Insights, Lessons and Suggestions to Make the Most of Twitter

It has been 27 months since I started using Twitter, the micro-blogging service that has set the social networking universe afire.

Over this period, I have learned many things about Twitter, tried out different ideas and modified the way I use this fascinating service. And interesting enough, I have seen many users who joined later on go through startlingly similar phases as I once did – only to arrive at similar conclusions.

This was the seed of this post about Twitter. Maybe by sharing some insights, lessons and suggestions from 27 months of Twitter, this will help you past speed-bumps – and let you make the most of Twitter.

Let’s begin by addressing some Twitter myths. There are many of these myths, primarily points of view and opinions of folks who are new to Twitter and not yet sure what to make of it.

5 Twitter Myths That Need Debunking

1. Auto-following is polite.

Yeah, right. And of course, you smile at everyone you see on your way to work, pass the time of the day with your janitor, waitress, bus conductor, gardener and others at home or your office, refuse to ignore anyone who passes by you or makes contact – or just is within 25 feet of where you are!

That’s the surest way to waste your time, lose your focus and get nothing meaningful done – while being ‘terribly busy’ all day long!

Thinking that courtesy demands that you follow back anyone on Twitter who chooses to follow you is responsible for most of the woes new Twitter users suffer. And the myth is perpetuated by those who, as a strategy, follow many people on Twitter… and claim that to NOT do so is impolite!

2. Auto-DMs build instant rapport.

Direct messages allow one-to-one communication within the framework of a ‘broadcast’ medium that Twitter is. It is personal, direct and private. Or so you’d think!

What destroyed this (once-)reality is a practice called ‘Auto DM’s – automatically sending DMs to anyone who follows you on Twitter. No, not always ‘automated’ by scripts; even manually sending DMs to your new followers counts as this.

Coupled with the habit of following many people, and auto-following from politeness everyone who follows you, this auto-DM behavior practically destroyed it’s effectiveness. Hardly any power-user reads all the garbage sent to them via DM robots, and the result is like what spam did to email!

3. No one reads their entire timeline.

The Twitter timeline is fascinating or frustrating – it all depends on how you view it. And how much clutters it up!

Personally, I follow no more than 40 people on Twitter. I make it a point to read my Twitter time-line DAILY. I find snippets and quotes, links and offers, wisdom and wonder – and much of it I share with my own followers.

Making it easier to ‘mine’ the Twitter timeline is the powerful Twitter Search tool. With it, you can sort through the vast Twitter database by keyword, phrase or search term.

4. Everyone uses Twitter the same way.

Many people (I mean REALLY many people) have guidelines, rules and laws about how to use Twitter. Their own. And that’s because they assume – wrongly – that everyone uses Twitter the same way as themselves.

For the same purpose. With the same goals. From the same perspective.

Yet Twitter has several MILLION people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and countries, speaking different languages, believing in different religions, having different political leanings.

I have rules, too. But only one, though. It’s this.

“There are no rules for Twitter”

5. Follower count matters most.

Unless you’re a celebrity, you won’t have many followers – and don’t need many.

And if you’re a celebrity, you’re obviously using Twitter in a way (and for a reason) that VERY few other non-celebrities are… so how you do it won’t matter to them in any meaningful way!

What matters, just as in your own email contact list, is WHO is on your follower list - not how many are. The 35 people I follow on Twitter at any time collectively have a network reach of several MILLION others. But that’s NOT why I follow them.

I follow people on Twitter whom I feel are interesting. You may find the same people dull – and that’s why Twitter is so amazing, it allows YOU to decide whom to follow, for any reason you want!

5 Things Twitter Is NOT

1. Twitter is NOT good for direct response

I’ve tested it several different ways, for many purposes – and it always works out a poor alternative to email or other forms of persuasion.

2. Twitter is NOT a reliable communication channel

That’s because even though it is ‘instant’, not everyone is ON Twitter all the time – and tweets can get lost in clutter easier than email in an inbox.

3. Twitter is NOT great to defend positions or win arguments

I mean, how much can you say or state in 140 characters, right?

4. Twitter is NOT ‘instant traffic’

If you’re on Twitter to matter, drop the idea that all it’s good for just a short burst of traffic, and focus on being someone worth listening to and following.

5. Twitter is NOT about you… it’s about THEM!

Always. So figure out how to add value to your followers. That way, they’ll stick around – and ask their friends to join them.

5 Things Twitter IS

1. Twitter is great for connecting

I’ve developed associations with high profile bloggers, newspaper editors, powerful politicians, best-selling authors, world-changers – all on Twitter.

