Twitter – Don't Be a Hater

This post was originally submitted on my blog, http://www.jesskupferman.com but I thought it would be appropriate to share here as well. \n\nLately I’e2’80’99ve seen many Facebook status updates and overheard conversations (yes, I’e2’80’99m an eavesdropper) where people just talk about how much they hate Twitter and how useless it is.\n\nSometimes this type of conversation makes me think of other things that people hated in the past ‘e2’80’93 because it was different, or because they didn’e2’80’99t know or understand what it was. I hesitate to use the ‘e2’80’9cR’e2’80uc0u157 word ‘e2’80’93 but I will say that as a minority in this country, I’e2’80’99ve been involved in enough conversations about race, religion and sex to know ‘e2’80’9chate is derived from ignorance and/or fear.’e2’80u157 And I think it’e2’80’99s true in Twitter’e2’80’99s case as well.\n\nMost people sign up for a Twitter account and then tweet something to the effect of ‘e2’80’9cJust trying out Twitter,’e2’80u157 or ‘e2’80’9cTweeting for the first time,’e2’80u157 or the slightly negative ‘e2’80’9cTrying to figure out this Twitter thing.’e2’80u157 \n\nAnd then, that’e2’80’99s the only thing they ever tweet.\n\nI wonder, have the Twitter haters ever made an effort to ‘e2’80’9cget to know’e2’80u157 Twitter? If they ever Googled ‘e2’80’9chow to use Twitter,’e2’80u157 they would know that you can get the best use out of Twitter in 2 major ways: as a research tool, and as an audience builder.\n\nFollowing people who are tweeting about subjects you are interested in. How do you find those people? Do a search under the search link at the bottom of the page, and search for that subject. In my case it was ‘e2’80’9cgraphic design’e2’80u157 or ‘e2’80’9cweb design’e2’80u157 although I’e2’80’99ve found some great people to follow just typing in where I live as well. There’e2’80’99s such a wealth of information out there about every single subject!\n\nTweeting links to interesting articles you read. This helps people who are interested in the subjects YOU are interested in find you, and follow you. Then you build an audience, and look like an expert in whatever you’e2’80’99re tweeting about.\n\nYes, it takes a little time to build a following, but it’e2’80’99s also fascinating to watch over time to see how fast it grows. Yes, at first it’e2’80’99s silly to tweet to’e2’80′a6well, no one, if your followers are few and far between. But most people find that the more people they follow, the more follow back! That and a compelling 1-line bio will attract you to thousands.\n\nThere are so, so many links and blogs and books out there about how to use Twitter and why it’e2’80’99s great, and this post isn’e2’80’99t meant to do that. It’e2’80’99s mainly a blast to tell the haters ‘e2’80’93 don’e2’80’99t hate what you don’e2’80’99t understand.