Twitter for Dummies (16 page)

So, if you’re trying to get in touch with someone who doesn’t follow you, you have some options:

Check the user’s Profile page.
See whether he has made available some other form of contact information — a Web site URL, an e-mail address, or a blog. You can often find this info in a user’s short bio section.

Conduct a Web search.
Try searching for the user on your favorite search engine.

Tweet a polite question publicly to the user.
While the you-don’t-follow-me approach is a little obnoxious, most twitterers will make a reasonable effort to respond if you respect their time and make it clear why they should answer you. Send a message to
@username
expressing why you’re requesting their time and attention, and ask that they respond privately. Just try to differentiate between the ability to reach out to someone and the right to demand a response.

Direct-messaging shorthand

When you’re truly connected, you start to find going to the Direct Messages page every time you want to send someone a message a bit tedious. Thankfully, the folks at Twitter have come up with a shorthand. To send a DM without going to the Direct Messages page:

1. Click in the What Are You Doing? window.

2. Type
d
, followed by a space, and then the username of the person to whom you want to send a direct message.

3. Type a space after his username and then write a message.

The update should have this form: d dummies Hey, there!

4. Click Send button to send the DM.

We cover other shorthand tricks in Chapter 7.

One word of caution if you plan to send direct messages from a phone or by typing
d
and the username of the recipient: On a small keyboard, you can very easily make a typing error, such as misspelling the username, accidentally posting a letter other than d, pushing two d’s, or something else. Look twice before you send your message to make sure that it’s truly private and not a public tweet by accident, especially if it contains personal information that you don’t want the whole Internet to know (such as a phone number or address).

Should I @ or DM?

When you try to decide whether to respond to somebody on Twitter by using a public @reply or a private DM, you should consider the following criteria:

Questionable content:
If your mother, grandmother, boss, or kid were looking over your shoulder at what you just started typing, would they be in any way embarrassed or disapproving? If the answer is yes, perhaps a direct message is in order.

Volume:
If you’re a power user who posts to Twitter many times a day, every tweet goes into your followers’ streams and contributes to the noise. You should be sensitive to this fact. If you tweet often, give your followers a break and save those one- or two-word responses, such as
“@pistachio
LOL” or
“@dummies
How?” for a direct message.

Sensitive information:
If you’re supplying contact information, addresses, phone numbers, or other personal information that you don’t want just anyone on the Internet to have access to, it’s the right time for a direct message. Keep in mind that not everybody has the same standards regarding privacy and openness on the Web, so if you’re sharing any information pertaining to anybody else’s contact information or whereabouts, err on the side of caution and use a DM.

If you haven’t protected your tweets, remember that whatever you write is indexed for all time. So, think twice!

Encouraging More Followers

Twitter is a very receptive environment for forging connections with new friends and contacts, so amassing a list of followers is relatively simple. Typically, you gain followers in the natural course of using Twitter, but here are a few guidelines to follow:

Be real.
Being genuine goes a long way, and you’re likely to gain followers without even trying.

Be interesting.
You don’t have to fascinate with every tweet you type, but do try to tweet about things more relevant to the world at large than what you just ate for lunch or the heinous traffic on your morning commute. Talk about your interests, instead. Talk about what’s in the news. Or talk about what you think
should
be in the news.

Be involved.
The more “into” a topic you are, the more people will respond to your enthusiasm. Say that you’re really into classic cars — don’t talk just about your own fascination with them, but try to help other people on Twitter who might have questions on the subject. Get into heated conversations and debates, too. Without being too authoritative, position yourself as someone who has some valuable information on your chosen issue to see an increase in your number of followers.

Plenty of influential people use Twitter, from celebrities like Ashton Kutcher (
@aplusk
) and Britney Spears (
@britneyspears
) to politicians like Democratic Congresswoman Claire McCaskill (
@clairecmc
) and dozens more. Heck, now that Oprah Winfrey (
@Oprah
) tweets, it’s almost proof enough in and of itself just to mention her.

If you’re lucky enough that
@Oprah
posts a tweet with your
@username
in it — usually after you
@Oprah
her, and she notices and responds — you’re going to be barraged by new followers who’ve seen your username in connection with that famous person’s. But the most popular Twitter users have hundreds of thousands of followers and hundreds of people @replying to them, so don’t count on a response from a famous twitterer as a way to get your foot in the door when it comes to Twitter influence.

It’s also just rude to use someone like that. If you wouldn’t interrupt the person next to you in line at the store with your question, it’s probably not nice to interrupt someone with a lot of demands on their time with it. Conversation is two-way and most effective when it’s generous to the listener, not selfish for the speaker.

Some Twitter users try to lure followers by offering contests, giveaways, or other incentives to reach certain pseudo-milestones, such as number of tweets or number of followers. This approach is a little bit cheesy and can look like you’re desperate for new followers. In our opinion, you can have a better time on Twitter if you just allow your network to grow organically.