2. Twitter is convenient to catch someone’s attention

When other options don’t work quite as well, Twitter can get your ‘foot in the door’. What you do with that attention is entirely up to you, though!

3. Twitter is a coffee-room

It’s a place to hang-out, chew the fat, catch up with news, relax and unwind during a busy day, take a refreshing break – and then get back to work, energized!

4. Twitter is a viral medium

The right kind of meme can spread like a wildfire across the network, creating ripples and making waves. Of course, it depends on WHAT you tweet about!

5. Twitter is a time-sump

If you let it, Twitter will suck up a lot of your day, leaving you feeling unproductive and wasteful. Limit your time on Twitter. Make it matter.

To The Next 27 Months of Twitter

These are just a few things I’ve learned in 27 months on Twitter. Over the next 27 months on Twitter, I will surely learn many new things – and maybe discover that some of these are wrong or inappropriate.

Maybe you already did. If so, please share your thoughts and ideas about using Twitter – and making the most of it!

On Twitter, an interesting, entertaining and extremely useful ritual takes place every week on Friday.

FOLLOW FRIDAY is a chance for you to recommend other people on Twitter that you think merit being followed – for any reason at all.

The result is often a mish-mash of suggestions. Some folks are cryptic, just listing user names with a ‘#FollowFriday’ hashtag to indicate it’s their recommendation list. Others tweet over and over, sharing long lists.

To enhance the value of your recommendation to others on your tweet-stream, I propose a ‘protocol’ for Follow Friday recommendations.

The core principle behind this protocol would be “Less is More”. After all, the real value in your #FollowFriday suggestion is to recommend the cream of the crop!

Each Follow Friday tweet should contain the following data:

1. Who do you recommend? The name or username of the person you are recommending on Follow Friday.

2. Why? Is the person your best friend? Or make you laugh? Or share wonderful links? Or a celebrity, rockstar, great guy/gal? Tell us. It helps us decide.

3. Who (in your opinion) would most benefit from following them? No matter how talented or special someone is, not everyone needs to follow them. So tell us which kind/group of people YOU believe will most benefit from following your recommended star. Writers? Marketers? Entrepreneurs? House-wives? Hobbyists? Tell.

4. Limit to 1 or 2 recommendation/tweet. Yes, it’s more work for you. But then, if you won’t take the extra half-minute to recommend that person, why would I want to invest 5 or more minutes to follow them and read their updates? See?

Of course, tweet as many Follow Friday recos as you feel comfortable with. But for each, include the 4 ‘decision making’ points above.

Here are a few samples:

Thoughts?

“Give me one moment in time
When I’m all that I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away…”

I cried last night.

Bitter tears. Of frustration. Pain. And anger.

All the while, words of my favorite Whitney Houston song kept ringing in my mind. A decade and a half of agonizing, tantalizing ‘near success’ had finally taken its toll. For too long, “all of my dreams have been a heartbeat away”.

In my social and business network spanning many thousand people, I have many celebrities, rockstars, le’ elite.

Any ONE of them, with a single email, phone call, recommendation, endorsement or referral, has the potential to COMPLETELY change the course of my work with heart kids and set it on a new, higher trajectory.

I know it – and keep trying to catalyze that magical event. And on many occasions, I’ve come oh-so-close… only to have it all fizzle out.

After a while, that kind of thing takes a heavy toll… because hanging in the balance is the survival and health of hundreds of children with congenital heart defects.

• There’s the famous blogger read by almost 50,000 people who won’t mention CHD awareness on his blog – because other readers may want him to feature their causes!
• There’s the famous Internet marketer, with a reach of almost a million people, who once wanted to hold a special event to raise funds for my charity – but now won’t even answer my emails!
• There’s the social networking guru who promised a big donation to sponsor a child’s heart operation – however, the check never arrived!
• There’s the best-selling author who mentioned adding my non-profit to a list of worthy charities supported by his work – but whose manager never got back to me, or replied to repeated follow ups!

Each of these episodes created a roller-coaster of emotions.

Hope – that something would come of it.

Excitement – that it would grow big, and help hundreds of kids.

Anxiety – when nothing seemed to happen for a while.

Disappointment – when realization hit that it won’t – ever.

And the hard lessons I’ve learned from this repeating cycle are that:

* Actions speak louder than words – don’t rely on a spoken or written promise as much as a tiny action step taken in support

* Celebrities are always concerned about their image, more than the cause they are endorsing or supporting

* Most ‘rockstars’ want something in return for what they do… and that has poisoned my nature and style, as I find myself bending over to accomodate them (Never again!)

