First, Chris Brogan posted 50 Power Twitter Tips. My personal favorites being:
1. Don’t read EVERY tweet. It’s perfectly okay. You have permission.
3. Promote other people 12x to every 1 self-promotional tweet.
10. Everyone does it their own way. You’re doing it wrong, too- to someone.
12. Leave 20 characters or more space in each tweet to improve retweeting.
15. Tools like http://bit.ly let you see stats. Use them.
17. If software allows you to “post updates to Twitter” as well as to the app, don’t do that. We rarely want to see them.
21. Spamming us repeatedly is okay. We just unfollow you.
30. Just make money and then the boss won’t ask about ROI any more.
40. Spammy or no, events that tweet their attendance registration seem to drive attendance.
42. Think of Twitter as a guidance system to what you think is interesting. A lot of that is likely off-Twitter.
48. Outside of the Twitter app, keep “Tw” names to a minimum. We’re not your “tweeps.”
50. Start thinking in 120 characters (remember? save 20). Every bit of this advice is tweetable.
Then, Paul Durban took a great list and transformed it into a whole different experience. Watch:
And I’ll throw in my own Twitter analogy. Think of Twitter like a crowded party. The conversations flow around you and you can choose which ones to focus on and where to join in. If you’ve chosen your party (the people you’re following) well, this can be both entertaining and informative. If you’re at a party with a lot of obnoxious drunks…well, that can be less pleasant. Remember, you get to choose who you follow. If someone follows you and you don’t follow them back, it’s like they don’t exist. If you follow someone who you later decide to un-follow, don’t worry, they’ll get over it.