Regardless of how you get people to follow you, make sure to keep your Twitter interactions genuine. What you post on Twitter and contribute to the conversation, along with your ability to listen, determines your authority more than any follower count ever could.

We can’t stress the importance of listening enough. The more you listen and hear what people have to say, and then respond thoughtfully, the more you can find out about people and the more well-rounded your experience (and the experience of your followers) becomes. Listening is the golden ticket of Twitter — make sure to do it every day that you log in. And log in often.

Chapter 6

Who’s Using Twitter

In This Chapter

Meeting the regular folks who tweet

Seeing how companies reach out on Twitter

Keeping up with politicians who use Twitter

Tweeting with celebrities

Identifying syndicated and community-created Twitter accounts

Because Twitter is so easy to use, Twitter opens doors and grants you all kinds of accessibility to people you might never have had access to before. It’s become an effective tool for reaching out to people, companies, and even celebrities, both on- and offline.

Have you ever thought, “I wish I could talk to someone higher up the ladder and get a real solution to this problem!” or even “I’d love to be able to tell this person or that company what a good job they do, but I don’t have their contact info!”? Well, Twitter can help you bridge that gap.

You may be surprised to see which companies, people, and brands have jumped onto Twitter. In this chapter, we cover some of these well-known Twitter users. You can take a look through this chapter to see whether the person or company that you want to find is already here.

Tweeting with Regular People

After it gained a foothold among the digital-media enthusiasts at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in 2007, Twitter quickly became a playground for techies and geeks. But over time, people from all walks of life have discovered Twitter and embraced it. Twitter allows a user to communicate effectively with one person or many, and the benefits can work for anyone.

Twitter has become a quick and easy way to stay connected to family, friends, and coworkers. People at all levels of all sorts of business can use Twitter to easily interact with customers and potential clients and get real-time engagement and feedback.

You’ll probably want to use Twitter to talk to people whom you know in real life, such as your family and friends, as well as to meet some like-minded people. But you can also meet some very unconventional people on Twitter. Sometimes, the unconventional twitterers are the most interesting. On Twitter, you’ll encounter everyone from celebrities (see Figure 6-1) to local religious leaders and great-grandmothers who blog. You never know who you may find from day to day, which is part of Twitter’s charm.

Figure 6-1:
Martha Stewart has her own Twitter account.

But the biggest asset of Twitter is the sheer mass of everyday people who want to share their thoughts, spread the news, and network. You can probably discover at least one new thing from someone on Twitter every day that you log in.

Plus, as superficial as a stream of 140-character messages may seem, the Twitter community has evolved into a real way for real people to connect in the real world, too. You can easily set up meetings and events through Twitter on fairly short notice, so many twitterers find themselves turning their online connections into offline friendships and business relationships fairly often. Both introverted and extroverted people can really benefit from this environment.

So, what noncelebrity people can you find on Twitter? At first glance, you may think that everyone on Twitter is in the technology or marketing industries in some way. The core-base of twitterers who formed Twitter’s initial user group still tweet away, and they’re still some of the most prolific users. But you can also find thousands of people tweeting who are just like you, your mom, or your best friend from high school — in fact, your mom and your best friend from high school may already be on Twitter.

Just because a Twitter user isn’t one of the most prolific people on the service doesn’t mean that person isn’t worth your time. Some of the most interesting twitterers post less than others, waiting to add their two cents until they think they have something worth saying. Keep an eye out for those people and follow them as they become visible to you — you sure can get more value out of following them than following someone who posts 20 times a day about their dog.

Regardless of whom you know on Twitter, you may want to set a few boundaries. Twitter works on the Internet, after all, and even though the Twitter community has tended to be a trustworthy one, it’s growing rather fast now. Also remember that Google indexes your tweets, so the whole Internet can see what you say. Exercise caution! Don’t blurt out sensitive information — say, your home address or phone number — in public tweets. Save those for e-mail or direct messages.

Building Company Relationships with Twitter

Many companies have found value in Twitter as a way to build awareness of their brand name, strengthen relationships with customers, provide better and more immediate customer service, and boost sales. Companies’ presences on Twitter range from individual Twitter accounts belonging to CEOs and employees, to corporate accounts for the brand run by teams of marketing or PR representatives.

Here are some of the most famous examples of companies that have gotten some positive buzz for their presence on Twitter:

Zappos.com:
This online retailer was founded in the dot-com boom and is based in Las Vegas. It has fully integrated Twitter into its corporate structure. Not only does the company monitor and use Twitter for customer service and feedback, but CEO Tony Hsieh encourages Zappos.com employees to participate on Twitter to keep the world posted on what’s going on in the company. (He even has an account for his cat, El Gato, who is
@el_gato
.)

