Conversations about Twitter

When I talk to businesses, networkers, or friends about Twitter, I usually hear something like, "I don't get Twitter. Who cares what I'm eating for breakfast?". I'm good with that -- I don't care what you had for breakfast.

The second thing I hear is "And who would follow me anyway"? Granted, you're not Aston Kutcher. (Who would have thought? Was That 70s Show such a big deal?)

But that's not what Twitter is about when you're a business or a networker who's looking to expand your online footprint. Twitter is a way to publish, immediately and broadly, content on the Internet. Twitter is a way of handing out your business card.

Why should you use Twitter?

1. Twitter is a tool that distributes your content on the internet.
2. Twitter is the cheapest search engine optimization tool you can get. It doesn't matter how many followers you have because Google, Bing, and other search engines read all tweets.
3. Each tweet adds to your online presence and, if you include a link to your web site, increases its rank in search results.
4. Tweets that relate to what you do increase your chance of being found in searches.
5. Relevant, thoughtful, and occasionally humorous tweets increase your social reputation and help establish you as a though leader.

By the way, in case you care, I prefer Trader Joe's Organic Os for breakfast. Follow me on Twitter.

In LinkedIn's Answers section, someone asked why one should have a blog instead of a website.  Given that they're not mutually exclusive, I thought the question deserved an answer.

I've started a number of personal blogs but, frankly, I'm not that personally interesting. Therefore, my blogs tend towards topics that are more professionally interesting to me, with diversions into both personal passions and passing interests.

Someone wrote about monetizing. I've decided not to run ads on my blog. The monetization will come because the blog is yet another way to put my name out there and maybe drive some business my way.

Success factors?

(1) Make sure it's visible -- it can't be successful it it can't be found, so create sitemaps and submit them to the search engines, and promote it on other sites. Any entry on my site gets autoposted to Twitter and, from there to Facebook. Minutes later, the top 5 search engines are notified of a new post. Use your blog URL in your signature.

(2) Say something often. A blog with one post a month, or the newest post six months old, won't attract any attention. Post on a schedule, if possible.

(3) Say something interesting, write well, and for goodness sakes, spell check!

Here's an interesting article from Harvard Business School about uses of social networks and their implications for businesses.  Businesses can leverage social networks and their users, but can't use standard web advertising techniques.  After all, when was the last time you clicked on or even noticed an ad on Facebook?

According to this story on slashdot, IBM is attempting to patent a way for anything and everything to tweet us. How much longer before twitter becomes self aware?  More and more, I become convinced the privacy is a myth.  How much more popular does Twitter have to become before no one uses it any more?

The good folks at Xobni have opened up their program to the public. As noted before, Xobni is a tool that explores your inbox and reveals the social network among your correspondents. It also helps you organize that network.