My RSS Feed has a consistent personal brand on, well, personal brand and career topics. Maria Elena Duron has Just Posted the Following on her blog:

Ice T was speaking to Jimmy Fallon last night and commenting that, “everybody says to be on Twitter but when I ask people why they’re on twitter they say they don’t know”. He went onto say maybe it’s cult (jokingly)! So, is it? What do you tweet about? Do you “drink the koolaid” and share your every move, throw privacy to the wind and let the world into your life?


There are thousands of posts that share and postulate what you should, would and could tweet. I don’t think there’s one article or post that I like over another. I do know that acclimating to the Twitter community takes a little bit of time and have observed the following:
  • Newbies tweet stuff like “I just had coffee” or “I’m going to a meeting”.
  • It takes usually the first 30 tweets before people get their Twitter voice (knowing what they’ll tweet about)
  • Spammy tweets are met with just as much “enthusiasm” as someone running around at a networking event “selling their wares” to anyone who wanders into their airspace.
  • It is about conversation (hence the name SOCIAL media) so it’s good to communicate back to someone in particular, and share someone else’s knowledge or quotes and attribute it to them through a retweet (RT).
  • Tweet about what makes you excited or passionate and people who have similar interest will flock to you.
  • Twitter chats are great ways for you to network, exchange knowledge and make friends with people around the world who have an interest in what you have an interest in.
  • It’s good Twitter behavior to let your followers know before you enter a chat that you’re about to get a little noisy and to pardon the excess tweets.
  • It’s a great pulse taker and a chance to join in on the conversation with those already talking about your interest area, your company or you.
  • If you don’t Twitter, it’s time to jump in – if only for the sake to understand what Twitter can do and to learn to speak by getting to the point in 140 characters (a very important skill set especially since I’ve been sitting through several meetings, of late, where people tend to say the same thing, different ways – over and over and over and over again [shoot me now, please]. I love that you have to cut to the meat of your message fast on Twitter)
Some other reasons why to tweet: (from 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study)
  • 93% of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media
  • 85% believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media
  • 56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.
What do you think…cult or not? I think of it as community yet since I’m all about listening, sharing and participating….what do you think?Maria Elena Duron, CEO, Buzz to Bucks, broadens the network of busy people through effective social marketing strategies. Buzz to Bucks provides online profile management services, social management and reputation management - helping key employees to establish higher visibility and provide consistency in branding as well as establishing the expertise in their industry for entrepreneurs.


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