I’m surrounded by people just getting started or are thinking about twitter. These are people who really aren’t interested in the technology but more the utility or are just afraid of falling behind. Some are asking “Do I Really Have To Join Twitter”   ?  

So what is the minimum you can do to say you are on twitter?  First, get an account.  If you are doing it for work, you might put your company name it. Make it an easy name to remember.

Go find some people to follow, say 50 or so.  Don’t view twitter as instant messaging.  If you miss tweets, its not a big deal so that number of 50 is actually quite small (we’re going for minimal twitter use here).

How do you find people?  Try some of these ideas:

twitter search.  Type in some key words and see who looks interesting. 

search.twitter.com/

Go to WeFollow and pick a tag (I’m there under “CAD”, “VirtualWorlds”, and “SocialMedia”) 

http://wefollow.com/

Go to Twitter Grader Search.  This one will list tweeters by a “grade” and will also look at location. For example, you will find me if you search for “Huntsville”.

http://twitter.grader.com/search

You can run twitter from the web. You need to check it a couple times a day and you want this to be effortless, so you might put it on the toolbar.  Or, download one of the twitter clients or plugins or IM integrations.  We all use the interent differently so take a look at this URL and pick one that fits best into your environment: 

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_twitter_clients_definitive_list.php

Now, the first few weeks, you are likely to get a lot of noise.  You need to manage the twitter stream by unfollowing those that don’t tweet things interesting or useful to you.  Some people are more focused on a subject.  Some people are like me, all over the place.  Some people tweet a lot. Some are easy maintenance. BTW, I don’t recommend following me until you get a few followers or if you do, be ready to cut me. If you are an occasional tweeter following few people, I might dominate your stream (and yes, I do tweet when I’m getting coffee).

At the same time, check out the people you don’t follow that are showing up on your stream. This will help improve your quality of tweets.  If following 50 people is not too much, increase to 100 or 500 or 1000 – you are in control.

You don’t have to tweet to use twitter.  If you want to stay off the RADAR, you can make your twitter private – then only people that you allow to follow you can see your tweets.  Note that these people can still retweet your tweets.  Never assume Twitter is private.

Having said that, much of the value of twitter is the conversation and exchange of information. You will get more value from twitter when you engage those you follow.

I’ve got a lot of friends trying to get a grasp of “social media”.  Why do it? How does it work? Should I we have special training or new security rules? How do I manage work and personal life on this new platform?

The fact is these aren’t new problems, they are old problems.  For training, I recommend you go watch the Andy Griffith show– yes, the Andy Griffith show, with Sherriff Taylor, Floyd the Barber and Goober, the mechanic.

 One question I see a lot is how to manage work and personal life in social media. The folks in Mayberry dealt with this just fine.  Andy switched between the two with ease as he walked around town.  Goober would fix your car and bring it to your house.  Floyd pretty much mixed personal and business together at the same time, cutting your hair while talking about the town.  It is not what most of us do today, but it’s hardly a new idea.

Is this an efficient way to work? On the surface, Mayberry looks pretty laid back but look a bit deeper at this pretend world.  Andy always knew what was going on in his town – knowing the people certainly helps him do a better job.  Goober didn’t always present the most polished image and wasn’t too bright but you knew him and you knew you could trust him. If you were going to get your car fixed, who would you pick?

And Floyd – he is the master of social media.  He created a shop where people like to hang out.  They play checkers, talk to the other customers, and even run across the mayor and sheriff from time to time.  Do you think all the “non-business discussion” hurts Floyd’s business?  No way… he is always cutting hair!

But here is the real key… Andy, Goober and Floyd don’t do this because of some clever plan to be more social and generate more revenue.  They were simply being themselves in an open and honest way.