How I use Twitter, and you?

Categories: MicroMediaPosted on November 29th, 2007

Everyone will approach Twitter in a different way, and should find the way that works for them, here’s my approach on Twitter:

[Rather than answering "What are you doing" reframe your thinking to answer "What's important to my followers and me?"]

How I use Twitter
While I am high volume twitter publisher, I try to add value, here’s how:

1) As a ’shared feed’ reader. I’ll post up links of what I’m reading that I find is interesting in near real time, and give some commentary. I try to add value here, rather than adding to noise. So use me as a news filter.

2) As a chat room. We collectively work out problems, issues, and I gain insight to other people’s viewpoints. Often when conversations are just between a few folks, I shift to direct messages or email –sparing my community from hearing my minutia.

3) Event capture: Lately, when I attend an event (like Mark Cuban’s presentation at BlogWorldExpo, or Teresa’s webinar on Facebook yesterday) I’ll fire off the top nuggets I learn/

4) Listening tool: It’s interesting to find out what others are sharing and talking about, from very personal to big concepts. I frequently use the search tools around different topics to keep on top of what’s happening.

5) Traffic driving tool: I use it to direct people to this blog, sometimes (I’ll admit) a bit too enthusiastically. Google Analytics indicates this is one of the largest referrers of folks to my blog.

6) For work: When I’m conducting interviews or briefings that aren’t confidential, I’ll state who I’m speaking to and what I find interesting, if you listen closely, you’ll hear me tweet about other interesting findings from my job as a social media analyst. Also, I will announce new research, request interviews, and promote workshops, conferences and other services.

How I don’t use Twitter

1) Personal Minutia: I rarely talk about waking up, eating lunch, or starting my car, instead, I want to add value.

2) Excessive personal discussions: I’ve been criticized for not @replying at people, but it’s because I’m sensitive to not overload the community with a discussion that’s only relevant to a few people. Instead, I may direct message them, favorite a tweet, or shift to email. Update as of Sept 2008, I have sent/received over 4000 direct messages, out of 10,000 updates. So 40% of my communications shift to private discussions.

A few people have found me too noisy (filling up their stream) but there’s a simple solution, although I would hate to see it happen, one can simply opt-out. You’ve got to do what’s right for you and I understand.

If you’re a Web Strategist at a company or agency, read Web Strategy: What the Web Strategist should know about Twitter.

I hope to see you on Twitter, add me as a contact. Also, one of the keys to Twitter is to add people you know, it then becomes more like a chat room. Following me alone isn’t sufficient, see a list of active twitter accounts on Twitter Poster.

So, how do you use Twitter?

Recent Mentions About My Twitter Usage

Business Week: CEOs talk about who they follow on Twitter, see what CEO of Mzinga, and CEO of SocialText said.

Mashable: Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education

ZDNet: The 10 best techies worth following on Twitter

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 5:24 am and is filed under MicroMedia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Although I think it’s great for all the reasons you outline, I find it the most interesting when it’s used for action (http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/09/09/twitter-day-for-kareem/), and experiment (http://twitter.com/imwiththepress).

All the things it hasn’t been used for yet are the things I’m looking for. Where does the border of its utility lie? We haven’t crossed it yet, I don’t think?

Posted by Curt on November 29th, 2007 at 11:02 am

Curt

I’d like to see it mashup so we could separate voices by location or other type of genre. Maybe by industry etc.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on November 29th, 2007 at 11:24 am

Is it open in such a way that people can do that on their own? I don’t know no tecknologies but I think not. Hopefully they’ll open it up so that can happen.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the most important Twitter application of all, as what this guy called “poetry” and I might call a “dada engine.” http://blog.nowpublic.com/2007/11/twitter-poetry/

Posted by Curt on November 29th, 2007 at 11:29 am

That’s a pretty good summary of how I usually use Twitter. I think I find it most fascinating as a chatroom and as a listening tool.

I keep seeing news on Twitter before it shows up anywhere else (duh - mobile & practically no barrier).

Posted by Jason Preston on November 29th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

Weimin, Twitter might be a good traffic driving tool if we know how to use it.

Posted by danielle zhu on November 29th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

oops I didn’t even know how to use commenting. I thought I was emailing this post to someone.

Posted by danielle on November 29th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

I use twitter as a sharing, learning, promotional, and entertainment vehicle. And I learn a lot from you.

The odd thing is that it is not a community. Each of us have followers but they don’t all form a community because there’s disconnect. But we can develop our own community if our followers are passionate about, well, following us.

Posted by Jonathan Trenn on November 29th, 2007 at 3:13 pm

Here at Buydomains.com and Afternic.com, two of the leading domain name aftermarkets, we started experimenting with Twitter for purely commercial reasons. When I see an attractive domain for sale that one of our members has listed, I tweet it.

So far 3 of the domains I’ve tweeted have since been sold. It’s unclear how many of my customers are active on Twitter, and how attributable Twitter has been to those sales. But it’s not much of an investment of time to tweet, so there’s no risk to jumping in before my customers do. I’ve blogged about Twitter to spread the word: http://afternicdlsblog.com/2007/10/25/use-twitter-to-sell-domain-names/

Much experimentation needs to be done ( tweeting single pieces of inventory, rather than promotions, knowledge, creating conversations, etc. is admittedly a “throw spaghetti on the wall” approach ). But it’s promising.

