet, I invite you to join me in the-I'm gonna say it- Twittersphere. My handle is @laurahoward78 can't wait to chat!
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Hi Laura, I'm glad to connect with you on Twitter too. It's also good practice for writing blurbs and loglines as you need to keep posts less than 140 characters.
ReplyDeleteAll the best, Rachelle
This is really a great post of why Twitter is so beneficial to people. I'm linking to it in my Top Ten Tuesday post. (It's a bit late, but I'll post it soon, lol.) But, I have to say that I felt the exact same way you did. I'm so glad that I joined the Twitter club, though, because I've made so many awesome friendships.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, thank you from a new Twitterpater :)
ReplyDeleteRachelle touched on the same benefit I've found. Twitter makes me get to the core of the issue and write in headlines. Also requires me to think in terms of why the reader would care and what the reader wants to know. Good post. Carol
ReplyDeleteI used to be one of those people who didn't see the point to twitter, but since I've been using it I've realized that it's actually pretty fun, and yeah, it makes you think hard about what you really want to say,
ReplyDeleteGreat post
It seems like I may need to look into twitter! I've been contemplating this recently because of an upcoming book launch :)
ReplyDelete