I love Twitter, and I’m a proud and devoted user since March 2009.   The 140-character or less micro-blogging service is an important aspect of my online personal branding or online personal reinvention strategy.  I utilize Twitter like it’s a blog and link my tweets to news content relevant to M&A activity in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, new trends in social media / digital marketing, and important developments in technology.

Looking back, if I only knew then what I know now, here are three pieces of advice I wish I someone would have shared with me before using Twitter for the first time.  These three learnings focus on:

·     Selecting What to Tweet

·     Understanding Twitter Etiquette and Writing a Compelling Twitter Headline

·     Simplifying Tweeting

Lesson 1: “What Are You Doing” Really Isn’t the Question You Should Be Answering
People ask me why don’t I consider Twitter a tremendous waste of time.  After all, who really cares about random strangers sharing what flavor of cream cheese they put on their bagel for breakfast.  I agree that tweets of this sort hold zero interest for me.  To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with using Twitter as a real-time Facebook status update.  This June 2009 USA Today article titled, There's an Art to Writing on Facebook or Twitter – Really, is an excellent example of this phenomenon.

However, if you desire to thoughtfully and consistently demonstrate your knowledge or opinion of a specific industry, industry event, or other business-related content, “what are you doing” is not the question you should be answering.  David Meerman Scott addresses this very topic in his blog post titled: Hey Twitter: What are you doing? Wrong question!  The comments generated on David’s post provide very diverse opinions on this subject (including my own comment) and provide a representative glimpse of how people utilize Twitter.

Therefore, the litmus test question I ask before publishing a tweet is: “Will this information personally or professionally benefit another person today?”

This is why I consistently link my tweets with news or online content.  I invest significant time researching and selecting what type of industry or business content I share with my Twitter Followers.  My motivation is to deliver content that mutually benefits a fellow follower.  Marc Meyer’s blog article, Do Twitter Users Have an Obligation to Provide Value, is a great example of this personal motivation.  My comment and Marc’s kind reply are included in his article.  One of the best articles I've read about what makes a Tweet valuable comes from this recent Mashable article titled: Twitter Talkback: What Makes a Quality Tweet.  The author, Soren Gordhamer, provides his analysis of four (4) categories of Tweets.  The examples I provide in this post focus on Mr. Gordhamer's Category #1 called Informative: Help Us Learn … 

The trusted folks I follow on Twitter are often a better source of professional content or personal learning than my own Google Search.  I’ve carefully selected the individuals and organizations I follow on Twitter and 90% of them graciously follow me back.  It’s my hope that they’ve stuck with me for the past 4 months because I’m “giving something valuable back.”    

Okay, time to put my money where my mouth is.  Here are four personal examples of tweets I composed, and I know a trusted follower found useful.  How can I validate or quantify that statement?  The ultimate Twitter Compliment or “Shout Out” — A follower retweeted / RT’d the example tweet (e.g., she/he forwarded the tweet to their Twitter following).    

·     STILL THINK TWITTER'S A FAD-THINK AGAIN; Dell Generates $3M in new revenues via Twitter|Bloomberg http://bit.ly/Po3VE

·     NPR'S 3-PRONGED STRATEGY: Local-Social Media-Ubiquitous Access; Why NPR is Future of Mainstream Media http://bit.ly/13ejaL

·     For Sales Growth, C-Suite Worries Most About Opt Mktg Mix ; C-Level Execs on Mktg Success | eMarketer http://bit.ly/3Hv0a

·     Celebrity Patient's Backing Turns Sour for Drug Company | WSJ http://bit.ly/12xHAL

Lesson 2: Review Trusted Resources on Twitter Etiquette and Writing a Compelling Tweet
There are multitudes of “how-to” blog posts and articles about effectively writing a tweet or Twitter Headline.  Here are two trusted, online resources I still refer to when I need to get back to Twitter basics:

·     The Twitter Book Sneak Preview eBook by Tim O’Reilly and Susan Milstein: My favorite resource in Twitter Etiquette particularly in how to build a loyal and relevant following through the use of the retweet / RT.  Heard about positively influencing co-workers’ egos with the power of the e-mail cc: or forward?  The Twitter RT is Web 2.0’s powerful equivalent of the email cc: or forward, and O’Reilly and Milstein share their advice in an enjoyable and easy-to-understand format.

·     Everything I Need to Know About Twitter I Learned in J School by Ann Handley:  Want to learn how to write compelling Twitter headlines and content – read this article now.  Ann is a journalist, author of the Annarchy blog, and the Editor-in-Chief of MarketingProfs.com.  When it comes to great writing and compelling tweets, Ann knows what she’s talking about.

Lesson 3: Download and Learn How To Use TweetDeck
TweetDeck makes using Twitter so much easier. You can download TweetDeck and it’s a free application.  It’s very intuitive and highly user-friendly.  Key features that make "tweeting" simpler include:

·     One-click “retweeting or RT’ing” that automates forwarding another person’s tweet

·     One-click URL shortening so you can link your tweet to useful online content (i.e., a news article or blog post)

·     Multiple column viewing or an executive dashboard view that allows you to categorize the tweeters you follow (i.e., industry, discussion group, news)

For iPhone users, the TweetDeck app is fantastic.  If you haven’t already downloaded it, go to the App Store today.  I’ve been using this app since its release and highly recommend it.

TweetDeck is just one example of a Twitter application that simplifies tweeting.  For a general overview of helpful Twitter Tools and apps, I also recommend these two articles:

·     Software That Makes Twitter So Much Tweeter by Katherine Boehret of The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital

·     Top 5 Twitter Applications by David Meerman Scott of WebInkNow.com