For newer Twits, it may very well be. For those of us who were “early adopters”, we’ve got clearly different experiences. I remember Twitter before every television show and celebrity and news station had a Twitter account. Before every business went to crazy lengths to get followers. And before it became a place over-run with teenagers Tweeting about crazy sexual stuff. I remember when it was truly a networking place between colleagues, old and new. It was fun to go and see what some of the people I look up to in my field were reading or writing or talking about.

My personal feeling? There’s lots of clutter in Twitter these days. People who follow you in hopes of you following them back so they can increase their follower count, only to unfollow you if you don’t reciprocate, or once they’ve got you following them.

What do you think? Vote, and then discuss your answer in the comments!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Poll & Discussion: Is Twitter Still Awesome?

Celebrity

Be it a movie star, musician, CEO of a failing company, a comedian or that dude that married Demi Moore. They follow literally a handful of people, but have thousands of females following. In the case of Kevin Rose, there seems to be thousands and thousands of males following. (Say man crush three times in a row really fast!)

They will most likely not reply to your comment, although eagerly you might wait, hitting the refresh button every other second, only to curl up in a ball and cry yourself to sleep that night. Though their tweets are as mundane as “Taking a nap,” their hardcore followers still manage to reply to it with great enthusiasm. Examples: “Naps are great,” “Good Job,” “I love you Stephen Colbert.” Okay the last one was mine. Thinking back, maybe that’s the reason Levar Burton didn’t reply to my tweet.

Bots

Typically has default avatar. Sometimes has a picture of a hot girl to trick you into clicking it, only to find shes has made $550 dollars in 3 days or is giving away free laptops. The bots follow thousands and are followed by only a few. The hotter the girl, the more the followers. I guess they are not convinced that the account is a bot, even after the same tweet four times in a row all linking back to a dubious site. Not that I have clicked on them. Ok, once. Like you haven’t clicked it. $550 in 3 days? Come on! That’s gold in this economy. Its quite sad really, so many hot girls are getting into this spam business to support their cocaine habit.

Funny Guy/Gal

They are not celebrities as in the truest sense, but they are on Twitter. Much like celebrities, they follow only a handful and are followed by thousands. They make mundane, albeit humorous observations, which make Favrd on a regular basis. Though at times snobby and unresponsive, because of their follower numbers, they are worth following, especially if you are looking for some humor on Twitter. Comes in especially handy when “Mind of Mencia” is on Comedy Central.

They are the ones that managed to turn the U.S. Airways Hudson river emergency landing into a Canada Geese Roast Festival. Although I am still sore they joked about it, when so many of my fellow geese died that day. In real life they are much like anyone else, have a job, children, nagging wife etc. etc. But do not be confused, they are much funnier than you and I pretend we are.

Dead People/Imaginary Entities

I suppose this started as a joke, making twitter accounts for dead people such as Sigmund Freud and George Washington. It has now turned into a own little cult. There’s even a website dedicated to historical quotes. Not even God is immune to these pranksters. Although I am confused whether the real god @god or @godfather. My tweets requesting information have gone unanswered.

Pets/Children/Plants

What a world we live in when our pets get their own twitter account! I have never had a pet, aside from my sister, nor am I planning on making a twitter account upon acquiring a four legged creature. Surprisingly these pets are great spellers and are able to keep their thoughts under 140 characters.

While having a twitter account for children isn’t as ludicrous as pets, it is still scary. Have you seen a 3 year old? All they do is eat, sleep and poop. Same could be said for me, but lets not go there.

Finally we arrive at Plants. I will no say no more on this subject. Plant owners with twitter accounts are a sensitive bunch.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Five Types Of Twitter Users You May Not Know Exist

Image by lecercle

We’ve all been there. Out with a friend at a cafe having a good time when their phone rings.

They answer it and proceed to talk to the other person in front of you (usually quite loudly) for the next 10 minutes. You kind of get what they’re talking about – but because you’re only getting half the conversation it quickly becomes annoying.

You feel left out! You feel ignored! You feel like ripping the phone from their hand and showing it down their throat!

Or is that just me???

Twitter can be like that. While it’s a great tool for conversation – at times it can also become a little excluding to some of your followers, if you let it be.

Here is a quick Twitter tip that I think could help a lot of people become more effective, inclusive and engaging users of Twitter.

The Problem of One Sided Conversations

One of the limitations (some might say weaknesses) of Twitter is that while it is possible to have great conversations using it – when you’re interacting with one of your followers publicly it can actually be somewhat alienating for other followers who only get one side of it.

For example when a follower asks me a question and I respond with an @/reply all of my other followers see that reply. While the reply will make sense to the person who asked the question it is likely that 99% of your followers have little idea what you’re talking about (unless they happen to be following both you and the questioner).

While this might be OK (I think most twitter users are used to seeing tweets that they don’t fully understand) if you have a back and forth with the person as a series of public tweets your other followers could become a little frustrated. It is like listening to one half of a phone conversation which for some is quite annoying.

So what’s a Twitter user to do?

Two ’solutions’ come to mind:

1. Take the conversation private

I’m doing this more and more. If a twitter conversation is getting into a back and forth and looks like going beyond just a couple of tweets I’ll quite often reply with a direct message instead of a public reply. The exception to this is when I think the conversation is of interest to a wider group.

2. Reframe the question

What I notice effective Twitter users doing is making their replies more inclusive by including the question in some form so that the tweet becomes understandable and useful to their wider followership.

This is a technique that I’ve learned in doing TV interviews where the interviewers question will not be heard by the audience. It means taking the question and putting it into the start of your answer.

For example – if someone asks me in an interview ‘how do bloggers make money online?’ I would start my answer with ‘Most Bloggers make money by…’. This means when they show your answer viewers immediately know what you’re talking about. The alternative answer ‘Advertising, Affiliate programs and Paid Reviews’ would make little sense to anyone who hadn’t heard the question.

Of course this becomes slightly more challenging when you only have 140 characters to play with on Twitter but it can be achieved.

Reframing tweets to give context to what you’re saying is not always easy and I don’t do it in every case – but when I do, I notice that the conversation spreads beyond the one on one to becoming a little more communal.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Make Twitter Less Like Listening to One Side of a Phone Call for Your Followers