Our Twitter feed is http://twitter.com/buydomains

Posted by Adam Gross on November 29th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

Adam

Promote much?

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on November 29th, 2007 at 4:37 pm

[...] ambient intimacy, the social sixth sense, amongst others. I’ll take a quick turn at trying to define the essence and why I think it [...]

Posted by Twitter Essence « wonderwebby on November 29th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

LOL - you got me, Jeremiah. Thanks for posting.

Posted by Adam Gross on November 29th, 2007 at 6:45 pm

Good sense of humor (I’ve got one too) thanks for participating regardless. I hope you can continue to join the authentic conversation.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on November 29th, 2007 at 6:47 pm

The question in my mind, is not “how do you”, but “why don’t you.” Twitter is a great opportunity for news organizations, from building online audience to branding and distribution, Twitter should be an important part of their online arsenal.

Posted by Yoni Greenbaum on November 29th, 2007 at 7:31 pm

Yes! I enjoy and learn a lot by following you all on Twitter. Thanks, as you have said, recently, it has started driving traffic to my blog. Thought it is about Pune (India) real estate!

Posted by ravi karandeekar on November 30th, 2007 at 10:50 pm

[...] Jeremiah Owyang lists the many ways he uses Twitter: [...]

Posted by Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation & the Web » Blog Archive » The Many Ways to Use Twitter on December 1st, 2007 at 6:26 pm

Jeremiah: I don’t use Twitter yet, but I love seeing how you strategically thought through how you can best leverage such a simple tool. You’ve pushed me one step closer to giving it a try.
Have a nice evening.
-Dan

Posted by Dan Blank on December 1st, 2007 at 6:27 pm

Hi Jeremiah and thanks for the post! I use Twitter to meet people in my area who also work in the Internet industry. Twitter is also a neat educational tool to stay up to date on industry trends. Follow me at http://twitter.com/shonnoll.

Posted by Sonciary Honnoll on January 16th, 2008 at 8:44 am

I’m finding things serendipitously through Twitter. I’ve stumbled on insights and people that have had a major impact on my business. In the social media world its become a big part of ’showing up’…

Posted by Dean Whitney on February 13th, 2008 at 10:47 am

I am still trying to find my way on Twitter, but I just finished doing some research on how others use it - http://thebutterroom.com/2008/02/11/twitter-what-is-it-good-for/

Posted by Todd Wickersty on February 13th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

[...] Thanks, Jeremiah. [...]

Posted by How I Use Twitter? Just For Fun! on February 19th, 2008 at 7:09 am

[...] leaving valuable information for you along the way. My suggested reads: -Jeremiah Owyang on how he uses Twitter -Shana’s awesome post about 26 reasons why I love Twitter -DoshDosh put together a fine list [...]

Posted by How to Increase Your Twitter Following 438% in 30 Days | Collective Thoughts on February 28th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

[...] Jeremiah Owyang asked on Twitter the other day: “By you sending me an email (and me responding) we’re in a social contract. Can I use the content of an email without your knowledge?”http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/11/29/how-i-use-twitter-and-you/ [...]

Posted by Touching on the central dualism of the information age: What information is available to you versus what information are you making available (or is available about you) to others? | Scharnetzki´s - line of reasoning on February 29th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

[...] my twitter profile page, I have a link to a post that indicates how I use Twitter. I try to be forthcoming on what to expect. It’s also no secret that I tweet links to just [...]

Posted by Getting mixed signals about my Twitter Usage: Tell me what you think on March 7th, 2008 at 5:43 am

I wrote a comment here this morning, and answered very honestly, but you removed it.

What a poor show.

Posted by Jason Ch on March 7th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

Jason CH

Huh? Your comment is still live to me.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on March 7th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

I signed up for Twitter a few months ago, but didn’t get it. Then I read a few blog posts about it recently and decided to take another look at it.

I’m now hooked. I use it for much of the same reasons you do. Like Dean, I find alot of things serendipitously through Twitter. Things that are quite useful.

On my Columbus centric blog, the270, I have encouraged my readers to start using Twitter and hastags. I’m even inciting a hastags war with Indianapolis.

Follow me on Twitter: Wyliemac

Posted by Alvin on March 16th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

I would like to talk to you in detail about this issue, but I find myself in a constant conflict. I have over 3000 contacts and I like most of them… but this week is doomsday and I’m going to start picking value added again. I just wish I could keep them all an filter certain words out or something. there has go to be something @Jack can do about organizing our contacts into some kind of friend template that could change over time. I might start creating multiple accounts just so that I can follow certain feeds.

(hell I even like some that aren’t contacts that blocked me…. enemies are always of interest and I always bookmark people who block…. what is it about people who hate us that are just so fascinating? hmmmm ;-p)

Posted by Noah David Simon on March 19th, 2008 at 5:54 am

[...] and went to his Twitter profile page. On the page at the end of the obligatory bio was a link to an entry on Jeremiah’s blog entitled “How I use Twitter, and you?.” I had a look and it got me to [...]