* What they do for my charity needs to fit their agenda, whatever it is

As a fundraiser, evangelist for my non-profit, the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation, and online networker, I am deeply aware of the reality that charity is NOT compulsory. I realize and respect that each of my donors is acting out of a sense of caring, generosity and compassion for the under-privileged children my organization supports.

And this is NOT about these wonderful people who have been the cornerstone of all that we have achieved until now. $133,000+ raised in donations. 47 children operated successfully. These are accomplishments made possible by the Heart Kids tribe!

I only wish I had been smart enough to realize earlier that they are the ONLY people that matter – and not sought out celebrities and ‘rockstars’, hoping for that ‘quick hit’.

For years, I battled my natural reticence and shyness to thrust myself into the ‘digital limelight’, because I believed as a celebrity I could make a difference – in a bigger way. (Incidentally, MOST of my family and friends don’t even know what I do online!)

And I’m stubborn. Won’t give up easily.

But now I will.

I’ll give up on wanting to be a celebrity.

Because experience taught me that it sucks to be one!

I’ll just focus on doing things behind the scenes. Under the radar. With the support and encouragement of those 739 (and growing) people who really matter.

My Donors

.

The true stars, who make a difference to a heart kid’s life.

Coming to that decision made me happier.

I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

A smile that’s still there this morning.

Growing wider, as I write this post.

Thank you for reading.

And for being a part of the Heart Kids Tribe… where your stereotypical celebrity is NOT welcome – and YOU are the ROCKSTAR!

On September 12th, 2008, I ran an event called the Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon on Twitter. It was to raise awareness about congenital heart defects in children and generate funds to sponsor heart surgery for some kids.

For 24 hours straight, I posted tweets every 30 minutes. The event had some great supporters, and raised a little over $5,500 in a day.

Today, best-selling author and top Internet marketing expert Joel Comm held another version of a Twitter fundraising marathon called Tweetathon 2009. It was to raise awareness about the desperate need for clean drinking water, and raise money to help provide children with clean water in Africa.

I watched in awe and delight as the buzz spread across the Twitterverse!

It was amazing to see how a well-planned, well-coordinated and well-orchestrated event can and should be run… and I learned a lot from observing a master marketer at work.

We don’t know yet how much was raised for charity, but I’m pretty sure it’ll dwarf the $5,500 that the Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon brought in.

It was also, for me personally, a bitter-sweet experience.

Because I’m now starkly aware of how much potential I left untapped by not planning and executing better, by not doing many things Joel did masterfully, by not putting in more effort into it – while at the same time, learning and taking notes on how to do it better the next time around.

Here are some things that might help anyone else planning such an event.

1. Get more people involved. Joel has a far bigger network than most of us, but still, it was amazing to see how many people he managed to get actively involved in his project. I can only imagine how much arm-twisting, cajoling and calling in past favors must have gone into it – hat’s off to Joel Comm for managing it!

2. Find a celebrity to pull in crowds. Tweetathon 2009 had MC Hammer. I just peeked – on Twitter, MC has got over 93,000 followers! Wow. Quite a few of his fans would have helped spread buzz.

3. Start early. If I’m not mistaken, Joel started preparing for this event sometime in November 2008 with an announcement to his email list about his new Twitter book, and plans for a special Twitter-based event.

4. Use multiple channels to communicate with your tribe. Joel used his email list, his blog, Twitter as well as in-person networking at events to constantly build up excitement and anticipation for the Tweetathon.

5. Tie it in with something to leverage the effort. Joel had it coincide with a book launch (incidentally, a side-benefit was that the book hit best-seller status).

6. Prepare to work hard. I guess that was my biggest failing – not putting in the kind of intense effort I knew was necessary.

7. Keep the time frame reasonable. I went with a 24-hour Twitter marathon, because in past years I did a 24-hour blogathon, and thought it would also help reach people in many different time zones. Joel’s event only lasted 12 hours, and so had more engagement with the audience, some of whom planned to watch or listen to the entire event.

8. Sustain engagement. My Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon had bursts of tweeting activity every 30 minutes. Joel Comm’s Tweetathon 2009 was a continuous event, where different people entertained people all the while, no intervals or interruptions.

There will probably be a few more lessons I’ll recollect in retrospect. And I might pick Joel’s brain for more ideas, if I decide to repeat the Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon again this year.

