Navigating Social Landscapes

The latest thing in social interaction over the internet is Twitter. I’ve had my account since January and have but recently begun to utilize it on a regular basis. And just in time for Twitter has exploded in usage not seen since the early days of Myspace and Facebook. But as with those social hotspots, Twitter is rife with drama and you need your wits about you to wade in its waters.

First, don’t tweet about what you’re eating. No one cares unless you’re tweeting meals because you’re a chef or a foodie.

Secondly, just as with blogging, find your niche.

Thirdly, don’t tweet only to promote your books.

Fourthly, don’t friend everyone. It’s tempting to get swept away in friending the “cool kids” but  those “cool kids” end up with 3000 followers and follow only 15 of them.

Fifthly, sort of goes with number four. If you follow someone whose blog/website/etc you admire, initiate conversation a few times and they don’t respond back, don’t waste your time. Twitter can be a way to network, but it can also be a way for a tight circle of only friends to keep in contact with one another.

Sixthly, tweet regularly. If you don’t like twitter, don’t set up an account and have months go by with nary a tweet. Count it as an internet activity you aren’t too keen on and don’t allow peer pressure to convince you to give it a go.

Seventhly, maintain a reasonable level of tweeters you follow. If you start following hundreds of twitter feeds, the website grows redundant.

Eighthly, you aren’t obligated to follow those who follow you, but if they tweet you, it’s polite to follow them.

Ninethly, use your twitter wisely. Tweets every two seconds of a connecting idea is a waste of time. If you have a subject you want to write about, blog it, don’t tweet it.

Lastly, have fun with twitter. It is great for on-the-minute info from conferences, meetings and conventions (don’t tweet court proceedings however)–and on that note, it’ll be easier for those who attend the various writers’ conferences to keep track of what’s going on in workshops and panels they hadn’t time or room to attend.