Posted by Media Driving with Jay Moonah » Post Topic » How Do the People You Follow Use Twitter? on March 27th, 2008 at 6:10 am

[...] what da peeps on twitter are saying about your brand. Some more links from Jeremiah about twitter here and [...]

Posted by JetBlue on Twitter « Jax Rant [ wonderings on the web ] on April 7th, 2008 at 1:15 am

Jeremiah,

I also recently blogged about this: http://pamelog.blogspot.com/2008/04/twitter-my-favorite-social-media.html

I use Twitter in some of the same ways!

Pamela

Posted by Pamela Seiple on April 8th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

With so many followers and others that you follow, how do you manage to keep up in the conversations? Its like a a big chat you can never get a hold of, no? I applaud you for managing this kind of massive information stream!

Posted by Tom Shea on April 9th, 2008 at 7:20 am

[...] http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/11/29/how-i-use-twitter-and-you/ [...]

Posted by How Should We Use Twitter? | julian101.com - ProWorkflow - Project Management Software CEO's Blog on May 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

I use Twitter as part of my campaign for State Representative in Utah. I post about what I’ve been doing, what I will be doing, what I hope others will do, and political observations. I also use it to drive traffic to my campaign Web site at http://voterob.alexanderfamily.org

Posted by Rob Alexander on June 13th, 2008 at 8:40 am

good blog, and good points, driving traffic this way, for some reason has a more fluid natural feel.
now that i follow you, i get tabs on all sorts of interesting conecepts and goings on that bring context to the content i read here,
you’re SO on my google reader now!
happy twittering
twitter.com/coreycottrell

Posted by Corey on June 22nd, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Posted by How To Increase Twitter Following in 30 Days on July 23rd, 2008 at 4:18 am

[...] you know, I’m very active on twitter (my profile), if you haven’t already, read how I use Twitter. Yesterday, I lost 1000 followers, due to Twitter removing spammers “Twammers” most [...]

Posted by Friendfeed & Twitter on July 24th, 2008 at 10:43 am

Posted by reading: Friendfeed & Twitter - andre-friedrichs.com on July 24th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

Sweet tips. Being a shared feed reader/writer go hand in hand

Posted by ZaggedEdge on August 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 am

As a television news anchor and blogger I find twitter an essential tool that helps me link what I am doing on air and online. I host an online chat room as I solo anchor my interactive show at ten pm and I can pass the latest and gather the latest info on twitter. I share blog topics, webpolls, breaking news, ask for weather reports, storm damage info, etc. I now use ping to post to all my social sites, so that I can loop it all together into an effective social network. Love connecting with my viewers this way.

Posted by Amy Wood on August 5th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

[...] Networks, Twitter I was doing my normal “Twittering” this morning and ran across JEREMIAH OWYANG’s post where he was thanking his Followers. Now that’s not the interesting part. What WAS [...]

Posted by How and Why I Use Twitter… “Bitten” Idea… « Surface Burn on August 13th, 2008 at 5:12 am

Here’s one I haven’t seen before. Our corporate Twitter feed recently became a very valuable crisis communications tool. Our Twitter followers became our eyes, ears and support voices to help us turn an overly hyped, incorrect and damanging story into factual balanced coverage distributed on the AP wire. Kyle Flaherty details the experience on his personal blog in this 3 part case study:
http://www.engageinpr.com/2008/08/06/social-media-case-study-iii/

Posted by Pam O'Neal on August 13th, 2008 at 6:01 am

[...] try to add value here, rather than adding to noise” es la primera norma del estratega digital Jeremiah Owyang SF Bay Area, US. Y este es realmente el propósito que ha de animar a cualquier individuo u [...]

Posted by Cómo hacérselo con internet « on August 13th, 2008 at 6:14 am

[...] hacerlo bien en twitter y blogs Las leyes de Jeremiah que considero [...]

Posted by Cómo hacerlo bien en twitter y blogs « on August 13th, 2008 at 6:48 am

I keep reading you want to add value to what is posted on Twitter. I find your limiting who you respond to on Twitter takes away from the community and that really is not of value. You offer a lot in what you Tweet but not replying to questions can work against your post’s value.

Posted by Scot Duke on August 13th, 2008 at 8:06 am

I know Scot, it’s a tough balance to handle. I do reply to folks, but I’m conscious not to overwhelm others.

But here I am responding to you (within minutes) so I’m quite interested in conversations –as long as they are considerate to others.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on August 13th, 2008 at 8:23 am

Mr. Owyang, I totally understand, and I think it’s an excellent idea how you have set up a page strictly for explaining your personal use for Twitter.

Posted by Doug C. on August 13th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

I don’t really use twitter and perhaps I am missing something. This really seems like mindless dribble done by people who are not productively employed.

The posts I see are neither useful nor interesting.

Sorry. Am I wrong?

Posted by mark on August 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Heh Mark, yup this is often the case. Do check out my tweet stream however, I try to add value around the topics of social media and corporations.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on August 18th, 2008 at 3:36 pm

[...] Web Strategist [...]

Posted by Join the best Twitter Conversations | ZaggedEdge.com on August 18th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

[...] How I use Twitter, and you? [...]

