My 1st Month on Twitter - What I've Learned

Now it's been a month since I signed up for Twitter, and I must say, it has taken me by surprise. I set up Twitteriffic so I have a small window on my desktop which updates automatically and makes it very easy for me to follow all the conversations.

I have been quite active, picking up new people to follow using Shel Israel's guidelines on who to follow (only those who display a name, a website and a picture) and have a reasonable following/followers ratio. That way, I have managed to stay free of spammers. So after my 1st month I'm following 191 person and am being followed by 166. Most of those I follow are internet marketers or travel bloggers (and some are both). I have written 438 twits in this month which may sound a lot, but I'm being told is just below average which is 15 a day (of those who are really active).

So if you're new to Twitter but want to be a part of the action, I recommend that you give yourself 2 minutes to fill out your profile with a name, website and a picture and a couple of words in your bio. When you start following, don't start following all at once. Build up your connections gradually so that you get followers back. If you are following over a thousand people but only 12 are following back, you will be considered a spammer and no one will follow back. If I'm to recommend a few to start with, those are the ones that come to mind now (in random order):

Who to follow on Twitter:

Guy Kawasaki - @guykawasaki
Seth Godin - @SethGodin
Robert Scoble - @Scobleizer
Shel Israel - @shelisrael
Dan Sullivan - @dannysullivan
Michael Arrington - @TechChrunch
Jesse Stay - @JesseStay
Jason Alba - @jasonalba
Jason Calacanis - @JasonCalacanis
Rand Fishkin - @randfish
Dewald Pretorius - @dewaldp
Andy Beal - @andybeal
Jeremiah Owyang - @jowyang
Tamar Weinberg - @tamar
Connie Reece - @conniereece
Michael Gray - @graywolf
Rohit Bhargava - @rohitbhargava
Saul Colt - @saulcolt
David Armano - @Armano
Maki - @doshdosh
Barry Schwartz - @rustybrick
Ann Smarty - @seosmarty
Rishil - @rishil
Brent D. Payne - @BrentDPayne
Will Chritchlow - @willchritchlow
Hamlet Batista - @hamletbatista
ShoeMoney - @shoemoney
JohnChowDotCom - @johnchowdotcom
Aaron Brazell - @technosailor
Ike Pigott - @ikepigott
Lee Odden - @leeodden
Laura Fitton - @Pistachio
Warren Whitlock - @WarrenWhitlock
Lars Hilse - @lars_hilse
Jacob Morgan - @jacobm
Graham Jones - @grahamjones
Gregg Scott - @greggscott
Dan Zarrella - @danzarrella
Wayne Sutton - @waynesutton
Anna Farmery - @EngagingBrand
Darren Rowse - @problogger
Leo Laporte - @leolaporte
Adam Morris - @brainysmurf
Rae Hoffman - @sugarrae
Steven Lubetkin - @podcaststeve
Julio Fernandez - @OracleJulio

And travel bloggers:
T-list - @tlist
Guido - @happyhotelier
Elliott Ng - @elliottng
Sam Daams - @samiwasnt
Chris Clarke - @Chrispitality
Gary Arndt - @EveryWhereTrip
And check out this list of travel twitters for more

And a few more:
Katja Presnal from Skimbaco - @skimbaco
Christine Lu, China Business Network - @christinelu
Tan Siok Siok, Singapore filmmaker - @sioksiok
Jim Long, camera man - @newmediajim

I'm leaving out a bunch of great people. Sorry about that folks, if you're a great twitter to follow, feel free to add yourself in the comments below. You can find more great Twitters on Alltop and of course, if you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm @hjortur

What I've Learned
I have learned tremendously much in this month about social media, SEO and the industry. I've got tips about so many great articles that my Firefox browser keeps filling up with tabs with unread blog articles that look very promising and are waiting the time to be read, and my RSS reader keeps getting more adds. I will list here some of the best articles I recall from this month:

