Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [45]
Many application and Web site names have adopted Twitter-speak words for products and services associated with Twitter or which tap into Twitter’s application programming interface (API) to use Twitter data. For example, the word twinfluence was used casually to describe (no shock here) the kind of social influence that individual Twitter users had within the Twitter community. Eventually, the slang term was used to name twInfluence (www.twinfluence.com), an application that gets its data from Twitter and turns it into a report that estimates Twitter users’ power and influence.
Plenty of eccentric people use Twitter, not to mention loads of subcultures and sub-communities. Just because you see an unfamiliar term doesn’t mean it’s part of the Twitter vernacular. For Twitter terms you should be familiar with, check out the glossary at the back of this book.
We purposely didn’t include in this glossary some of the nonsense words that begin with the tw- prefix. Twitterers don’t widely use them, many avid users actually find them rather annoying, and beginning to use them more often may be the first sign that you’re a twitterholic! (For more on these tw- terms, see Chapter 7.)
Engaging others on Twitter
On Twitter, the name of the game is engagement. Whether you use Twitter for business or fun, you don’t just want to sit back and watch the stream flow by — you want to genuinely interact with people. You have to know how to listen as much as know how to converse (this goes twice for businesses) — but it always boils down to engagement.
First and foremost, do not be shy about finding people who share your interests, even if you don’t know them (yet). Use http://search.twitter.com to look for some of the most obscure keywords related to your work, hobbies, or passions. Then click through to the profiles of the people who wrote the tweets you find. You’ll be amazed how good an idea you get of someone just by glancing at their last 20 tweets. Interested? Follow them. It’s not like other social networks where you’re really only expected to connect to folks you already know.
A great way to engage others on Twitter is to turn on the Show All @Replies option in your settings. If you have this option turned off, your Twitter feed doesn’t display @replies directed to people who aren’t in your network. If you turn this option on, you can see the whole conversation. The more tweets to other people you see, the more chances you have to “meet” new people, jump in, and engage.
While you sift through the Twitter conversation, don’t be shy about clicking the usernames that you see (as in @replies) and writing to strangers offering your own opinion. It may take a few tries with a few different conversations before the chatting users include you in their conversation, but eventually they do.
But even if you don’t @reply, your tweets still appear in search, and other Twitter users can spot them. If you have something interesting to say, people start to reply to your tweets. If you seek out and use relevant keywords and #hashtags, you will start to connect with others who share your interests. Your early days on Twitter will probably be pretty quiet when it comes to replies and conversation. All those twitterers are just getting to know you, after all. Don’t worry; after a few of your tweets appear in the timeline and you add a few contacts to your network, people will begin to notice you.
Tweeting frequency
Twitter users tend to settle into a rhythm of tweeting frequency, often unconsciously, over time. Some Twitter users are considered noisy because they tweet so much, whereas others can come across as standoffish because they don’t tweet frequently. So, how much is too much or too little? How often should you tweet?
A good rule when you’re starting out is to post at