Posted by Twarketing: Jeremiah Owyang (twitter.com/jowyang) | Twarketing: Twitter Marketing News on August 20th, 2008 at 10:32 pm

This works for me..as I’m a fairly new. Thanks and good to connect w/u via twitter. all the best,

susan kn
http://www.pinkoliveboutique.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/susankangnam

Posted by susan (kang) nam on August 22nd, 2008 at 5:51 am

lately I have “attempt” to use your list..and still exploring it along the way…as I continue to change my strategy. However, ur list is still a great template for me. Thanks. Best, Susan Kn http://www.pinkoliveboutique.com, http://www.linkedin.com/in/susankangnam

Posted by susan (kang) nam on September 8th, 2008 at 4:42 am

I agree wholeheartedly with both your ways to use twitter and NOT to use twitter. I have taken to un-following people who post about their daily minutae like what they are eating for breakfast. It clogs my feed with useless info.

Posted by brian donohue on September 8th, 2008 at 4:43 am

+1 for me - your summary of Twitter is pretty much how I use it also. It’s a great tool for “accelerating serendipity” - I have discovered new things and managed to gain deep insights into topics quickly that I had only managed to cover superficially in the past. And I hope my value-add posts do the same for others.
Still listening,
Edward
http://www.emissary-consulting.co.uk/reportage

Posted by Edward Terry on September 8th, 2008 at 4:56 am

[...] Jeremiah Owyang posts how he uses Twitter (my list would be similar, how about [...]

Posted by Social Web Strategies » Blog Archive » Ambient Awareness and Social Evolution on September 8th, 2008 at 4:57 am

I originally joined Twitter to stalk my grown son, but now I have a following all my own. For me it’s mainly a social network but it also drives traffic to my blog. I’ve “met” some amazing people and hopefully I’ll get to see some of them at Blog World. Not you, unfortunately. You’ve already told me you won’t be able to attend.

Posted by Carolyn S. aka wadesmom on September 8th, 2008 at 5:00 am

Primarily a listening tool, but I do share little nuggets of interesting news as I come across them — on a variety of topics, not just tech-related.

Still trying to determine the value ratio - much of what I “listen” to isn’t of real value from my perspective.

Posted by Star Aasved on September 8th, 2008 at 5:07 am

I was a Twitter-hater until this spring when I got on board. Couldn’t understand the point. But now, I mainly use it for your reasons #1 & #4 - sharing sites I find useful/interesting and learning from the pros I get to follow. It’s impacted my learning curve for my industry (marketing communications) exponentially and is the social media tool I use the most.

Posted by Jess Flynn on September 8th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

[...] I was recently asked this by a fellow analyst: “I don’t get Twitter, should I use it?” Well first of all, the mechanics of the tool are pretty simple to use, you simply share with others like you would in a chat room. In fact, despite my heavy volume, I’m strategic in my usage, see how I use Twitter. [...]

Posted by Should Analysts use Twitter? on September 10th, 2008 at 5:00 am

[...] one from Owyang about strategic use of Twitter so it doesn’t overrun your [...]

Posted by Business Strategy and Twitter | Internet Marketing for Real Estate on September 10th, 2008 at 6:29 am

I’m coming to this post of yours a bit late but it is as relevant today as it was in 07. I appreciate how you approach Twitter and often find myself focusing on your posts on a busy day–because you do add value and not noise. I’m still studying and playing with social media in order to translate it for our real estate agent clients [not to mention company execs]. I mainly scour it for resource material and new ideas. Most of my feedreader blogs come from people/blogs i’ve found on twitter. i love it.

I’ll be adding this post to my list of resources for clients to read.

If you are an agent reading this and want a good overview of Twitter and the real estate biz, I have appreciated @gahlord posts on Union Street Media blog http://blog.unionstreetmedia.com/twitter-for-real-estate-or-business/

Thank you for your generosity, Jeremiah.

Posted by Stacey Pfeifer on September 22nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Just received your Tweet about this post. I am very new to Twitter and only saw useless noise when I first checked. Your point about successfully “adding value” is well demonstrated by the fact that I am here actually replying. I certainly see the value of your posts. I am starting to see the light…

Thanks for the fast track education,
Gilles

Posted by Gilles Arbour on September 30th, 2008 at 4:56 am

Gilles

That’s great! Give it some time, it’s a new tool and requires new ways of approach.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on September 30th, 2008 at 5:09 am

Twitter is a hub of insight and information that spawns new ideas for me. The challenge is to translate personal ideas, thoughts and philosophy into my own as I create social and emerging media programs for my clients. I don’t mind the noise - I can quickly navigate to what I respond to and resonate with. Thanks for the Tweet.

Posted by Shannon Morris on September 30th, 2008 at 5:10 am

I have recently started studying the social web space and find your posts extremely valuable (Thank you!) and insightful. Almost like a crash course to get to current state. I use Twitter to be in touch with some of my contacts, as a medium to dive deeper into a headline that grabs my attention. As a secondary effect my observations are teaching me new ways to think about and look at technology trends.

Posted by Sheloo on September 30th, 2008 at 5:14 am

Jeremiah, I’ve enjoyed your postings on this site for quite some time, and started following you on Twitter for the exact reasons you outline above. I appreciate the value you provide.

