Twitter, what to make of it? What’s the point? I don’t care that you are walking the dog, doing laundry or are bored. Who should I follow? Who do I want following me? What to post? My gosh, the questions just keep coming. I am committed to learning more, in time. I am permitting others “in the lab” to distill the value and figure out how to best use this tool. I do think I have figured out one of my questions and that is who I wish to follow.
I mused that during the day I communicate with my professional counterparts and colleagues that I am connected to and for that the LinkedIn status works just fine. My social persona connects with my friends those I connect with via Facebook. So, if I have a means to communicate with my workday world and my social world, then who is the crowd that I communicate with on Twitter? They’re not business related nor friends. They are everyone else. They’re business colleagues and friends not yet met I suppose. I have chosen to think of them this way. I also think of this as a sort of personal news channel. I follow people of interest to me in fields of interest to me. How did I find them? Read on.
Yes, that’s it. How did I choose who I follow? I read on and on. I follow those I am reading. Why? First, they write therefore they probably tweet and blog. Following those who do not participare, what’s the point? I read books on social media, an area of interest. I browse Amazon and visit library websites browsing for topical books of interest. I use Amazon reviews and ratings to guide my reading.
Step two in my process is to lookup the authors I have read on Twitter. Interesting that some who write on social media sometimes are not found there by name. When found, I also note when they last posted on Twitter and browse their recent posting as a guide to their activity. So, for now I’ve solved one Twitter question. I may learn more and modify this approach, but for now I’ve found it helpful in guiding me.
By the way, when I add those heavily followed, many others begin to follow. Sheep! I appreciate the follow you back of those I am following, but am a little less inclined to follow most who follow me simply because they can. I only follow those with content of interest until I learn of value otherwise.
