Tweet Your Way to the Top
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 04:04PM 
What is Twitter?
“Is it a mass text? A short email? A (Facebook-like) status update?” I get these questions all the time from my non-Twitter friends. To be quite honest, even I didn’t understand Twitter when I first started using it.
So what is Twitter? Twitter is a social media tool that could be described as micro-blogging. Each text-based post is known as a “tweet” and is limited to 140 characters. Twitter users can post updates to their account from a text (SMS) message on their phone or right from the web. They follow each other to receive or send updates to people in their social circle. Alternatively, users can also send direct messages to each other.
Twitter is becoming more popular and more powerful every day. It's connecting people everywhere in both professional and personal circles. Here are some ways you can use Twitter professionally:
Micro-blogging
Twitter is a great way to become more visible in search engines. Our blog, Newsworthy has its own Twitter account and every time a new post goes out, we tweet a short version of the post. When our blog posts go live, our Twitter followers get a brief description of the post’s contents and a link to the full article. Sending brief text updates or links in this fashion is called micro-blogging.
You can micro-blog your press releases using Twitter. 'Tweeting' a link to your press release on the web can drive additional traffic to your news. All you need is a link to an online version of your press release and a Twitter account. You’ll want to turn your link into a tiny URL to make sure your message fits comfortably within the 140-character limit. Your message should read something like: “New press release! My Headline. www.tinyurl.com”
Social Networking
Twitter is an excellent networking tool for any profession. For example, as a new blogger, I am finding Twitter helpful in creating new content. When experiencing writer’s block, a simple tweet asking for suggestions will elicit helpful responses from my blogging friends.
You never know where help will come from, and Twitter opens up the lines of communication. Why limit your resources to the people directly surrounding you? A diverse network of professionals following you on Twitter can come through for you in the clutch.
Not convinced? Read how this woman used Twitter to fix her toilet.
Bystander Journalism
When US Air Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River, this tweet went out: http://twitter.com/jkrums/status/1121915133. Why? A man on the scene while the news broke happened to Twitter the event. He included a picture by using twitpic that showed exactly what was happening on the scene as a ferry approached the plane. The tweet got thousands of views and was some of the first coverage of the crash.
In this case, the message and its accompanying photo was breaking news. Twitter gives users a sense of immediacy with updates happening in real time. It’s like having a potential news crew on every street corner. The tweet and photo from the crash told you everything you needed to know immediately. To get details you would need to read the story online or catch the news, but for the headlines, Twitter beat news outlets to the punch.
For those of you who have not checked Twitter out yet, I recommend you give it a try. To get the hang of things feel free to follow us at http://twitter.com/BeNewsworthy. We will be happy to respond (quickly!) to any questions or comments you direct message us there!
Reader Comments (5)
Setting up a Twittet account is easy. Getting followers is hard. Any suggestions?
Chelsea, I find Twitter an amazing place. A mountain of good information and links are posted in a very rapid pace. If you can find the right people to follow a whole new world opens up to you.
I'm curious. What % of your readers come from the Twitter links? How much of your success right now do you attribute to social media in general or Twitter in particular?
Hi Dirk,
Thanks for your comment! Great question.
In order to be followed, you have to get yourself out there and follow a few people. I would recommend following a local blogger as they are more likely to follow you back than someone with a nationally famous blog like www.perezhilton.com or www.huffingtonpost.com.
Encourage friends to set up Twitter accounts to build a community, there may be more people you know on twitter that haven't been able to find you yet.
I will be posting more about Twitter in the near future. Stay tuned!
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for commenting!
About 25% of our traffic is attributed to Twitter. I am still relatively new to it and experimenting with different ways to get followers and feedback in Twitter and to get more subscribers to our blog. I have been using my Facebook account to popularize the blog as well. I am experimenting with Facebook "Pages" and such right now so our traffic there is just starting to show up.
Did you see the article on http://www.shoemoney.com where he said that he values Twitter followers around $2.00 a piece?