I’ll admit I am so far taking far more from the Twitter universe than I am giving. I mostly follow people I know, or would like to know, who provide interesting news, commentary, and links related to my professional and personal interests. Or even just people or companies I think are using Twitter in interesting ways. It’s developed into a primary news, learning, and idea-spawning channel for me.

My own Twitter posts vary from (admittedly) personal minutia, links to items I find interesting, and the so far rare comments or insights about a trend or event.

I’d like to change the balance, but I’ll probably always take more than I get, and I’m completely comfortable with a smaller collection of followers as a result.

Jim
http://twitter.com/jphoff

Posted by Jim Hoff on September 30th, 2008 at 6:13 am

Jeremiah,
Thanks for the tip in this posting. I’ve been testing Twitter to see how it works in an educational context, since I’m teaching an online course. Most of my students are still learning about blogging so getting them to think about microblogging requires a mind-shift. As I myself learn more about this tool, I’m finding that there’s a lot of political bashing and ’self-promotion’ going on, so I’m grateful to find some refreshing uses of Twitter. Thanks! - yinbk

Posted by Yin Kreher on September 30th, 2008 at 7:31 am

Yin

Self promotion is fine, but you have to add value and earn trust first. I link to my blog all the time, but I wouldn’t get new followers if I didn’t first add value!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on September 30th, 2008 at 7:43 am

A novice’s approach:

I follow people who seem to understand Twitter’s potential (generally have some expertise in marketing and social media);

I follow others in my industry w/ similar values and standards of quality;

Also follow competitors whose values and quality standards are much different from our company’s;

Generally I post twice a day — once in the morning and once in the evening. The morning post links to upcoming workshops, networking events, etc., that I find useful. The evening post links to fun recipes or other food facts (which sometimes appear in my blog, sometimes not).

So far I’ve made some great connections and learned a lot, and spend very little time on it to boot.

Posted by Jean Terranova on September 30th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

[...] How I use Twitter, and you? by Jeremiah Owyang Everyone will approach Twitter in a different way, and should find the way that works for them, here’s my approach on Twitter. (tags: twitter) [...]

Posted by Public Relations Matters » Blog Archive » links for 2008-09-30 on September 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

I use Twitter to stay on top of what is going on in the areas that are NOT my expertise. It absolutely awesome to see emerging new trends and discussions around them lead by thought leaders. Oh, and the fact that you have to get to the point from letter one - priceless.

Apolinaras “Apollo” Sinkevicius
Revolve, Inc.
Flexpertise(TM) - Business Law - Capital
http://www.revolvethis.com

Posted by Apolinaras "Apollo" Sinkevicius on October 1st, 2008 at 7:26 am

Way to work a “Twitter Party”
I will be sure to link to these tips in an updated Twitter Party post

Posted by Larry Chiang on October 13th, 2008 at 8:24 am

[...] read the excellent Caroline Middlebrook Twitter Guide for detailed information and Jeremiah Owyang How I use Twitter, and you? for brilliant insights about using [...]

Posted by Twitter! Why Do We Want To Build A Twitter Network? « Royalty Free Music - Premiumbeat.com Blog on October 13th, 2008 at 10:33 am

Hi Jeremiah,

Thanks for your comments, it is indeed very new for me. You mention that some may find you too noisy but I keep being hungry for your Tweets. I love Twitter now! I have learned sooo much in the past few weeks. I have distilled the info from many sources and wrote down how and why I want to use Twitter for my business.

The experiment is just beginning for us - we’ll report on the results as we move on.
Gilles Arbour
http://tinyurl.com/3tnjah

Posted by Gilles Arbour on October 13th, 2008 at 10:35 am

[...] have been plenty of great posts and articles on how to use Twitter for marketing and Twitter for PR. We wanted to take a slightly [...]

Posted by Twitter Marketing & Twitter PR: Visual Examples on October 16th, 2008 at 5:50 am

You’ve provided a good summary of how how you use Twitter. How I’ve used in the few short months I’ve participated has been about the same. Utilizing lots of the Twitter tools that have been created has enhanced my experience and the usefulness of this social media tool. It has been a great generator of traffic to my blog. More than I would have imagined. It has also enhanced relationships with others that I had met online through blogging and then found them on Twitter.

Posted by Michael Gass on October 18th, 2008 at 7:41 am

[...] you aren’t using Twitter, check out How I use Twitter, and you? by Jeremiah Owyang at Forrester, and Twitter me this: Is it time to tweet? by [...]

Posted by Northwest Tweetup today in Seattle | The Responsible Marketing Blog on October 23rd, 2008 at 10:35 pm

[...] of the comments on that blog post mentions another great source written by Jeremiah (@jowyang) from Forrester [...]

Posted by Twitter Etiquette « Future Business on October 28th, 2008 at 6:52 am

Jeremiah - Great stuff! I couldn’t agree more. Keep it coming!

-Steve otherwise known as @implu

i: http://www.implu.com/user/steve

Posted by Steve Driscoll on October 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

i have been following you for a while and you write great. I have learned quite a bit with your detailed articles. Thanks…

Posted by MiamiPete on November 5th, 2008 at 10:55 pm

I haven’t quite figured out how to use twitter. Can anyone tell me the best way to search for people with similar interests as mine or do we have to browse every user?

