Twitter 102: Effectively navigating the Twitterverse

I wrote a while back about how big and major social networking has become. Most everyone seems to be on Facebook now. Many more folks are joining Twitter now. However, its a different platform, and can be hard to figure out. It's actually a little more effective far as finding out the latest news in world and entertainment, plus it has better networking tools. Here are some tips from my 2 years of experience to help you make the most of Twitter.

- Follow actual people, and not just celebrities. Try to engage in conversation with them as they tweet and such.

-Participate in TTs (Trending Topics) often. These can be world events such as the upcoming Royal Wedding, or topics in hashtags such as #tragicmoviedeaths. You would put the hashtagged subject into your tweet, and tweet something related to the topic.

- Less is more. Refrain from going over the 140 character limit in your tweets whenever possible. Many folks do not care to read too much on an extra link. One and two liners are key.

- Retweet the tweets are others, but don't overdo it. Make sure you mix it up with your own tweets and convos with others. This will make your timeline (TL) more interesting and therefore a more interesting follower.

- While you shouldn't expect every one you follow to follow you back, try following back your followers. Be interactive!

- Whether on your computer or your cell phone, get a Twitter app. It makes your Twitter experience more exciting and easier. Tweetdeck is a good app, available for the PC, iPhone, and Android phones. There's also Tweetcaster and Plume for Android, Twitbird and Echofon for the iPhone, and UberSocial for the Blackberry, to name some of the more popular Twitter apps out.

-Make your tweets and accounts private. Due to spammers and such, this should be a given.

-Upload interesting photos (or Twitpics) frequently.

Beware of follower services and even Follow Fridays. Many times these are ineffective ways to gain followers. The best bet is to gain followers through interacting with others.

- Check frequently to see if you have been unfollowed. FriendorFollow.com is effective for this purpose. You don't need your TL cluttered with folks that followed you just to increase their follower count.

- Lastly, have fun, don't bash others or become an e-thug, and be socialble. If you feel the need to blast a follower, send them a direct message (DM) . Discretion is best.

Happy Tweeting!

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