Of nearly 1600 Zappos.com employees, more than 400 are on Twitter, (
http://twitter.zappos.com/employees
) actively tweeting to one another, about their own lives and work, and, in the process, Zappos.com. Hsieh himself often responds to Twitter users if they tweet him about a problem or specific need. Hsieh and the rest of Zappos.com make sure that they’re engaged with their customer base, both current and potential. Their dedicated microsite
http://Twitter.Zappos.com
features Twitter searches for every brand they sell, collected tweets about Zappos, and an amalgamation of every employee’s tweets and profiles.

Comcast:
After serious issues with negative connotations to their brand name, this cable company took Twitter by surprise (although they had been actively listening to Twitter for two months when they did) and established the Comcast Cares account (
@comcastcares
), run by Frank Eliason, the company’s director of “digital care.” Frank now has a team of employees on Twitter who handle customer service, helping as many as they can and backed up by the ability to escalate problems directly into Comcast’s executive customer service department. How this will scale remains to be seen, but Frank’s team is extremely dedicated and inspiring and has attracted substantial press coverage and goodwill toward the company.

Dell:
This computer manufacturer has also had some branding issues. At one point, customers filled a popular anti-Dell Web site with negative feedback and derogatory remarks. The company countered with a strong social media program that now includes real people behind active Twitter accounts, such as
@RichardAtDell
, offering customer service support and Twitter-only discount deals (DellOutlet) that led to over a million in sales. Dell, which also maintains a Twitter-focused microsite at
www.dell.com/twitter
, is engaging with customers in several innovative ways thanks to Twitter’s ability to enable real-time interactions and on-the-ball responses.

In fact, companies in all kinds of industries are using Twitter effectively. Here is just a tiny sampling of some companies that do business related to food, drink, and nightlife:

The Roxy Theater (
http://twitter.com/theroxy
)

21st Amendment (
http://twitter.com/21stamendment
)

Flying Dog Ales (
http://twitter.com/flyingdog
)

Elanas Pantry (
http://twitter.com/elanaspantry
)

Pangaea Organica (
http://twitter.com/pangaeaorganica
)

Templeton Rye (
http://twitter.com/templetonrye
)

These retailers tweet:

Seventh Generation (
http://twitter.com/seventhgen
)

GiftGirl (
http://www.twitter.com/giftgirl
)

Comcast (
http://twitter.com/comcastcares
)

Network Solutions (
http://twitter.com/netsolcares
)

Baby Fish Mouth (
http://twitter.com/bfmwear
)

Second Life (
http://twitter.com/secondlife
)

These publishing companies have Twitter accounts up and running:

Grand Central Publishing (
http://twitter.com/grandcentralpub
)

Little, Brown and Company (
http://twitter.com/littlebrown
)

MEP Publishers (
http://twitter.com/meppublishers
)

Septagon Studios (
http://twitter.com/septagonstudios
)

Yale Press (
http://twitter.com/yalepress
)

If you’re looking for travel info, check out these Twitter accounts:

Booking Buddy (
http://twitter.com/bookingbuddy
)

Global Base Camps (
http://twitter.com/globalbasecamps
)

HotelChatter (
http://twitter.com/hotelchatter
)

Seat Guru (
http://twitter.com/seatguru
)

Smarter Travel (
http://twitter.com/smartertravel
)

Travel Rants (
http://twitter.com/travelrants
)

For a sampling of resorts and hotels on Twitter, check out the following:

Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe (
http://twitter.com/skiheavenly
)

Luxor Hotel and Casino (
http://twitter.com/luxorlv
)

Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino (
http://twitter.com/robert_hoffmann
)

MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (
http://twitter.com/mgmgrand
)

Treasure Island Hotel and Casino (
http://twitter.com/vegasdv
)

If you want some resources on financial matters, business, and budgeting, have a look at these accounts:

Capgemini (
http://twitter.com/capgemini
)

H&R Block (
http://twitter.com/HRBlock
)

Lenderflex (
http://twitter.com/lenderflex
)

LenderflexCares (
http://twitter.com/lenderflexcares
)

QuickBooks (
http://twitter.com/quickbooks
)

QuickenLoans (
http://twitter.com/quickenloans
)

Thousands and thousands of businesses large and small are using Twitter. For more information, you can read Pistachio Consulting’s TouchBase blog (
www.touchbaseblog.com
) or browse the extensive Twitter for Business bookmarks that Pistachio maintains on the TouchBase link blog (
http://delicious.com/touchbaseblog
). Easiest way to keep up with both? Twitter, of course. Follow
@touchbase
to receive a tweet when either of these resources is updated.

Talking Politics with Actual Politicians

Politicians have been taking to Twitter as a means to connect with their constituents and their fellow politicians — as well as to give a more intimate look into their lives at a time when
transparency
is one of the most positive buzzwords around. The Democratic Party was the first to jump on the bandwagon, and many users started exploring Twitter in the midst of Barack Obama’s tech-savvy and successful presidential campaign. But many prominent Republicans are now onboard as well, as evidenced by the hashtag
#tcot
, which stands for Top Conservatives on Twitter.