Stan

Posted by Stan on November 10th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

Jeremiah

This is a great thread. The thing I am waiting for is to be able to segment my followers. Some people want to hear about my personal exploits and some want to hear my thoughts. Similarly, I’d like to have a stream to read for fun vs. work. I could have two twitter accounts, but I’d rather stay focused on one personality!

David (ex-Forrester)

Posted by David Cooperstein on November 11th, 2008 at 9:13 am

Jeremiah - Really helpful blog. I’m trying to work out how to use the huge power of Web 2.0 to fight poverty. I’m really excited about the potential of Twitter. Anyone else using it in that way? You can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/FightPoverty

Posted by Zahid Torres-Rahman on November 11th, 2008 at 10:48 am

[...] Jeremiah Owyang, one of the most prolific analysts on Twitter, describes how he uses it. (TW) [...]

Posted by Using Twitter | Workplace Learning Today on November 12th, 2008 at 4:32 am

Thanks for the great information. I found you through twitter. I’m new to the whole twitter experience and have only been actively tweeting for about two weeks. I’m sure I’ve done everything there is to do wrong so far. It seems there are plenty of people willing to give tips on how to effectively use twitter and not offend people, but your article is among the best. As I’m writing this, you have over 16,000 followers on twitter. That is proof that whatever you are doing is working well. Looking forward to reading your tweets and learning even more.

Posted by Amy Boyack on November 25th, 2008 at 8:09 pm

I am a new Twitter user. I mainly follow news media or aggregators of news, so when I logon Twitter I can see what is going on in the world. In my immediate circle of close friends and business associates I know no one who uses Twitter on a daily basis. I know more people using LinkedIN than Twitter. In fact I know more people using LinkedIN than Twitter, MySpace, and FaceBook (combined). I have been online since I first joined a FreeNet system in 1989, actually a few years earlier if you want to call PC-Pursuit part of the Internet. I am an Internet old-timer. I can telnet and FTP from a Bash shell with the best of the bunch; however, when it comes to Web 2.0 ventures like Twitter I am a virtual newbie. My own tweets are mainly retweets of information I find interesting; however, I have succumbed to answering Twitter’s main question more than once, “What are you doing?” It is my thinking that maybe someone I personally know will respond; however, when several hours, maybe as long as a day go by, with no response to such “personal minutia” as you call it, I always delete such stupid tweets as they are relevant to nobody (except, perhaps, to someone who knows me, …but even they would say it was more than they really cared to know). Thanks for asking. By thinking about it perhaps I will refine how I use Twitter.

Posted by TonyXavier on November 28th, 2008 at 2:01 am

Correction to my URL: comma replaced with a dot: http://www.twitter.com/tonyxavier. ‘Sorry about my initial oversight.

Posted by TonyXavier on November 28th, 2008 at 7:53 am

[...] door Jeremiah Owyang heb ik daarom een manier gevonden waarop Twitter voor mij werkt en volgens mij voor iedereen kan [...]

Posted by StepFree » Blog Archive » Twitter is HOT, of toch niet? on December 4th, 2008 at 9:44 am

I rarely use Twitter to discuss hygiene or personal foibles or the rare vicissitude, rather I use it to implant, within the mind of the reader, a host of nostrums and remedies that are certain to improve their life scores, and to receive knowledge, information and wisdom of others, that my own scores might too have a northerly drift, metaphorically. I am also gathering notions for a book I hope to call “A Twittering of Bards”, which will be based on this new micro-communicational world…a zeitgeist also redolent in my first book, “The Great Chain of Conversation”…which, although funny in places, is also in dire need of a re-write. (It’s the coffee.)

Posted by David Beckwith on December 8th, 2008 at 7:44 am

I just realized I don’t add much value T_T.

I’ll work on that in 09.

Posted by richandcreamy on December 8th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

[...] best idea? Jeremiah has cleverly added a link to his own set of rules on how he has decided to use Twitter. This is an idea that most should follow, so that common understanding is in [...]

Posted by Twittetiquette | socialevangeli.st on December 9th, 2008 at 3:28 am

Great article Jeremiah. I have the patience of a gnat (not to mention time is my most valuable asset) so for me, it’s frustrating to see so many inane posts (off to Starbucks, i love being a dad, my back hurts, etc.). What’s truly shocking is that it is plain as day why some people are broke or financially / career frustrated — if they value their time so little as to keep making insipid posts like this (”This year, be tree friendly and wrap your Christmas gifts in newspaper.”), they obviously aren’t spending that time working or doing something productive!

I actually made a 2-minute video about this — it’s right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/tampatwitter — if this is too self-aggrandizing or promotional, feel free to not post or to remove this part of my comments as you see fit. Bottom line: I agree with your thought process and I’m looking forward to hearing more and have added you to my “follow” list.

