The AC Twitter Challenge: How I Use Hootsuite with Associated Content's RSS

I signed up with Twitter earlier this year but I thought it was just another time consuming social network. Around the first of September Lyn Lomasi from Associated Content suggested I try Hootsuite for Twitter. It's been thirty days since I seriously began using Twitter. Have I changed my mind? Read on to find out....

How I use Twitter

When I first started using Twitter it was to promote my Associated Content (AC) articles. Since then I have found it useful in other ways.

I found and followed Associated Content Contributors. It's fun to read the tweets of those writers I know very little about other than their presence at AC. Their tweets often have links to content they have written on other sites. It's interesting to see what else they are doing.

I also have RSS feeds (Lyn Lomasi's Hootsuite/RSS how to article) set up through Hootsuite to auto-tweet articles of some of my favorite writers at Associated Content as they publish:

Lyn Lomasi
Marie Anne St. Jean
Tamara L. Waters
Saul Relative
Donald Pennington
Ryan Christopher DeVault
Meg C.
Hartley Engel
Mark Whittington

Through Hootsuite, ow.ly links are forever tracked. I have enjoyed checking Hootsuite's stats to see what kind of content has been the most popular in the Twitterverse. In thirty days I've had 1,419 total clicks. Here are the top ten Associated Content articles within the last thirty days:

The winners are....

Hartley Engel!
21 clicks for: Annie Le Suspect Eyed by Police.

Meg C.!
21 clicks for: Derrion Albert Uncut: A Beating Death Caught on Camera.

Lisa Kay
19 clicks for: Growing Wisteria: Tree, Vine and Bonsai.
I tweeted this article several times. All the other articles were auto tweeted once.

Saul Relative
18 clicks for: Serena Williams Foot Fault Video, Caroline Wozniacki's Breasts, Melanie Oudin and Kim Clijsters Out of Nowhere at U. S. Open.

Saul Relative
16 clicks for: Jennifer Hromadka's Wedding Website: Interest in Raymond Clark's Connection to the Death of Annie Le.

Saul Relative
14 clicks for: Samantha Geimer Pictures: Then and Now

Marie Anne St. Jean
12 clicks for: Columbus Man Robs House, Returns to Ask Victim for Date

Saul Relative
12 clicks for: Nearly 100 Killed as Samoan Tsunami Devastates Samoa and American Samoa (Video)

Lisa Kay
12 clicks for: Growing Wisteria: Tree, Vine and Bonsai.
I tweeted this article again as one of my #bestofac.

Marie Anne St. Jean
11 clicks for: There Once was a Man Named Darnell

What I like about Hootsuite's RSS feature is that even when I don't have time for Twitter, I can still be active by tweeting interesting content. I'm helping Associated Content contributors with their PV's and they help me maintain a high quality Twitter presence.

These links to Associated Content articles are continuing to get clicks even though they were tweeted days or weeks ago. The ow.ly links that are created for all these articles are tied to my Twitter account. Any time that link is clicked, it's logged in my stats. Just think, a tweet lives forever in the Twitterverse!

My Twitter favorites:

MomieTullottes (Lyn Lomasi at AC)
Ldyjarhead (Marie Ann St. Jean at AC)
Kamirusma (Tamara L. Waters at AC)
Tmcrill (Tamara McRill at AC)
Dragonblogger with 13,164 updates! (Justin Germino at AC)

In the beginning I searched Twitter for topics I was interested in, such as PCOS, homeschooling and Associated Content related tweets. I sorted through those results, following those people who shared my same interests. Lately I have been following those who follow me. (350 updates, following 105, followers 113 on 10-01-2009).

Do I think Twitter is another time consuming social network?

Yes. Or it can be. I have found Twitter to be fun and effective. It's a must have if you are a contributor at Associated Content or anywhere else. I can be found tweeting away at http://twitter.com/LisaKayC