A couple of people have asked me about how I find the time to manage a very active Twitter feed, 
so I thought I’d summarize some of the Twitter practices I’ve picked up over my past year of being active on Twitter. I’m seeing more individuals in my network start to become active in this space so thought I’d share some of the learnings in case there’s anything that others can leverage.
Twitter for learning and content discovery
The largest value that Twitter has brought to my life has come from the individuals who I follow. These individuals expose me to content that I know I will find interesting and relevant, anytime I want to be exposed to it. You may think that 140 characters is not a lot of space to share much insight about a particular topic, but most tweets are actually article headlines with links. I’ve found it really helpful to constantly be developing and refining this list, particularly as my own interests evolve.
Batching Twitter activities
I use Twitter’s ‘favorite’ functionality to bookmark tweets that contain links to articles that I want to read later, usually while I’m on the go and with my smartphone. Then whenever I feel like it, I read these articles on my computer, unfavoriting the corresponding tweets once I’ve read those articles. Ultimately this means that when I’m in the mood for content discovery, I have a pipeline of content that I know I’ll find interesting and relevant. Focused, effective, and streamlined.
Twitter for information sharing
As I come across articles and other resources that I find insightful or in some way valuable, I naturally feel inclined to share them with others, and do so through retweeting others’ content. Twitter also exposes me to articles that I can then send to individuals in my network (provided I think they’d benefit from said articles), ultimately touching base with my personal and professional contacts.
As I’ve become more active on Twitter, I’ve also discovered ways to easily integrate my Twitter with my two other social media feeds, Facebook and LinkedIn. Now when I discover content that I feel could be relevant to my professional network, I send it to LinkedIn and when I discover content that I feel could be of interest to my personal network, I send it to Facebook. (The “#in’ functionality through Twitter and ‘Selective Tweets’ app in Facebook are the two tools I’ve used to set up this integration).
Tweeting to fill in the gaps
When I first got started on Twitter, I actively spent time in front of my computer screen reading Tweets. Now however, I look at my Twitter feed ‘to fill in the gaps.’ Specifically I read tweets when in line at a grocery store, when on the subway (some stations on the Yonge line have reception), or while learning Spanish via Rosetta Stone (an activity that I feel can be multi-tasked). I find that Twitter provides a source of mental stimulation during activities that may not be inherently engaging or may not require the majority of my cognitive resources.
Effective and optimal tweeting
I adore Timely.is as a queueing and scheduling tool. Timely allows you to add tweets to a queue and then distributes them accordingly, according to your specified frequency (either 1x, 3x, 5x, or 9x a day).
Timely also schedules your tweets based on when your followers are most likely to see them, and provides you with summary reports as to how many clicks your links received.
Finally, Timely has a great Firefox and Chrome add on that populates a tweet, based on the page information, with the touch of a button (Note that it does still provide you with space to add your own commentary).
Do note that some people may start to make assumptions that you are always in front of a computer screen, tweeting, but that’s something you can play around with based on your set frequency of tweeting (or that you can always clarify ;o)).
Metrics
Though it’s always nice to see metrics like number of followers grow, I usually don’t pay much attention to these. I’ve found that if you keep tweeting content you feel good about sharing, your numbers will naturally grow as well. I also like to keep the number of people I follow as low as I can, and pare down this list anytime I can, just to ensure that my feed remains focused and uncluttered.
Event and news feeds
Twitter’s hashtag functionality is great for obtaining a comprehensive recap of an event or news story, and for sharing your own thoughts about such events. I’ve closely followed hashtags for Startup Weekend, Women’s Most Powerful Women Summit, TedX Toronto, and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon as well as news stories that impacted me, such as the passing of Steve Jobs or the Norway terrorist shootings. Following a hashtag gives you concentrated and focused information on your topic of interest.
Twitter and personal branding
I’ve come to realize that Twitter is another social media tool that provides more information about who you are, what you’re passionate about, and insights you may have on particular topics. In addition to providing people in your network a snapshot of dimensions of your personality that they may not know about, your biography on Twitter also provides an opportunity to point others to places where they can find out more information about you (provided you want to share it of course).
Twitter and conversations
Finally, Twitter provides another means to connect with people in your network. I’ve met people at conferences who I’ve ended up following, and based on our respective tweets, we’ve sometimes found opportunities to connect that we otherwise would not have been exposed to, had we not both been on Twitter. By being exposed to other people’s thoughts and insights, you have more opportunities to comment, share, engage, ultimately strengthening some of your relationships.
So that essentially summarizes my personal Twitter practices. Ultimately I find Twitter to be a powerful content discovery, information sharing, and conversation and engagement tool that enhances my learning, personal brand and some of my relationships. If anyone has any other Twitter personal best practices they’d like to share, please leave a comment below. =)
Happy Tweeting,
Natalia