Thanks and happy holidays, Craig

Posted by Craig Garber on December 13th, 2008 at 6:56 am

Couldn’t find a trackback, just wanted to let you see… http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/11/29/how-i-use-twitter-and-you/

Carrie

Posted by Carrie Anderson on December 14th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

Yipes… sorry… here’s the link: http://www.thevirtualinch.ca/how-i-use-twitter/

Posted by Carrie Anderson on December 14th, 2008 at 11:55 pm

I’m new to twitter, having had legions in facebook and linked tell me to start twittering, so I’m trying to drink the koolade and wondering why people like this so much and somehow i found you to follow….in my eternal quest for knowledge of the psychology behind some of these web community phenomena and I decide to check out your blog on twitter since it is in your little paragraph profile…THANKS. Like I care someone is having a cup of coffee. Seeing your insights from a Mark Cuban seminar that I didn’t attend is something I care about. Looking forward to following you and in turn providing value on my insights to have people follow me I run two blogs, http://www.entrepreneurblogspace.com and http://www.myvirtualangelworld.com all about early stage capital formation and wealth creation, and an internet radio show on blogtalk radio..trying to reach out to that community as you do with your insights on social media.

Posted by Karen Rands on December 18th, 2008 at 5:09 am

[...] tools http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2008/dec/19prt.html ethic of http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/11/29/how-i-use-twitter-and-you using twitpay http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/send-cash-through-twitter-with-twitpay/ [...]

Posted by To Twitter or Not to Twitter - Using New Media to Build Your Business! | MyVirtualAngelWorld.com on December 19th, 2008 at 6:31 pm

[...] Owyang has a great idea. In his profile on twitter he includes a little blog article about how and why he uses Twitter. And when you look at his numbers … he has more than 17,000 [...]

Posted by A Cool Addition to a Twitter Profile · The Get Known Now Blog on December 27th, 2008 at 9:12 am

Shame I just found you on twitter at a time you are taking a hiatus from it! I’ll follow you anyway. I like Twitter, but I’m trying to both add and find more value from it. This article has helped give me a much better sense of how to do that, but I have a feeling it’s the sort of thing I could read over several times and each time ‘get it’ on a deeper level. So that’s what I’m going to do anyway

Really interesting that you get so much traffic from Twitter. I’ve never received much, but then I hadn’t worked out how to add as much value as you do, and I’ve never been as consistent in twitting. I’m wondering… in your Twitter chronology has twitter always brought you a lot of traffic, or did it happen at a specific point… in other words is there a ‘critical mass’ that needs to be achieved (either in time, followers, value over time, etc) before you start seeing that much traffic from tweeting?

Posted by Donna on December 29th, 2008 at 4:20 am

[...] I’m known for being a very active twitter user, recent applications have tracked my daily usage from being 20-30 tweets on average. I’m not like other twitter users, as I have a very specific method in which I use the tool. [...]

Posted by About My Twitter Hiatus on January 3rd, 2009 at 2:45 am

As a relative newbie to twitter I appreciate what you’ve written and agree how you use twitter. I’m trying not to stumble around too much and be noise.
One thing I differ with you on is the personal. A little personal makes the tweeter seem real and not just a corporate voice. Thanks for your willingness to share information and expertise.

Posted by Dan Roloff on January 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

[...] How I use Twitter, and you?Owyang förklarar sin Twitter-strategi. Bra och genomtänkt. [...]

Posted by Niclas “Deeped” Strandh » Blog Archive » Strandh delar med sig - 2009 01 23 on January 23rd, 2009 at 5:03 am

Interesting to see that your use of twitter has changed since this post was written. Just noticed above you say “I rarely talk about waking up, eating lunch, or starting my car, instead, I want to add value.”

But your last post was “Boogieboarding at paia, maui” lol.

Good post, though. I find that a balance of 80% info to 20% personal is what I strive to maintain.

Posted by Tony Maro on January 30th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Tony

That’s because I’m on vacation this week!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on January 31st, 2009 at 12:48 am

Terrific points. There are some people who add way too much of their personal “stuff” and yet, if it’s a chat room, some personal is good. I’ve @replied to items that were personal and that furthered the conversation. I also believe in adding value, humor and food for thought(ever the educator). Balance is the key.
As the author of a book about reclaiming the “personal Touch” in a digital world, I find twitter as a way to learn, to share, to explore and to enjoy!

Posted by Susan RoAne on February 1st, 2009 at 1:58 pm

I just recently started using twitter to help drive people to my site. This was a helpful write up, thank you!

Posted by The Bored Ninja on February 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 pm

J - am a follower - and appreciate this kind of transparency, seeing more of it on blogs, etc. Question - how do you reconcile

1) Personal Minutia: I rarely talk about waking up, eating lunch, or starting my car, instead, I want to add value.

with your (frankly) incessant personal minutia from your Hawaii trip?

I ask because I think the examination of “platform” vs. “Life observations” is an important one - when we build expectations based on how we tweet/what we tweet about, then confound them, what does that do to our “contract” with our followers? Is there any “contract” implicit in the combination of a track record and a stated policy (as above)?

Topic of discussion, not a rant about Hawaii. Just happened to present a good example.

Posted by heyrobertdavis on February 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 am

Heyrobertdavis, I answered that above in comment 103. That was the first time I’ve done personal tweets ‘only’ in a few years. I’m sort of back in work mode now with my tweets.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on February 3rd, 2009 at 7:13 am

I tweet random minutae that will become blog posts. sort of like a personal note pad. but my followers have an idea of whats coming up on the blog.

