I tweet. A lot. I get value from Twitter and I’d like to think that I contribute in some way to others getting value from it as well. My friend Josh recently posted about how he uses Twitter and I thought it might be useful to offer my own take on Twitter usage.
Listening and Posting (text)
While at my computer I use TweetDeck to monitor Twitter and post my updates. It runs continuously in the background but I don’t try to read everything that comes along my stream. I use a Twitter list of what I deem to be highest-value individuals and I’ll try to read everything from that list. I monitor and read all of my @mentions, and I use saved Twitter searches to monitor topics of interest at any given time.
When mobile, I use Twitteriffic on my iPad and Seesmic on my Android phone. Both offer the ability to view my saved searches as well as monitor my mentions and timeline.
Posting Photos
I post photos while on the go using Twitpic (here’s my Twitpic stream). I use the integrated Twitter posting functionalities from photo hosts such as Flickr and SmugMug to post material from those sites to Twitter as well.
Reporting and Analytics
I don’t obsess over Twitter stats. I use a personal url shortener that provides me with click statistics on links that I post. I don’t pay attention to my follower/following numbers… I follow based on whether someone provides value, and I follow back for that same reason.
Hashtags
I use hashtags in a couple different ways: either to add an event hashtag to a tweet about that event (a fairly common use), or to offer my own little editorial take on things. If you know me face to face (or have followed me online for very long), you’ll know that I tend to say what I think and have a bit of a sarcastic bent at times. That bent often shows in a hashtag.
Measuring Influence and Reach
Josh said it so well that I’m going to just quote him:
I’ve found these types of tools fun to play with, but ultimately useless. They don’t really provide any significant meaning on the stuff I care about on Twitter, which is the relationships and humans I’m connecting with. Every score-based tool on Twitter does nothing but assign an arbitrary and meaningless number to you. Fun to compare with your friends, but ultimately of not much significance.
I realize that marketers and others will use tools to evaluate folks but it’s not something which gets much of my attention. That said, if you want to send me cameras because some tool said I’m influential, I’m okay with that.
Searching
As mentioned above, I save Twitter searches for topics of interest. It’s beneficial to spend some time learning the advanced search operators for Twitter search. In addition to inclusion and exclusion of search terms, some of the other advanced search features (such as finding tweets near a certain location) can be quite useful for a photographer who wants to stay in tune with events via Twitter.
Managing Followers
Every 4-8 days I’ll log onto Twitter.com and review my most recent followers. I’ll follow back folks that I know and check out those that are new to me… I generally don’t follow back very many people unless I’ve had some sort of interaction either online or in “real life.” I don’t worry about spammers that follow me… they do me no harm.
Summary
That’s how I use Twitter. I don’t claim it’s the “right” way but it seems to work well for me. Tell me about how you use Twitter – is your process similar to mine? Do you use it in a totally different way? Let’s share and learn from each other.
