Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [38]
Sensitive information: If you’re supplying contact information, addresses, phone numbers, or other personal information that you don’t want just anyone on the Internet to have access to, it’s the right time for a direct message. Keep in mind that not everybody has the same standards regarding privacy and openness on the Web, so if you’re sharing any information pertaining to anybody else’s contact information or whereabouts, err on the side of caution and use a DM.
If you haven’t protected your tweets, remember that whatever you write is indexed for all time. So, think twice!
Encouraging More Followers
Twitter is a very receptive environment for forging connections with new friends and contacts, so amassing a list of followers is relatively simple. Typically, you gain followers in the natural course of using Twitter, but here are a few guidelines to follow:
Be real. Being genuine goes a long way, and you’re likely to gain followers without even trying.
Be interesting. You don’t have to fascinate with every tweet you type, but do try to tweet about things more relevant to the world at large than what you just ate for lunch or the heinous traffic on your morning commute. Talk about your interests, instead. Talk about what’s in the news. Or talk about what you think should be in the news.
Be involved. The more “into” a topic you are, the more people will respond to your enthusiasm. Say that you’re really into classic cars — don’t talk just about your own fascination with them, but try to help other people on Twitter who might have questions on the subject. Get into heated conversations and debates, too. Without being too authoritative, position yourself as someone who has some valuable information on your chosen issue to see an increase in your number of followers.
Plenty of influential people use Twitter, from celebrities like Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and Britney Spears (@britneyspears) to politicians like Democratic Congresswoman Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) and dozens more. Heck, now that Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) tweets, it’s almost proof enough in and of itself just to mention her.
If you’re lucky enough that @Oprah posts a tweet with your @username in it — usually after you @Oprah her, and she notices and responds — you’re going to be barraged by new followers who’ve seen your username in connection with that famous person’s. But the most popular Twitter users have hundreds of thousands of followers and hundreds of people @replying to them, so don’t count on a response from a famous twitterer as a way to get your foot in the door when it comes to Twitter influence.
It’s also just rude to use someone like that. If you wouldn’t interrupt the person next to you in line at the store with your question, it’s probably not nice to interrupt someone with a lot of demands on their time with it. Conversation is two-way and most effective when it’s generous to the listener, not selfish for the speaker.
Some Twitter users try to lure followers by offering contests, giveaways, or other incentives to reach certain pseudo-milestones, such as number of tweets or number of followers. This approach is a little bit cheesy and can look like you’re desperate for new followers. In our opinion, you can have a better time on Twitter if you just allow your network to grow organically.
Regardless of how you get people to follow you, make sure to keep your Twitter interactions genuine. What you post on Twitter and contribute to the conversation, along with your ability to listen, determines your authority more than any follower count ever could.
We can’t stress the importance of listening enough. The more you listen and hear what people have to say, and then respond thoughtfully, the more you can find out about people