Whatever else comes out of this, one thing has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt. Twitter is a social network with far-reaching impact and can be used as a tool to do enormous good in the world.

TWITTER POWER – you’ve gotta love it!

In the year and a half I’ve been on Twitter, there have been a flood of posts on this blog talking about various experiences, thoughts and opinions I’ve had about the service.

Today, I pored over the archives and picked out these “BEST TWITTER TIPS” to share with you – hope you find them interesting, useful and fun!

• It all begins here – with the agonized expostulation: “Oh, Twitter!” A short, birds-eye view of the Twitter phenomenon, and what it means… to YOU!

• There are many ‘Twitter Myths’ that are easy to stumble into and believe as ‘inviolate truths’. One is that you MUST follow everyone who follows you. Well, after you read this article, you’ll have another perspective – one that’ll make your entire Twitter experience much more fun!

• Want to delve deeper into what really matters about Twitter? What are the numbers or metrics to watch, measure and monitor? In one of my early narratives of using Twitter, I shared some interesting TWITTOGRAPHICS. You may find them of use, too.

• Sometimes we get caught up in the seductive web that Twitter is, and find out (to our dismay) that too much precious working time has been frittered away tweeting sweet nothings into the void! Here’s how to avoid wasting time on social networking!

• And don’t let the “no time” excuse keep you from enjoying the rich benefits of Twitter. Just do it in less time… learn how to use Twitter in 10 minutes a day.

• Is Twitter useful for ‘direct response’ marketing? It’s easy to believe it is when you hear some tall tales about how much money Twitter can make you. I set out to conduct an experiment that answers this question… and came up with some startling observations!

• Does ‘locking’ your Twitter account work well? Will your followers eagerly queue up to request a peek at your tweet-stream? And does limiting and pre-qualifying your followers enhance the response you can expect? Another ‘Twitter Experiment’ answers this question.

• Everyone has a favorite set of ‘rules’ for Twitter. They even love to impose them on other twits! Well, my favorite rule #11 is this: “First, make the rules. Then BREAK them!” The other 10 Twitter Maverick Rules are here.

• Do you wonder what might be the RIGHT way to use Twitter (and indeed any other social networking service)? This short, sweet, simple set of guides may be helpful. Read about Social Networking – the RIGHT way!

• To kickstart the new year, I shared my “three word mantra” on January 5th. It’s been widely re-tweeted all over Twitter, too… and many people have said they’re going to live by it in all their social networking. Join them – by first learning the mantra yourself.

• What good is Twitter? Many curious (or baffled) beginners ask themselves this question when they first come across the service. Here’s one undeniable benefit from tweeting, greeting and meeting… with PROOF!

• And then, there are ways to use Twitter to do good. Like my ‘Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon’. It taught me many valuable lessons, which I shared to help you, in case you’re planning one too. Learn all about maximizing the value of Twitter while running events.

• Did you know you can PLAY on Twitter – and not just have fun, but also bring about some amazing benefits to your business? Yes, it’s true. See how you can profit from playing on Twitter.

• Finally, I created a 6-part primer about using Twitter to generate a flood of web traffic. The nicest part of it is that the entire process is free, and can be put to work by even the newest beginner to Twitter. “6 Day Twitter Traffic” begins here.

Hopefully all these links help you get a bit more from Twitter.

If you want to learn even more powerful tips about turning your time on Twitter into cash in the bank, get “TWITTER PROFIT – How to tweet your way to riches“ from TwitterProfit.com

If you know me, you know I love to innovate and experiment.

And on Twitter, I run many different tests, try out multiple approaches and flaunt various ‘rules’ (proclaimed by the Twiterati)… all in the interest of finding what works.

Often, I share them on my blog, or in tweets, or with my email list – for free. But that doesn’t mean they are worthless. Any of them could sell as a $20 report, easily.

How can I say that? Let’s take one such example, a recent blog post where I shared my results from testing Twitter for direct response marketing.

That data will save the right person 2 hours in time. Even if your time is worth as little as $10 an hour, that’s $20 in value.

Or see it another way. To acquire this data, I had to waste 2 hours of my time – which makes the results worth much more than $20.

The point I’m making is that this kind of data is precious, has a real money value – so read it carefully and take heed of the lessons or message.

It applies to this data as well – which shares my results from testing ‘locking’ my Twitter account to permit only pre-approved people to follow me on Twitter.

Sound weird? Why would anyone want LESS followers?

