Studentlinc was recently awarded a spot on the premiere site, Alltop.
Alltop is described as an online magazine rack for popular topics. Studentlinc was selected for their leadership page. Alltop will provide readers with the links to my last 5 posts. The leadership page contains links to numerous high profile leadership blogs and websites. I am honored to reside alongside such prestigious company.
You can visit the Alltop Leadership page by clicking here.
I enjoyed a two week vacation over the Christmas holidays. During that time I did some writing, redesigned studentlinc, caught up on some reading, and learned as much as I could about Twitter.
Here's what Twitter says about itself:
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
How do I use it?
Tell us what you're doing in
140 characters or less! Send your thoughts, observations, and
goings-on in your day. Whether you're "eating an apple" or "looking
foward to the weekend" or "Heading out of town" it's twitter-worthy.
Join us here.
I like the simplicity of this explanation. But in my short experience using Twitter I've discovered that it is so much more than answering the "what are you doing?" question.
Want an in-depth explanation, examples, and excellent resources? Visit Tweeternet!
My first suggestion: Join Twitter and jump in.
You'll learn more about what Twitter can do by experiencing Twitter for yourself. As I discover new things about this uniquely simple system, I'm finding that it's gonna keep getting bigger. There are tons of third party applications that enhance the Twitter experience. It's a little too late to be considered an early adopter, but I don't think Twitter has hit its full stride just yet. I think 2009 is going to be a good year for Twitter.
So let me share a few things I've learned about Twitter and how I've begun to use it.
Twitter is easy.
It's easy to join. It's easy to find people who use it. It's easy to tweet (a 'tweet' is what each message you post is called). No writer's block in twitter. How hard can it be to post a message that's 140 characters or less? Brevity is a mandate here.
There's always something to see and read.
If you pay attention to the twitter stream, there are thousands of tweets that roll through each day. It would be crazy to try and read everything. So don't. Don't be crazy like that. But you will definitely find things of interest coming across - especially if you start following interesting people. One great piece of advice I've read from Chris Brogan (a good person to follow @chrisbrogan) is don't feel like you have to keep up with the stream, just dive in wherever you're at!
Twitter can add value.
Like I said earlier, there are more things to post on twitter than your current status. I've read post links to all kinds of interesting articles. I've seen people ask questions. I've seen people provide answers. People share what's going on at events in real time. One thing I learned early on is that some folks are only interested in trying to get something from others on Twitter. But there are quite a few people who are there to add value to others. In doing so, they find that there is value added to them. I'm trying to be one of the voices on Twitter that adds something meaningful and fun to the conversation.
I have connected with people.
I've met people from all over the world on Twitter. I've met people from a variety of life and work experiences. Some of these connections have resulted in ongoing conversations. Others are more informal and I simply see their tweets from time to time.
One other thing I've noticed: twitter is benefiting studentlinc. As I've connected with people, it's also made more folks aware of studentlinc. I've seen an increase in my traffic on this site. That's a good thing. But listen...I don't do twitter simply to drive traffic to my site. I believe the traffic is the result of respecting the folks on Twitter and not spamming them with information that only benefits me. Like I said, I try to add to the conversation and I don't act like I'm the center of it.
You can do as much or as little as you please.
I have been able to spend a good chunk of time on twitter over my vacation. Once I get back into the swing of work and regular family life I probably won't have as much time. But Twitter doesn't have to take all your time. As with any social networking tool, you can put in as much or as little as you like. I can see where I'll need to exert some discipline as I make use of it in the future. There are a wide variety of tools you can use to monitor Twitter and add your own tweets to the conversation (I currently use Twhirl).
I've added a few things to studentlinc to encourage the use of twitter here. You can see my latest tweets in the sidebar. I also created a special landing page for folks who come from my weblink on Twitter. I'm excited to see how Twitter evolves over the next few months. From all of the things I'm reading and watching it's gaining momentum.
Oh, and I wouldn't be a true Twitter fan if I didn't give you a chance to follow me by clicking here.
Recent Comments