Twitter is becoming a must-have blogging accessory. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, think of it as instant global SMS. It’s both a social networking tool and a mini-blogging application.
My first impression of Twitter was “it’s stupid”. What could you say that’s worth saying in just 140 characters?
However, I’ve changed my mind. I’ve been using Twitter for several months now and enjoy using it and being part of the Twitter community.
Three ways I’ve found Twitter useful:
1. Tweeting about your blog posts increases your traffic
Yes, “tweeting” (posting on Twitter) about your latest blog post will get you more traffic. However the amount of traffic is based on how many followers (friends) you have.
You’ll get more followers if you tweet about a variety of topics, so spend a little time building up your Twitter profile. You will start attracting followers quite naturally.
Tip: if you want followers, follow others. Many of the people you follow will start to follow you, and their followers will follow you, and so on.
2. Twitter helps you to build a community around your blog
Twitter lets you “blog” wherever you happen to be. You can take Twitter with you and can tweet on your mobile phone. This is handy if you have a great idea you’d like to blog about and are away from your computer. Just tweet your idea to save it.
Many of your followers will tweet you when you post, and lively discussions can spring up around a topic on your blog, with almost-instantaneous reactions as people respond to each other’s tweets.
You can also use Twitter as an IM service, by tweeting your friends with the “@” symbol in front of their Twitter name.
3. Twitter helps you to network with other bloggers
Once you know someone’s name on Twitter, you can follow them to see what their interests are, and you can send them a message too. This makes it very easy to network with other bloggers.
Approaching someone to network with them via Twitter is relaxed and informal, and you’re more likely to get someone’s attention if you tweet them than if you send them an email message.
I, too, have recently stopped saying Twitter is stupid.
Twitter.com/redwall_hp
I’m starting to get into the twitter thing, but I’m still trying to find my “tweet” voice. I don’t want to just promote my blog using Twitter, so I try to keep things interesting with other “tweets”. Sometimes it’s related to my blog, but I haven’t found what makes people want to follow you. What has worked for everyone else?
twitter.com/deege
A Cool article Angela. I have signed up for twitter, and my first thoughts are also, “whats the point”, its not very clear how is best to use it, so your article will certainly help in giving me some good ideas. Thanks
My blog Webmaster-Source.com has a post where I tried to explain my take on Twitter. In the end I concluded that Twitter is “IM 2.0.” Think that way, and you’re all set.
Twitter = IM Messages + Messages to Everyone + Post Promotion.
Okay, okay… I’ll finally check out Twitter. I’ve resisted all this time, but you’ve just sold me to at least consider it.
Thanks and happy V-Day!
Viqi
http://fiercelystrategic.blogspot.com
I also. now in my opinion is twitter very interesting and good. This is a very intersting comment. Thanks for your help
Twitter profiles are also crawled by search engines and, as a result, can help with your page rank. I wrote a post recently about how news organizations can use twitter (including the page rank issue) and some of those ideas might work in general as well.
I'm still finding it difficult to really get into Twitter. I started following a few people but found there was quite a lot of noise. I read about someone using Twitter as a way to create microfiction/flash fiction and thought that was quite a good idea. Might be worth another go I suppose
Yeah, thanks for the Twitter article. I've been reading a lot about the benefits of Twitter and promoting one's blog. And I share the sentiment of some of the previous posts; I'm kinda struggling to get into it. But I'm doing it just the same. I'm thinking like other social media platforms that were new to me, it's just awkward in the beginning. And then something happens and presto! It becomes my biggest addiction. I hated Facebook at first. Now can't live without it.
Derrick
Thanks for your help
This is a very beautiful site.
Thanks and happy V-Day!
I use twitter too, and it is also good for the blog ranking.
I use it only for better ranking – and it helps a lot. More visits and more Adsense
Twitter is good for promotion, that´s right. But I don´t like Adsens.