Well, the hypothesis I was testing is that, since my Twitter ‘response rate’ was hovering around 1% on average, would pre-qualifying followers by placing an ‘entry barrier’ to their joining my tweet-stream ensure a more responsive network?

I thought it would, and proceeded to ‘lock’ my Twitter account in early January 2009. No one outside those following me could now read my updates. And no one could follow me without being pre-approved (they could only submit a request to follow).

For 6 weeks, I have been testing and measuring results from this ‘experiment’ – and quite to my surprise, the data suggests that there is hardly any difference between the two approaches.

My Twitter ‘follower’ growth has been the same, averaged over time (I approve new requests once a week, which makes the graph more spiky).

My Twitter response rate has NOT changed much.

A few people were curious about the ‘lock’ icon that shows up next to my tweets, but not much came about because of it.

When all is said and done, the decision to ‘lock’ my Twitter account did NOT create much measurable impact or improvement in my use of the service.

Yes, it was ‘different’ – but not meaningfully so.

So I’m switching back to the old way. I’m going to UNLOCK my Twitter account. (You can follow me now!)

But one of my biggest productivity enhancement devices for Twitter still remains – my “Twitter Rule of FORTY”. To see what it is, read this page.

And not all of my Twitter Profit tips are free – some of them are revealed only inside my ebook, “TWITTER PROFIT – How to tweet your way to riches!“ … you may want to read it too.

On September 12th, 2008, I did a 24-hour non-stop Twitter marathon to raise awareness and funds for congenital heart defects. The Heart Kids Tweetathon raised a little over $5,600 during the event (you can donate here, if you wish) and reached an audience of thousands with the message of Congenital Heart Disease awareness.

Here are some lessons I learned from the event that may be of use to you, if you consider doing one like it.

Selling a product is easier than selling an idea or concept.

I probably would have raised more money by creating and selling an infoproduct instead of doing the Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon. Seriously. Though the visibility and awareness building benefits made it worthwhile.

The toughest part is getting ‘buy in’ from supporters.

Once they are convinced about what you’re doing, the sky is the limit to what impact you can collectively make. I fielded some tough questions from first-time CHD fans – and answering them was the best investment in the event.

Most people won’t come through on what they promise.

Not because they don’t want to or do it intentionally. Often schedules are over-booked. Unexpected things happen. Emergencies or crises intervene. Or priorities simply change. Don’t depend too much on someone else’s promises to make your event work.

Last minute scrambling is practically unavoidable.

I started asking for content submissions 3 weeks back. Out of 36 submissions, 9 reached me AFTER the tweet-a-thon began! That’s fairly typical. Deadlines provoke action. Be ready to cope.

5% or less of your tribe are passionate evangelists.

9 out of 10 people you contact with your message will ignore it totally. The tiny group of evangelists will however help you achieve any goals you set – even impossible ones. Don’t get disillusioned at the apathetic crowd. Focus on the subset that deeply cares. They are your champions and rock-stars!

Passion trumps everything else.

I got more visibility and made a bigger impact from passionate people talking about the event than from even the owners of huge lists or who had thousands of followers. The difference is one casual tweet versus multiple INTERESTED ones.

And there are also a few technical ‘tricks’ I learned during the event.

Have backups (Web access, content, scripts)

Hard drive crashes, corrupted files and worse can ruin an event like a 24 hour tweet-a-thon.

Use separate Twitter accounts

In all, I posted close to 200 tweets in the 24 hours of the Heart Kids Tweetathon. If I had used my primary account, chances are most followers would have left – or complained loudly.

Use multiple browsers (or computers)

I was logged in to both my primary account and the tweet-a-thon account during the event. This was possible by opening them in different browsers – one in Firefox, the other in Flock.

Summize.com (Twitter search) gives useful snapshots

At any given time, I could check on the conversations happening around the event across Twitter. Very interesting. And inspiring too.

Hopefully these tips will be of some use to others planning a tweet-a-thon in the future. If you have any of your own, please share them in a comment below.

Inertia is the state of existence in the same state.

To move out of it takes energy.

Passion is energy.

It jolts you out of a rut. It gets you moving. It keeps you going.

Any endeavour, project or mission you set out to accomplish, when backed by passion, is pre-destined to succeed. In time.

Passion will keep you going until that time.

Without a driving force, it is easy to jump ship before port is in sight. Far too often, ‘failure’ is a result of premature abandonment rather than futile effort.

When you lack passion, it is easy to give up. And when you have it, it is almost impossible to do so.

Because passion is energy.

Energy powers and fuels action.