Posted by rebecca on February 3rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm

there is also an interesting article by a prof at mills regarding how we instruct children/teens to use social media. it’s from a chapter he has forthcoming called “how to be a node.” or “learning to be a node” sorry — forgot to bookmark and am running out just now. He comments on need to look at social media as personal headlines sim to newspapers — different media for different audiences. need to segment and edit self accordingly. Will look for it and holla back

Posted by rebecca on February 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm

Here you go: fyi it’s “learning to be a node”

http://soc-of-info.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-goes-on-page-one.html

enjoy

Posted by rebecca on February 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Jeremiah, thanks for the direct response, but what about the larger issue - do what I would call “platform” tweeters such as yourself create a kind of contract with those who choose to follow? Not giving YOU a hard time - noticing instead something I think has salience for a discussion of expectation matching in following/microblogging relationship.

Posted by heyrobertdavis on February 4th, 2009 at 5:52 am

Thanks for the original post!

Posted by Andrey on February 5th, 2009 at 4:20 pm

I am Quite new to Twitter and Tweeting but following you i have learnt very quickly that it is a very powerful tool used in the right way and in the right hands,
I find giving value in my tweets my followers act on it more when i put direction as in a url. say my blog or interesting articles i have published on the internet about Internet Marketing.

Jason Dower

Posted by Jason Dower on February 9th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

Recently started using twitter, i have shared my first hand expereince here http://tinyurl.com/bxfdpk

Posted by Amit Desai on February 10th, 2009 at 6:21 am

[...] to instead be “What’s important to me now”. While I’m high volume, you can read how I use the tool. I added a 6th bullet to reflect how I use it work for work [...]

Posted by Travel, MicroMedia, and The Client/Vendor Relationship on February 12th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

haven’t had time to read all the comments you’ve got - (and you get a lot - well done!!) I found your post interesting - and a good check list to see what I use Twitter for myself.

What I am interested in discussing - is where do we see it going? How can Twitter support a business and help it grow revenues or drive customer satisfaction?

I am informally discussing with some businesses the potential to use Twitter as an option to distribute promotion codes for last minute offers.

I believe that for certain businesses it is an excellent channel to reach out to their customers.

Actually it might be interesting to compile a poll and see what type of companies people would like to “FOLLOW” updates on.

What do you think?

Posted by Patrick Lennon on February 17th, 2009 at 5:36 am

You said you don’t do a lot of @ replies so as not to clog your feed. As a longtime Twitter user you surely must realize that @ replies don’t show up in your feed to followers unless they also happen to follow the person to whom you are @ replying. They do show on your personalized Twitter page, too, but my feeling is most people read via their feeds, not by viewing friends’ pages. Good article though.

Posted by Luis Antezana on February 23rd, 2009 at 11:22 am

[...] people on how they use twitter. Some of their opinions I agree with, while others…not so much. Jeremiah Owyang has one of the best write-ups on twitter usage. I don’t agree with a lot of what he writes, but [...]

Posted by How I Use Twitter on March 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pm

Nice thread.

I don’t tweets a lot; real life is more important IMO. But Twitter does provide me a window for interaction with people sharing similar interest and chatting with new people and souls, thus providing values for them.

But would you shed light on picking your followers? Does the principle “the more the better” work ? Do you suggest differentiation your followers in how you would interact with them through your tweets or DM?

Posted by Kevin on March 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am

Wow. You’ve got a ridiculous amount of comments. I look forward to following.

best,

Chris O.
Referral Key
“Your Trusted Referral Network”
http://www.referralkey.com/small-business-blog/

Posted by Chris O. on March 9th, 2009 at 9:17 am

Thanks for the notes on how you use Twitter. Are there any books or academic research on how people are using Twitter that you would recommend?

Posted by Joe Boutte on April 20th, 2009 at 9:30 am

Thanks for the twitter notes. I am rather funny if anyone would like to follow me

Posted by Andrew H on April 27th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

http://www.twitter.com/andrehar

So Twitter is awesome for Taking traffic to you website . It is very
simple to setup and its a fun positive way to keep in contact with
people. To get more followers on twitter check out this amazing
tool.Twitter
Traffic Machine

Posted by patingski on April 30th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Loved your article. Thank you for the same.

Posted by Manashree Prakash on May 20th, 2009 at 5:03 am

[...] tweets coming from the womb and surgery tables (according this New York Times piece), to Forrester research analysts praising Twitter, everybody has a unique explanation. Twitter is indeed a simple tool, but the [...]

Posted by Video: Why I / You / We Tweet | social nerdia on June 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 am

This article and a few others inspired
us to make a video in which we asked people why they use Twitter. The result was fun. We hope to add to the project and make it a longer version.

The video is called “Why I / You / We Tweet” and it’s at:

http://bit.ly/iyouwe

Posted by socialnerdia on June 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm

[...] of respect for the overall community (Jeremiah Owyang has a great landing page where he explains how he uses and doesn’t use Twitter that is [...]

Posted by 200ml » PUblic v Private - Why it Matters on June 9th, 2009 at 11:14 am

Well ive just finished reading this and may i say i am seriously thinkin about givin twitter the benefit of the doubt. Maybe ill sign up after writing this. If i do you’ll be the first person i will follow! Thanks again for all the information and keep up the good tweets my friend