Twitter: My Personal Approach
Near as I can tell I first signed up with Twitter in 2007, but I did not begin to actively and consistently use this service until January 2009. There must be something about the month of January that makes me want to begin using a particular social media/networking service, because in January 2007 I began to use StumbleUpon.
Perhaps some sort of secret new year’s resolution pushes me forward.
Anyway, Twitter is by far and away where I connect with people online followed by StumbleUpon a distant second. Much further back is Facebook which, although a very good tool, is a bit too chummy for my tastes. At the moment, I would probably move LinkedIn up to third place ahead of Facebook with Mixx, Digg, and a few other sites meriting the occasional visit.
But back to Twitter. I now maintain three accounts through Twitter, each one serving a different purpose. @mattkeegan is my oldest account, while @theautowriter is my most active. I also manage @wordjourney which is my most intimate. All three serve their own purposes, with some overlap—after all, it is me doing the tweeting, retweeting, and connecting.
I know some people think multiple Twitter accounts is a waste of time or simply not beneficial, but I am not here to argue that point. Everyone approaches social media/networking in their own way, sometimes reflecting the way that they interact with people face to face. I found an approach that works for me.
I am not advocating multiple accounts either. They are a lot of work, easy to neglect, and open to spamming. But, hey, we are talking about Twitter where people still tell you what they ate for lunch, how they survived life in a crowded airport terminal, and lots of other mundane details.
Here is how I approach Twitter:
@mattkeegan – If you are a writer, you probably found me here. After all, when you find my Twitter connection on the sidebar of this blog (which has mysteriously disappeared…I shall investigate) that link takes you to my oldest account. Lots of writers, bloggers, journalists, and other media folks connect with me here, but I am not all that restrictive when it comes to connections.
@theautowriter – My automotive presence online is huge, thanks to my The Auto Writer and Auto Trends news and information blogs. I have one account for these two sites (@autotrends is taken by someone else, but not used) where I tweet up tons of industry news. I am most active through this account when a major auto show is held, tweeting while press conferences are being held. Has this helped me? Oh, yeah! I am connected with all of the major media people working with the car manufacturers—something I need when writing a story for my magazine gigs.
@wordjourney – I express my faith through this site, though not exclusively. Word Journey is my Christian blog, a place of encouragement and a way for me to emphasize God’s love. Unlike my other two accounts, I am very choosy about my connections because I want my Twitter stream to contain relevant tweets. I use this account to pass along prayer requests, information about the persecuted church, and have been very active of late sharing news about Haiti.
I like to use several tools to enhance my Twitter experience including TweetDeck which crunches URLs via Bit.ly and allows users to connect to Facebook as well, FriendorFollow to purge inactive users, and I am experimenting with SU.PR and TR.IM, a pair of URL shorteners. I tried scheduling tweets, but that wasn’t for me. I am experimenting with paid tweets, but I have yet to make my first million. When that happens I will let you know!
How about you? Are you active with Twitter and, if so, how can you be found?
Tags: SEO, social networking, The Auto Writer, tweets, Twitter, Word Journey
SEO, Social Media | Matthew C. Keegan, 16 Jan 10
By LD Jackson, January 16, 2010 @ 11:09 am
I have tried using TweetDeck, but it doesn’t seem to want to run correctly on Linux or in the Opera Browser. I have had better luck with SU.PR, which I found through one of your earlier articles. Since it coordinates with StumbleUpon, that comes in handy.
I find myself using Twitter a bit more than I used to, although it’s not for telling my followers what I am about to do or what I am having for supper. I use it to share websites I find useful or interesting, as well as tweeting my blog articles.
The one thing I have trouble with is finding the right people to follow. It seems that a lot of them are always tweeting spam articles, which I despise with a passion. One of them is even asking for money on his website and through his tweets because he was wanting to go to a certain conservative convention. I am still trying to figure out how to find the right people.
One more thing, Matt. How do you keep up with the tweets that come in on your Twitter home page? Do you keep the webpage open or some other method?
.-= LD Jackson´s last blog ..New Hampshire and the Second Amendment =-.
By Matthew C. Keegan, January 16, 2010 @ 2:34 pm
Larry, I use Firefox so I cannot say why TweetDeck is not working for you. It may have something to do with your browser, your computer settings, or some other factor.
I do not keep Twitter open all of the time, nor do I feel compelled to tweet everything up or read every single tweet. Through lists, searching for words, or by happenstance I follow what is going on there. When I tire of it, I move on, coming back here and there.
Twitter is perfect for Attention Deficit Disorder. If you don’t have ADD now, you soon will when using Twitter!
By Lillie Ammann, January 17, 2010 @ 12:33 am
Matt,
I’m afraid I’m pretty much a social media dunce. Several times, I have decided to give Twitter a try, and every time I back out. Not sure why, but it just doesn’t hold any appeal for me. I’ve signed up for a bunch of sites but don’t do much with any of them.
.-= Lillie Ammann´s last blog ..Religious Freedom Day 2010 =-.
By Matthew C. Keegan, January 17, 2010 @ 7:56 pm
I appreciate your candidness, Lillie.
Contrary to the thinking of some, social networking is not for everyone. It take a lot of time as well as sifting through tons of spam to find the gems. Still, they are there if you have the patience to mine them.
By Stanley Goodspeed, January 18, 2010 @ 11:51 am
I’ve not yet yielded to Twitter’s allure, other than to stalk 4 or 5 celebrities for which I didn’t need to be signed in. Maybe I’ll join for a week and see what happens.
.-= Stanley Goodspeed´s last blog ..Barometers? =-.
By Matthew C. Keegan, January 18, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
Stanley, you are familiar with how to follow people without signing up, which is a good thing. There is a lot of spam on Twitter and many users are not worth following. Regularly I purge inactive or unrelated people, something that takes my time.
By Dominique, January 23, 2010 @ 1:16 pm
Okay…I admit it. I’m a Twitter addict~! It is amazing how much information you can come across in minutes! Love that.
In addition, I’ve met a lot of really nice people from a wide and diverse background. That’s cool too.
I think my most favorite thing on Twitter, though, is when something really big is happening like the people were taking back the people’s seat in Mass. That was so much fun!
Anyway, I would like to find a way to keep up with my RT tweets in a more timely fashion but that will have to be a project for another day!
BTW, I have not been remiss in reading your blog. It just disappeared on me after that stuff happened. I actually didn’t realize till it dawned on me I hadn’t “heard” from you in a while. I re-subscribed today so I should be good now.
.-= Dominique´s last blog ..Lessons learned =-.
By Matthew C. Keegan, January 23, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
Twitter is waaaaay cool, Dominique. I can imagine that as you were following Scott Brown’s win in the making that it was fun. I like using Twitter for similar fun stuff.