Twitter: I Get It Now (and So Should You)

About a year ago I started a Twitter account. After poking around on it for a few months, last summer I published a blog post called "Smart Ways to Use Twitter for Music." I thought I got it. But I didn't ... until this past Saturday night.
You see, I didn't really enjoy much of what I read on Twitter. Quick posts like "Running late to catch a plane" or "The cat just threw up in my shoe" didn't intrigue me all that much. So I opted to take a practical approach: I used Twitter to link to my most recent blog posts, podcasts and video clips, to announce events, etc.

Nothing wrong with that. But I got distracted and didn't post very often (which is like being invisible compared to the active Twitterers who post something every hour or so). In fact, until this past weekend, my last Twitter post was from February. Why bother?

Then Saturday night Pooki and I had dinner with our friends Helena Bouchez, Jason Feehan and Randy Chertkow. (Jason and Randy are authors of the forthcoming book "Indie Band Survival Guide.") They opened my eyes to a new way of looking at Twitter.

Don't get me wrong, I still tire quickly of the quick mundane posts many people try to pass off as interesting details. But I began to look at it in a different way.

For one thing, most of the lame cat vomit posts I detested were from people I barely knew. But when I took a fresh look at Twitter and examined the tweets of people I knew and liked, I found myself saying things like, "Oh wow, Ariel's in Argentina" or "I didn't know Jason was thinking of moving to San Diego."

I was engaged in a way I hadn't been before. And as our friends explained to me Saturday, there's a sweet spot between being practical with your tweets (and in the extreme, over promoting) and simply dishing out useless personal drivel.

The really good Twitterers find that balance between business strategy and personal revelation. If you like and follow a certain artist or author or even the CEO of a cool company, you may want to know the person's take on business -- but you can form an even stronger bond when you get to know the person.

So, I'm going to take a stab at tweeting more often. I invite you to follow me. And I encourage you to start your own Twitter account. It's quick and easy.

Here's another cool thing: If you've been thinking about blogging but can't muster up the strength to write full paragraphs on a regular basis, Twitter is for you. Anyone can come up with 140 characters (one short sentence) without blinking.

Encourage your fans to follow you. Embed a Twitter widget on your site so non-Twitterers can track your activities. It's fun, it's addictive ... and it just might endear you to more fans.


Gotta run. I just found cat vomit in my shoe. And I don't even own a cat!

-Bob


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