Twitip

By Emma Merkas of 30 Dollar Date Night. Follow her @30dollardate.

#Networking can be a daunting prospect for Tweeps who are used to networking of the internet variety. If you’re an introverted person who is most comfortable communicating in bite sized chunks of 140-characters at a time, I suggest you throw open the comfort circle and delve into some #Networking.

Yes, I’m talking face-to-face networking. For you, it may conjure up images of all those A- type personalities gaily laughing over canapés and glasses of fine wine, being all witty and interesting with no effort whatsoever made on their part…

Wrong. I’ll let you in on something… the extroverts are secretly just as daunted as you are. And the good news is – networking is a skill that can be learned.

And believe it or not, #Networking is a great way to complement your online efforts. Meeting someone face-to-face makes you a standout from the rest of the online world. People suddenly want to help you, refer people to you and refer you to other people they know that may help you (did you catch all that?) all just because you’re standing face-to-face with them!

Networking engenders a community spirit – and one that is sorely needed if you spend your days at your keyboard in the privacy of your own home.

All it takes is a little practice, dear Tweeps. I started my career in Public Relations at a very young age, and would front up at events where everyone else had a good 5-10 years on me, feeling extremely out of place and nervous. Luckily, I was taught by one of the best in the business – she is still a great mentor of mine and I have never seen someone disarm a stranger the way she can. I learned a lot from her, and have since developed my own techniques that set me in good stead.

So here are some of my very best tips to get you started. Even the most shy people can get by with a few simple tricks:

1.Pick your events wisely
Networking groups are popping up all over the globe that are meant specifically for Bloggers, Tweeters, Diggers and every other social networking and bookmarking site you can think of.
These are an ideal start because not only are they relevant to you and what you do, but EVERY other person there will talk your language. Hell, every other person there probably also had to specifically get dressed just to leave the house and attend the party! The good news is, you have a common ground before you even get there.
(more…)

By Brandon Mendelson (@BJMendelson), Event Organizer for A Million High Fives (a quest to high five one million Twitter followers and volunteer with them at their local homeless shelter this August.)

For the moment, I am one of the most followed non-celebrity / musician, non-media, non-brand, people on Twitter. I follow over 300,000 of my 620,000 Twitter friends, and should Twitter lift the 1,000 follower a day cap, I hope to follow everyone back in the future.

Here are ten thoughts and observations about attempting to interact with 600,000 people.

1. The browser remains the best way to manage Twitter.
I need a quick and efficient way to keep track of many tweets. After using all of the alternatives out there, using a web browser is the best way to go. I always see fresh content, and I can hit the back button in case I miss something.

2. It is impossible to see every single tweet from every single user.
I found it difficult to see every tweet at 1,000 followers, and it became a fool’s errand at 10,000.

What I do, is keep track of individual people, not tweets. You CAN keep track of thousands of individual people. I jump into the conversation’s I see on the stream and if I need to catch up or learn more about someone, I visit their profile.

(more…)

By Tatiana of A Very Good Year. Follow her @averygoodyear.

“Hi honey,” the MSN message read. “I can’t figure out this Twitter thing. Are you on here?”

I like to think of myself as a fairly web-savvy person. I blog at my own domain. I would marry Google if it were an actual person and not a web empire. I’m part of numerous social networking and bookmarking sites, I participate in forums regularly, and I’ve been browsing the internet since it was nothing more than green text on a black screen on my Tandy. So when my mother, who finally signed up for Facebook in March, sent me this message, it was a shock: she had gotten a Twitter account before me.

Before Oprah.

Before the whole Ashton and CNN hooplah, even.

(more…)

More and more twitter users are actually taking their Twitter interactions and meeting up in real life. In this post Steph Auteri from Freelancedom (@stephauteri) shares some tips on how to do it.

I find new excuses to create Excel worksheets. I lament the lost art of the cover letter and other forms of traditional business correspondence. I read books such as Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer and Allison Hemming’s Work It!, which preach against lazy, Internet-based business practices.

Yet I have been thoroughly charmed by the Twitter phenomenon, and am an out-and-out evangelist in support of using it as a means to further your career.