4 Pillars of Trust in Social Media by Jeff Quipp
Want That Post To Go Popular? - When to Post by Marshall Kirkpatrick
Social technology marketers bullish in face of recession by Josh Bernoff
The Web Developers SEO Cheat Sheet by Danny Dover
Let's Skip the Meeting by Seth Godin
Social Media Marketing Beginner's Guide by Jon Rognerud

So I guess I can really recommend Twitter. Another thing that Twitter does is updating my status on my blog (look left) and on Facebook. I really like to be able to use Twitter on Facebook, because I don't really like Facebook that much. But Twitter keeps my name popping up with updated status all day long as if I was active there and keeps my name (personal brand) fresh with my Facebook friends.

See you on Twitter
Hjörtur

Comments

[Rosie]

I found your blog on your Twitter page (and I found your Twitter through someone else's, etc etc).

Anyway. I agree with most of your post here, but I do have to say that people are not easy in adding you (back) if you have a small amount of followers. I would like to add some 'bigger' Twitter users or companies, but most of them won't add infamous people like myself. So that makes me wonder, how can you gain a higher/better Twitter status/ratio. Cause it seems like a vicious circle to me.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Twitter and my ratio is very balanced. But that's also mainly due to the fact that I don't add people who I know won't add me back. I can't have conversations with them, so I don't see the use. On Twitter, I try to connect with people that I find interesting (and who find me interesting as well). People that are like-minded. People with the same interests.

I'm also trying to occupy myself learning more about web 2.0 and social networking. I signed up early for Twitter, but really started using it recently. I use two Twitter accounts, @rosiewosie is my personal account and @snw is the twitter account (not so active) for my games websites (5).

[Hjörtur Smárason]

Hi Rosie

Thanks for the comment. Some of the "biggest" names on Twitter autofollow back. Others look at your profile to see if you look like a legitimate person, and if you are, they will follow you back, even though you are a "no-name".

I follow people even though they don't follow me back because I find that I can learn something from them and their discussions. If there is anything I can add to the discussion, I can do so by replying and they will then see that reply, even though they don't follow.

I find it quite easy to get to know new people on Twitter and a great platform to get to know my present connections even better.

[Rosie]

Hi again!

I know other people don't necessarily have to follow me back in order to see the replies. But a big percentage of the people do not look at their replies.

I'm okay if one doesn't follow back and I agree that you can often learn from just following someone. I'm just trying to say that I find it hard to keep a nice balance between following and followers when I follow bigger names who won't follow back. Because the higher the amount of people I add that won't follow me back, the more I look like a nobody and/or a spammer - and that's something I don't want.

I still enjoy Twitter though, no matter how small or unknown I may be :)

[Ashley K. Edwards]

Wow! You really took some time with this post, particularly listing all of those Twitter profiles. I'm sure many folks will find them useful.

[Hjörtur Smárason]

Yeah, it did take me a bit longer than I expected. It's a lot of work :)

But if people find it useful, it's worth it.

[frank]

Thanks for posting this man ... i actually was thinking of doing something very similar ... i have only been using Twitter for about 2 weeks now.

The more I have used it, the more I have thoughts/feelings about what it's like to get started in the 'twitterverse'.

A few things that come to mind right away:

1. overwhelming
2. confusing
3. challenging
4. exciting

http://twitter.com/franswaa

[frank]

Hey Hjortur -

I read this post a long time ago and it's one that helped me get a better grasp on Twitter in general. I was late to the Twitter game, but with the help of posts like this and the ability to get in and see how others were using it I was able to really grasp it.

Thanks for taking the time back in the day to share your experience!! It was cool to read about Twitter from that perspecive.

I shared a bit about my 1st go with Twitter here:
http://www.kintera.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=ifINKZOzFmG&b=4487123&content_id={F3F193B9-2E9E-4905-AA40-D625530E6F66}&notoc=1

Hopefully it will inspire others to join us and get something out of using Twitter.

http://twitter.com/franswaa