Twitter is a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices (also compared to Micro-blogging).
Twitter enables users to keep in touch and share information with each other in real using up to a maximum of 140 characters per message (or “tweet” as they are called). There are no restrictions to how often you tweet it can be hardly at all or as frequent as you like, you just have to remember that each individual tweet you make can not exceed 140 characters in length, this is not words but actual characters.
Your tweets will then be displayed on your profile page and delivered to any other twitters that have made the decision to follow you and your tweets (known as “followers”). There is no charge for them to be able to do this and it is just like they have subscribed to your posted messages.
There Are Many Different Opinions About Etiquette…
As with anything in life many people also have differing thoughts on how to deal with these followers, even those considered to be “experts” in social networking.
Some individuals believe that if someone follows you, it’s rude to not to follow them back however if you look at profiles such as CNN then you will see that they have thousands or followers but follow very few people.
Something that is standard in the Twitter’s default settings, is that you will be notified by e-mail when someone chooses to follow you, which will have a message and a link to that person’s Twitter profile, where you can choose to follow the person back and receive their tweets.
You Don’t Need To Follow Everyone…
However, if you’re just starting off on Twitter, one shouldn’t feel obligated to follow everybody. Instead, you should only follow those people who share common interests or whose tweets you find interesting enough to check put or are simply informative to you.
While some people MAY be offended, it’ will still be easier to maximize Twitter’s value (especially early on when just starting out) if your Twitter homepage isn’t flooded with tweets unrelated to your field or area(s) of interest or that just don’t make any sense.
Don’t Take Un-Followers Personally…
At the same time, don’t be offended if someone either un-follows you or chooses not to follow you back. Some tweeters will stop following someone if they keep tweeting things for a few days (such as from a conference or special event of some sort) that don’t capture their interest, then resume following that person again after that event is over.
Others will un-follow people who tweet constantly about subjects that they find lacking originality, or conversely, who rarely tweet at all.
What Would You Compare This Micro Site To…
If you were to compare twitter you would have to say that it’s a virtual sidewalk cafe and “listening” (or in this case actually reading) random pieces of typed conversation much the same as one would in that sort of environment. Others have compared it to wandering around a cocktail party.
However, it’s important to remember that Twitter is a publishing medium (web platform) and once your message is live, it is there for all to see and read and if you are an affiliate or online marketer the goal is to have you link clicked and followed to a sales page.
Never think that only only your immediate followers will view your online tweets, as a tweet can be picked up publicly by Google or Twitter’s search tool.
And, because a tweet has to be no more than 140 characters or less in length, the content of you tweets can easily misunderstood. Much like previous incidents involving embarrassing pictures, information etc., being posted on MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites, there are now similar stories involving tweets that led to trouble for the actual tweeters.
Affiliate And Online Marketers Can Go Over The Top With Tweets…
Another common problem and again this has been related to affiliates and online marketers is that they tweet too frequently and end up dominating users homepages with their messages. This can be avoided by first examining a person’s profile page before signing up to follow them.
If you are intending to use Twitter for very specific types of social networking it’s probably not a good idea to sign up to follow people who either tweet a lot (about stuff that is of no interest to you) or celebrity Twitter accounts because they will end up dominating your stream making separating the wheat from chaff that much more difficult.
A great service you can use right now is JustRetweet not only can you add your tweets but you will be able to connect with some very influential bloggers that are already using this service.
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