Following one of my tweets this morning asking if anyone was interested in “how i use Twitter” i got an immediate response of YES from a number of people, so here we are!
I must stress that this is a blog post on How I use Twitter, not How You should use Twitter. Why do i say this? Well, we are all different and what may work for me may not necessarily work for you.
That’s why on my Kickstart programme with clients, everyone is different depending on the organisation, staff, products etc etc.
My Twitter Accounts
Yes, i have more than one account!
@BostinBloke – My personal account
@BostinT – Bostin tee shirts tweets
@iBostin – Mainly notifications of blog posts from www.iBostin.com
@Twitprentice – Live tweeting during BBC TV program, The Apprentice
Why so many accounts?
These accounts and more, have evolved over time as more people are looking for more niche information, for example, a number of my followers are not interested in The Apprentice and may not appreciate a few hundred tweets in the hour and a half of TV coverage every Wednesday night.
Also, many people who are not interested in my personal tweets, but are keen Apprentice fans and want to hear my Apprentice views.
Which Apps/Programs do you use?
I mainly use Twitter.com on my laptop and Echofon on my iPhone.
Echofon is great on my iPhone as it allows me to track whole conversations, so if someone replies to one of my Tweets 12 hours after i posted it, i can see what the reply was about.
Do you have a Social Media and/or Twitter Policy?
For me personally, i try to treat my online presence as i am in real life.
Twitter and all Social Media is a reflection of real life, so why treat it any different? There are good people, companies, charities, cliques, clubs and more.
These are my online philosophies;
1. All people are good people, but some choose to be bad.
2. If i ask for feedback, i reply to all respondents directly either as a public tweet to them or a DM
3. I engage with everyone. If someone i have never met tweets me, i will always endeavour to reply back to them. Unless they are abusive or spamming me a link as their first tweet to me.
4. I do not send auto tweets based on what someone may say
5. I do not auto DM when people follow me
6. Twitter is a real-time chat room
Some observations
Having been actively using Twitter for many years, there have been a number of observation which you may find interesting.
1. Some people do not reply to your tweets or engage when you give them feedback
2. One Social Media leading light in US with over 1,000,000 followers had only 8 views on their YouTube channel
3. Some people with Digital Engagement job title, or “join the conversation” in their profile, do not engage with the general public
Summary
I eat, sleep and drink consulting, t-shirts, comics and socialising and keep and open mind to meeting new people. The beauty of Twitter and other Social Media platforms is that it accelerates connections.
In the past 18 months alone from directly using Twitter, i have made new friends, gained many new customers for t-shirts including Beverley Knight (couldn’t resist the name drop!), won two media awards, requests for public speaking engagements, worked on Social Media strategies, been to No 10 Downing Street (yes i know, another name drop!), have raised the profile of Bostin Heroes and more!
As you may of guessed, i love this stuff, which maybe why one feedback from yesterdays Kickstart was “Highly stimulating and inspiring”
Hopefully, this has given enough of an insight of how i use Twitter and may help you in some way gain a more better experience while you use Twitter.
Happy Tweeting!
Great blog Donato – thanks for sharing how you use Twitter!
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