The #411 on Twitter

     Today is a whole new bunch of awesome here in the Kitchen. That's right, Jennifer from Just Jennifer is here sharing her insights on the Twitter. She has the distiction of having a double post here, kinda.

     Way back when I was trying to sort through all of the boosting my presense via social media on my own I ran across this, How to Whore and/or Pimp Your Blog. Read it, you'll understand the how and why I ended up a follower of Jennifer's and why I think she's just a whole bunch of awesome in so many different ways. Okay, enough sloppin' sugar, on to the post.

The #411 on Twitter

Once upon a time there was a girl who did not tweet. She knew of the land of Twitter, but she did not know of its wonders. She had visited once, long ago, but had very little recollection. Later, after she started blogging, she realized she hadn’t given it a chance. So the girl gathered her courage and made her way back. Back to the place she didn’t even know she had been missing.

Twitter. To tweet. It sounds like a very silly thing, doesn’t it? And I suppose it is. I mean, it’s random messages sent out to the webiverse in 140 characters or less, streaming by at a rather good clip.

But that’s the beauty of it. You have only 140 characters so you want to make the most of them. This makes tweeps (twitter peeps) choose their words wisely and well. Tweets are very often funny, witty and pack a punch. You find yourself wanting to jump on Twitter to find a convo to butt in to, to find something funny and make you laugh.

Once you’ve connected with some tweeps, they will be right there when you need cheering up. When you have a question, ask Twitter. Nine times out of 10, someone who knows the answer will see your tweet and reply, usually in under 5 minutes.  Also, Twitter has become an excellent breaking news source.

Twitter has huge benefits for bloggers. Sometimes I think it was invented just for us. You write a post and you hope some people will come and read it and leave comments, right? Tweet it. People see your new post in their timeline, click the link and there it is. They read. They comment. If they really liked it, they’ll RT (retweet) your post, and then more people will see and click, and so on. Also, I’ve come away from a twitter session with fun fodder to blog about more than once.

Twitter is the best social networking site for a reason. There are an infinite number of connections that can be made. The world is listening to twitter and your reach is limitless! I kid you not. T-Mobile, Food Network and The Ricki Lake Show, among others, are following me. What I think that says is that even little ole me has a voice and is perhaps influential in some way.

Let me say this clearly so there is no question. If you are a blogger who wants readers, to connect, to spread your wings, you need to be on twitter. It’s that simple.

Now, I’m not saying you have to spend all day, every day staring at your timeline, searching for tweeps to follow and wracking your brain to come up with clever things to tweet. But it’s great to have a twitter account and use it. That’s all I’m saying.

So this is what you do:

Go to www.twitter.com and set up an account. It’s OK (Paul), I promise it won’t hurt!

If you’re a blogger, you want your username (or “handle”) to be either your actual name, or some variation of your blog name. (My handle is JenAnnHall, which is almost my full name. I have my name set as “Just Jennifer“ for my blog.) If you decide later you don’t like your handle, it is changeable.

Upload a good picture for your avatar. Again, it can be your face, or maybe your blog button. However, I will say that a face makes you more personable.

For continuity, choose or upload a profile background that in some way matches your blog.

Do go through and pick and choose which kinds of notifications you want via email. You probably don’t want every @ mention, but you do want to be notified of Direct Messages (DM) or you might miss them.

Once you’re all set up, get a follow me button for your blog and start seeking out people you’d like to follow!

Using Twitter:

At first your timeline probably won’t move very fast, but as you choose to follow more and more people, it will.

If you start to miss more than you’d like, you can set up lists and group tweeps together. You can easily search for particular subjects being tweeted about, usually with a hashtag.

What is a hashtag? A #hashtag is a #subject or a #sidecomment or a phrase that connects a series of tweets, such as #wineparty or #Grammys.

When you want to talk directly to a particular tweep, you “mention” them with @ and their handle, such as @JenAnnHall, or simply reply to one of their tweets.

Twitter has an extensive help center to answer all your questions!

Dos & Don’ts:

DON’T just be a stalker. Twitter users like interaction!

DO respond to mentions and say thanks for RTs.

DON’T spam people via DM with information they didn’t ask for.

DO tweet more than just your post links. Let people get to know you better.

DON’T retweet everything you see.

DO be yourself and use common sense and good manners.

Alright, I think my job here is done. You should be completely ready to take the plunge into the Twitterverse!

Oh yeah, have FUN!

      I can't add anything to that. Really, I can't. I haven't taken the plunge yet despite her very comprehensive post. I just figured out how to make a badge show up inside a post not just on my side bar. There's only so much technical sh*t I can handle at a time.

     Jennifer, it has been a blast having you hang out @TheOssingtonKitchen. I can't thank you enough. (Still workin' on my handle LOL, I really will take the plunge, soon, I swear)