I’m trying a slightly different approach with this year’s Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon – to try and get conversations started around the blogosphere by inviting active participation, engagement and involvement by partners.

I’m calling out to YOU.

Yes, you.

And I’m asking if you’ll help kick-off some discussion on your blog, website, on forums and social networks, about issues surrounding the problem of heart birth defects and the effort being made to fight it.

Here are some suggestions for what you might want to blog/write about.

- – - – -

Idea #1: Cause, Story or Fundraiser?

Are you more likely to support a non-profit venture because it works for a cause you believe in? Or is their ’story’ more important to you? Or is it the team of people involved in fund-raising or executing the program that gets you to decide and help?

Idea #2: Should Charity Be Noisy & Public?

Or do you shrink from the thought of tooting one’s horn about non-profit work? Is it your view that ’strong and silent’ is the best way to facilitate change?

Idea #3: What Do You Look For In a Non-Profit?

Talk about your ideal organization, what it will have, what it would do.

Idea #4: Cost of Charity

The issues about a non-profit’s expenses that most concern you as a donor.

Idea #5: What Proof Do You Want?

Before you donate, what things about a charity do you evaluate? In your opinion, what should a non-profit share, reveal and display so that it earns your respect, trust and support?

Idea #6: Are you more likely to donate to non-profits that blog?

Idea #7: How does social networking affect charity?

Idea #8: How can non-profits harness social networking power?

Idea #9: The impact of video in online fundraising

You could include a link to the CHD movie on YouTube, here it is:

http://niche2.com/chd/?page=2&paged=6

Idea #10: Viral marketing in supporting social causes

You might mention this attempt to spread CHD awareness using a catchy cartoon:

http://niche2.com/chd/?page=2&paged=3

Idea #11: Role of Social networks in addressing social ills

- – - – -

These are just some thoughts I came up with. Feel free to take up any other angle of the problem of CHD, or the event (the Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon), or anything else about it to feature in your efforts.

Don’t just stop with blogging it.

• Invite opinions.
• Ask for suggestions.
• Engage discussion.
• Provoke debate.
• Encourage brainstorming.

And somewhere in the course of your blog or forum or Twitter post and interaction, weave in the message about the Heart Kids Tweet-a-thon and how we’re trying to raise awareness and funds for kids with congenital heart defects.

Please track-back to this post, or leave a comment here so that I’ll be able to direct visitors during the Tweet-a-thon to see your post.

Welcome to the first day “6 Day Twitter Traffic”.

Twitter is a micro-blogging ‘presence stream’ application that’s unique because it only allows you to post messages shorter than 140 characters in length!

Yet within this limitation, a whole community of over ONE MILLION users has evolved, making this one of the most vibrant, interactive and fascinating of social media channels available today.

Are you ready to explore the exciting waters of Twitter?

Let’s go.

Sign up for a Twitter account

Before you go further, read this report (it’s free) to see what your next steps will be:

Mastering Twitter: Click here to download the PDF

Enter your name, username, password, email address, and a picture.

The picture/photo is important. It’s your ‘avatar’ on Twitter. And on a social medium like Twitter, it matters that people in your network interact with you as a person or entity. Pick a photo, picture or logo that represents you or your business, brands it, and is eye-catching.

Start experimenting.

Post a few messages to Twitter. Since no one is ‘following’ you yet, don’t worry – if you goof up, no one will know!

Type a short message (less than 140 characters) into the box and click on the UPDATE button. Your post will appear below the box.

Try using a link to your website or blog. The link will be automatically converted into a short cloaked link, through the tinyurl.com service.

Here’s a sample you can try out – and at the same time, promote Congenital Heart Defects awareness:

“A Day For Hearts” is on February 14th. Please show your support. Help save a child’s heart. http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/

or

You can help spread Congenital Heart Defects Awareness. See how you can help: http://www.chdinfo.com/chdaware/youcanhelp.htm

Then, check out the General Timeline by clicking on the link near the top of your Twitter homepage. You’ll see a cross-section of ALL Twitter users, with posts being refreshed frequently.

Some posts will be interesting, others cryptic, and most will be dull, drab, useless musings of individuals. You do NOT want to make many posts in that last category!

Click on stuff and explore the service.

There are many cool features. You’ll discover them by being curious. And for more background, check out the Big Juicy Twitter Guide written by my friend, Caroline Middlebrook – it’s here

The “CHD Social Media Challenge” is a project to spread Congenital Heart Defects awareness. There are 4 mini-tutorials and 1 firesale making up the ‘challenge’. You can join in and help too – click here to see how.