Tag Archives: twitter

If you consume, you should collate

I realised this today as somebody said to be ‘What new site are people talking about?’ my mind went blank.

Looking back at my twitter history (mainly links to GIFs and frivolous comments) and delicious (nothing of substance) I turned to my Readability list (just articles).

I’ve done posts in the past (http://prandall.com/2010/01/23/condensed-type-1/ and http://prandall.com/2012/04/25/linkspiration/) that collate what I have consumed over the week, and I think it is much better way of documenting what is going on, because otherwise I just forget!

I watched a talk by Gavin Strange (@jamfactoryhttp://vimeo.com/61248847 where he had a page full of things that interested/inpired him recently. Braun watches, old sticker packets and wicked-awesome camera rigs. I’d like to play with creating one of these a week/month as a visual representation for the things that I have consumed.

Getting the most out of Twitter

Recently, a lot of clients have felt that they need to be on Twitter, and so have signed up, tweeted a bit and followed a few people. The question that seems to follow is: “Whats next?”

There seems to be the feeling that, especially at the start, without many followers you are talking to no one, and have no one listening. In discussing this, I hope some of these points help you get the most out of Twitter.

Create, Curate, Comment

Create content

You’ve probably heard that content is king. Well it’s true. Good content will always find readers. So spend time to generate great content. Now Twitter can be tricky to get your point across in just 140 characters, so if you don’t already have one, setting up a blog should be the next thing to do. It allows you to go into a bit more detail and elaborate on your points.

Then, by tweeting out the link, your followers may want to retweet (publish your tweet to their followers) or promote it themselves.

Curate content

Now, generating posts like that takes time, so not every tweet will like that, so follow your peers, and follow industry leaders and link to their posts.

You may be initially sceptical about this, but becoming a curator, and reposting other peoples good content makes you a valuable person to follow. If you constantly talk and link to interesting stuff, people will want to listen.

Comment, join in on the conversation

One of the fantastic things about Twitter is its instant, real-time feedback so if people are asking questions, or looking for an opinion on something, converse with them. Firstly, they’ll notice who you are (if they don’t currently follow you) and if your opinion is a good one, you’ll be known as someone with a decent opinion.

Conclusion

  • Have a voice, have an opinion and people will want to listen to you
  • Create, curate and comment
  • Tweet predictably and with rhythm. Try not to be quiet for a few days and then tweet 10 times a minute

Tips and Tricks

Do we over-consume web content?

I’ve been looking back on the amount of online content I read recently and I think I am probably like many who over-consume on a regular basis.

Technology today means we can gorge on content from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep, constantly throughout the day without hesitation; But how much of it can we actually take in? Does it reach a saturation point where we keep consuming even though our minds are full?

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Procrastination

For a while now, my Twitter description has read like this:

A web designer and developer from the UK. I occasionally blog, frequently tweet and often procrastinate.

The last part couldn’t be more true. With RSS feeds, Twitter and other social media, lots of time can be spent keeping up-to-date and researching – but it really boils down to procrastinating (postpone doing what one should be doing).

With the immediacy of these social media, links can come in at any time, easily distracting you away from the current task in hand. Staying ‘in the zone’ can be hard with tweets popping up and other distractions such as IM, text messages and phone calls; chances are you are reading this when something more important needs to be done.

The Solution

Taking a dedicated hour out of your day to deal with these can help alleviate this. You’d be surprised how non-urgent reading your tweets are when you don’t do it for a few hours.

So turn off your Twitter client, IM and sign out of anything which could ‘pop-up’ during your day and give it a go, perhaps taking time out in the morning and afternoon to check-up and see what’s gone on in the real world and see if your productivity increases.