The following Twitter advice applies equally well to business, personal or church Twitter accounts
The Twitterverse is huge. Of course, it isn’t Facebook, and praise God for that. Now, I understand the purpose of facebook, it’s to play games, stalk old classmates and to bother people with invites to all kinds of things. But what is the purpose of Twitter?
Twitter is a unique being. I can’t say exactly why I love it so much, but I’ve been hooked since day two. Unfortunately, on day one I stared at a blank screen, not knowing what to do. Then I followed my first twitterer, tweep or whatever you call us and I was hooked.
Over the past few years I’ve taken long breaks from Twitter due to computer problems. I don’t use twitter from a smart phone, I do it all from a desktop or when I’m out with my laptop. I have about 700 followers and I follow almost as many. Some might say, “Oh, he doesn’t know much about Twitter. After all, look at the size of his . . . list of followers. Yeah, it’s small.
Twitter isn’t all about having the most followers. And that’s good. Because if it was, I’d be one great big Twitter failure. I think like many twitterers do, that Twitter is about adding value to others. Some may scoff at that notion. No, some people do scoff at that notion. But in a way, Twitter imitates life and life should always be about adding value.
Over my first few years on Twitter I have been blessed to do the following:
• Encourage many people who have shared in tweets their sadness or frustration
• Helped a lady in Amsterdam find her lost passport
• Guided a few people toward job leads
• Along with many others, helped disseminate information that fueled an “almost” revolution in Iran
• Put forth an effort, along with many others (especially @Ziabatsu) to stop a woman from committing suicide in Indonesia.
• Offered good content via tweeted links and re-tweeted links
• Made some friends along the way
The accomplishments above on Twitter are minor in nature. However, I think those things are what Twitter is about or how it should be used. It’s fun to take part in some of the hilarious or stupid #hashtags, but for me, I want to offer some help when the opportunity arises, some interesting content when I can, and levity anytime it is worthwhile.
How about you? Do you add value to the lives of your followers? Even if all you do is tell dumb jokes on Twitter, you’re adding value to some sad follower of yours. Do what you do best and the value to others will come. Whether that is in real life or in the Twitterverse.
Please leave your comment below because I’d really like to know what you think. Also, please share this post with others or like it on facebook. Any of those things would really provide me with some value. : )
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