#twitter immersion

[gf-dsmom-blog]

Twitter Stats

Followers: 338

I'm down. I don't know what happened.

[gf-dsmom-blog]

I took the week off

It's amazing what doesn't happen when you take the week off. You can still meet goals if you take periodic breaks, but don't expect projects to work themselves if you're not working them. 

Here's what I mean: I took the week off from my Twitter Immersion, while I nursed my kids and myself back to health after a terrible bout with the stomach flu. My tweeting was rare, and when it happened they were automatic tweets from Foursquare. 

During my first week of Twitter Immersion, I averaged 4 new followers a day. The week void of substantive tweets brought in one follower - one in the entire week. My elementary conclusion is that people want to listen to you if you have something of value to say.

I'll return to my schedule of regular Tweeting and intense focus on all things Twitter tomorrow. Prediction: I'll pick up around 20 new followers next week.

[gf-dsmom-blog]

Twitter Stats

I'm up 6 more followers today. Thanks to bud @socialspeaking who #ff'ed me to some of her best tweeters.

I've increased my tweeting probably 600% since I started my Twitter immersion. I can see that's it's certainly helped me gain followers but tweet rate isn't a magic bullet.

[gf-dsmom-blog]

I just can't rely on my friends.

Let's be honest, my friends, family, acquaintances and colleagues are NOT on Twitter. wth? I imported my entire address book into gmail to check for Twitter handles, and it found 14 Tweeters, in my address book of more than 700, who I'm not following. I'm already following 53. I'm just going to have to make friends on Twitter...

[gf-dsmom-blog]

Developed Twitter Sites vs. Standard Issue

I've been reading about Twitter's enhanced brand pages, and a bit from the Twitter developers site (I'm not a developer, and it's quite bland if you're not into the developing end, but I found it mildly relevant to my Twitter immersion). I'm curious if developed sites are more successful than non developed sites. I'll lay down the criteria for a successful Twitter site in another post, but for now, I'm going to compare the diamond-studded sites with the cardboard cutouts. At least I should determine a few dos and don'ts and perhaps have a few aha moments that will help propel me to 1,100.

[gf-dsmom-blog]

Twitter Stats

Picked up 3 new followers yesterday - thanks! I'm not sure what I'm doing right just yet, other than tweeting more. But I don't believe if I tweet 40 times a day, I will all of a sudden be a follower magnet. The content of my tweets matters so much. I need to find a evocative, secure voice. But more than that, my messages need to mean something to my followers. And furthermore, whatever it means to them should drive them to do something, be something that's in my interest - right?

Twitter immersion goes beyond developing a deep understanding for the app giant. I'm learning how to best use it.

[gf-dsmom-blog]

Google Alerts and Tweeting

So I created a Google Alert for "Twitter." Just Twitter for now - I'm beginning my immersion on the macro level and as I gorge myself on the juice of this fruit, I'll slowly start sampling the outer universe of the Twittersphere - those third-party apps and ops that are what they are because of Twitter.

After created my Google Alert, I started reading the Twitter news of the day from media sites, blogs, and such. I tweeted links to the personally interesting and more widely relevant stories.

[gf-dsmom-blog]

Twitter Immersion: To Do List

1. Find friends on Twitter - real friends. People I've met in real life who know and hopefully like me. Add them to a new list "friends." This is a list of people I should be networking with regularly about work, life, events, stuff.

2. Start a Google Updates search for "Twitter." If I am to immerse myself, then I should read everything there is to read about the networking beast and the people who make their living off of it.

3. Read the Twitter site - all of the minutia that Twitter wants me to know, including the privacy policy and terms and conditions. If I'm gonna do this thing, I'm gonna do it right.