Are You on Twitter? A Beginning Primer for Twitter Virgins

In a lot of ways, Twitter is emblematic of our culture at large. We want everything done yesterday, we multi-task even when we entertain ourselves, we text instead of call. The world seems to move a lot faster and that's why something like Twitter seems to fit right in.

Communicating your 140 character message to all of the people who "follow" you on Twitter is a lot quicker and easier than calling or texting each of these people individually. There's also the voyeuristic angle of being able to see what other people are up to. Twitter is a time-saver, even though you may get sucked in and waste a lot of time. This happens to people--you may even know one of the "Twitter-addicts."

The big thing that people are talking about (other than how Twitter's owners will monetize the site) is using Twitter for business. Companies like Dell and celebrities like Ashton Kutcher have solid presences on Twitter--Dell even has reported that it makes quite a few sales using the micro-blogging platform. Kutcher promotes his anti-malaria philanthropy and his films and projects using Twitter. He also created one of the recent Twitter headlines when he challenged CNN to a race to see who could get to one million Twitter followers first and won.

This term "micro-blogging" refers to the fact that people use Twitter to tell everyone what they are doing, where they are, what they're working on, what they're thinking about, and whatever else is going on in their heads. It's a lot like blogging used to be and still is to some extent--basically just a daily journal to let people know what you are doing and experiencing.

But Twitter is more like a "life stream" more than it is a journal, as many avid users "Tweet" many times each hour. There are iphone and blackberry applications that make it possible for people to never have to be separated from their precious Twitter.

Here is a brief rundown of how to get started with Twitter

1) Sign up using an email address--this is the only information you need to provide in order to gain access to the website. You have to choose a password and a Twitter "handle" that hasn't been taken already. It takes about two minutes to sign up, but you may take longer trying out different available names.

2) Go to your email and find the verifying link in a message from Twitter. Click it and return to the site. Sign in and you will see your profile page.

3) Click the link that says "Settings." Here you can add your real name and add your bio if you want to tell people a little bit more about you. You should do this if you want anyone to follow you. You can also change your "handle" from this page as well. You can also add a url to your blog or website of your choice and it will appear above your bio on your main profile page.

4) While on the Settings page, you should also upload a picture. Go to "Design" in order to change your background, add wallpaper, or put up a picture that will appear behind your profile. There are a lot of places where you can find free Twitter backgrounds. Run a Google search with the term "Twitter backgrounds" and a lot of sites will appear. This stuff gets addictive real quick.

5) Start Tweeting. Write something! Anything! Find your friends by inviting them via email through the "find people" link.

6) Check out the search.twitter.com page and get a feel for it. You can literally see what people are talking about at this instant and can look in on conversations that are taking place. You can see why this kind of "eavesdropping" and ability to easily get into conversations with people has businesses really excited and clambering to get a ton of followers on Twitter.

How do You Get Followers on Twitter?

Here's what's going to happen. You're going to sign up for Twitter and before you know it, there are going to be five, ten, maybe twenty people who all of a sudden want to be your friend. Well, not quite. Some of these people are following you because they want you to follow them back so their own follower count increases. Some of these people just want to try to sell you stuff.

Don't be one of these random-followers. Getting followers on Twitter is just like getting followers on a blog. Just be interesting and consistent. It's still not easy getting followed. Follow people who you are genuinely interested in and get involved in the conversation. It's like being at a party and walking up to a group of people who are engaged in talking and laughing about something.

Don't just walk up and say, "What's up guys?" Cue the record screech and the uncomfortable silence. Bring your A game and have something to add. Listen for a few minutes and get in on the conversation.

Say you run a Crafts blog or a cell phone blog or a tv blog. Go to search.twitter and see what people are talking about in your circle by searching for terms unique to what you blog or talk about. Also go to the homepage and do a search in the "search" field in the sidebar.

What Should You "Tweet" About?

By now, you see how having a Twitter account is not only a good way to keep in touch with your friends on a daily basis, but can also help you promote your business, blog, or brand. That being said, there are two things you should avoid.

Avoid telling your friends and family who follow you on Twitter everything you are going through at every minute of the day. You might find your family ignoring your tweets or dropping you from their follow list. Be interesting, informative, or entertaining.

If you are trying to promote a business or blog, make this sort of a secondary concern. Just like your followers don't want to hear about every detail about your life, no one wants to get a "hard sell" on twitter. The thing that Twitter does best is showcase your personality. People may be interested in your blog or e-commerce site or whatever it is you do, but they don't want to see tweets about your latest product or new links to your blog everyday. There is a point where it gets to be too much.

Let your personality shine through and really get a conversation going with people or in your field of expertise. You may possibly get customers or website visitors this way, but you'll scare people if you're thinking sell, sell, sell or traffic, traffic, traffic. Think of it more like creating a presence for yourself, getting your name out there, and putting your finger on the pulse of people in your field.