I didn’t know quite what to do with Twitter until I read a post on Problogger that advised setting Twitter goals. My mind immediately grasped upon the possibilities for promoting my multiple blogs and, since then, I have (I hope) maintained that focus. (Just ignore those tweets that mention Xanax, wine, and my three cats…) It was a happy surprise when it became clear just how much Twitter could help my career in other ways.

Read on for tips on how to use Twitter to take networking from online to in-the-flesh.

1. Use Your Twitter Profile As You Would a Business Card:

Those cards I had done up at VistaPrint are so perfect. They include my name, title, phone number, e-mail address, and website URL and, best of all, they even match my site’s background! I love how they represent the brand I’ve created for myself. Your Twitter profile should operate in a similar manner. Pimp that URL of yours in the appropriate space. Craft a well-written professional description in the spot meant for your bio. Personalize the background also! It will help you stand out from the pack. And then include a link to your Twitter account on every last social networking site you belong to, and in your e-mail signature as well. (Bonus tip: If you want to go all out — and frighten friends and family! — order a T-shirt with your Twitter ID.)
(more…)

Twitter or Facebook? Or Both? In this post Steve Thornton (follow him at @stevethornton) explores the decision.

The phenomenon of social networking is still in its infancy and it remains to be seen exactly which network might become the 800-pound gorilla in the space. It is reminiscent of the dotcom 90s, when I worked in the search industry; dozens of venture-backed search firms battled for dominance and search appeared to become a commodity, with limited monetization potential, or so we all thought at the time.

There are now so many social networks vying for users that even the most elite “Digerati” have trouble keeping up with the ever-shifting landscape. And most are still struggling to find effective monetization strategies, casting doubt on their long term survival and pointing to massive consolidation at some point.

(more…)

By Guest Author Scott Scheper of http://scottdig.com (follow him at @venturedig).

When I think of Facebook and Twitter, I think of Preparation-H and toothpaste. Both are quality products. Both have their uses; but Preparation-H, like Twitter, is only needed at a certain point in life.

Do me a favor and take a look at your Twitter followers.

How many are under 24 years of age?

You’re more likely to find a shweaty Michael Arrington-like tech guy, than a cute young chic in her early twenties.

According to recent findings , “Twitter’s largest age demographic is 35-to-44-year-olds who make up 25.9% of its users.” This seems rather large, being that Facebook users between ages 35-54 amount to only 3.5% of users. Notice: the former metric is 10 years more than Twitter’s metric, and it’s still smaller!

Yes, Twitter is gaining popularity, and Twitter hit its “billionth tweet” last month. Yet the Facebook users that actually know about Twitter, don’t seem to care.

(more…)

Are you a Freelancer? Today Jenny Cromie, editor of The Golden Pencil, (follow her at @JennyCromie) talks about how Twitter can help grow a Freelance Business.

When I first read about Twitter in a Wired magazine article a little more than a year ago, I thought: What a waste of cyberspace! Why on earth would anyone waste their time trading banal “news” items like: Wearing pink slippers and eating a PBJ. Or, Cleaned toilet. Now for the sink.

Even productivity guru Tim Ferriss called Twitter “pointless e-mail on steroids.” At the time, I couldn’t have agreed more.

But what a difference a year makes! Like me, Tim Ferriss has now joined Twitterville. Of course, he follows no one and has about 10,720 followers. But that’s beside the point.

What I’m trying to say is that if you’re not orbiting in the Twitterverse, you might as well be living on Mars.

Everyone is all atwitter about Twitter now. It’s the THING. It’s the new pet rock of the worldwide cyber village. But I also don’t think it’s a fad. Twitter and other social networking tools are changing the way companies and individuals do business, get information, and communicate.

And the Twitterverse is getting more crowded by the day because late-adopter dolts like me finally get it. We’re all doing the “I-coulda-had-a-V8” head thump: Duh! Twitter is great for growing your business.

If you own a business of any size and you’re still not Twittering, you’re missing out on what amounts to a worldwide virtual chamber of commerce networking event that’s at your fingertips 24/7. Only on Twitter, you don’t press flesh or swap business cards—you exchange links to your Web site, blog, e-books, and online résumé. And you build relationships 140 characters at a time.

Still not convinced that Twitter can help your freelance business? Maybe my list will change your mind. As a business tool, Twitter can help you:

(more…)