How To Be Productive Using Twitter in 2009

Following on from my Top 10 Twitter Backgrounds last week, welcome to our next instalment. After spending something like a month in Twitterville, I am beginning to get a sense of what works, what doesn’t and what is just a complete waste of time. So here is my ‘how to be productive on Twitter’, or maybe a more apt ‘how to make sure you’re not unproductive on Twitter’.

• Decide if you have a primary use for Twitter. Are you planning to update your mum when you are eating lunch, or are you more interested in promoting interesting articles and best practices in your chosen field? I am not saying colleagues can not be friends, but they may not want to see your @ replies about your washing
• Currently using twitter.com? Try using a third-party application like Tweetdeck. It will help you to control updates, direct messages and @ replies. The latest version is even compatible with Facebook, meaning you can keep up to date with everyone!
• Once you have chosen your application (trust me on the Tweetdeck thing), try setting up groups to define certain criteria, separate friends from work, resources from inspiration, information from news, or even countries in which people are based. This will help you look at the information you deem relevant to you at any given specific time
• Don’t be afraid to close Twitter and log off when you need to do work not involving networking. It can be very hard to concentrate on a project with updates flashing in. It is better to time-box your work and have a break, say every hour for five minutes, to scan your Twitter for interesting stories and information, etc.
• Depending on what you may be tweeting, or your target audience, do some research and work out the best times to be ‘online’. If you have US-based customers but are based in the UK, try working hard during the morning and start tweeting after lunch when our stateside friends wake up
• Don’t lose yourself in Twitter, it is not the only networking site out there. If you’re promoting something, try and align your posts. Don’t forget other important sites such as Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, various blogs, as well as your newfound friend, Twitter
• Searching? Try Twitter. Twitter can actually be a great search tool, especially as it updates in real time and posts are by real people. Next time you’re hunting for something, forget Google and give Twitter a twirl. I like using it, especially for local information and the reviews of the latest stuff
• Don’t get obsessed with spending all your time trying to gain as many followers as possible. If you don’t tweet, then you are not making the most of Twitter, for whatever reason you may be using it. You have to give something back to get the most out of Twitter, just as with everything in life

Well, those are the main tips I have picked up over the past months if you are going to make the most of Twitter.

Rightly or wrongly, I do believe that users ‘trust’ people based on their followers and may be more likely to give you links or retweets based on this, but please remember it is not a competition on the number of followers. Above all, go have fun and tweet me good stuff.