I had a lovely surprise on Twitter.com when I read a tweet from Jeanette K., aka @jnetcat5, with a link to her Tactical Pants blog post, "Top 78 Police Twitter Accounts," that included my Twitter account, @katcop13. I follow many of the accounts Jeanette has listed, and I found several new ones.Thanks, Jeanette!
In addition to law enforcement-related topics, I tweet about writing, authors, the publishing industry, and items of general interest. I enjoy the information-sharing that Twitter provides. Are you active on Twitter? Do you find it useful? Or are you Twitter-shy?
(Photo from Tactical Pants blog)
I only Tweet about my book reviews. I'm one of those who don't really know how to use Twitter, but I figure tweeting to get the word out can't hurt.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to learn how to use Twitter too. It's interesting to read, but I don't participate much.
ReplyDeleteMason
Thoughts in Progress
Hi Stephanie and Mason,
ReplyDeleteI started out slowly on Twitter, my goal was to tweet at least once a day to get used to it and learn more about it. If I wasn't sure what to tweet, I'd choose my favorite quotes. I'd also read blog posts on who to follow. Once I found people I was interested in following, I'd "mine" their lists and find more people I wanted to follow. I'd read articles about Twitter, too.
#Follow Friday (also #FF) is an interesting part of Twitter. The concept is to recommend people to follow. Every week you'll gain new followers.
Most tweets have links to blog posts, articles, etc. If you're not familiar already, you have to use a URL shortener, such as bit.ly or j.mp; it also tracks the number of clicks to your links.
Re-tweeting is a big part of Twitter; When you find a tweet you like, you can either click the retweet button, or copy & paste it, with an RT in front of it. When you write RT you leave a space between "RT" and the twitter name...i.e. RT @katcop13.
When you tweet messages, try to keep them as short as possible, which encourages re-tweeting.
Let's say you'd like to promote your blog post. Copy & paste your link, go to j.mp and shorten your URL. Write your tweet and paste the shortened URL. If you have 100 followers, then potentially 100 people could read your tweet and click on the link. Now, if someone retweets your message, and they have 10,000 followers, your message is now potentially read by 10,000 people.
The hashtag (#) is to align messages of a similar nature. For instance, when I tweet a quote, I'll put "#quote" after it. This way, readers who enjoy quotes can search "#quote," or "#books," let's say, when it has to do with a book, a review, etc., or #contest, #poetry, etc...
I hope this mini-lesson might encourage you to use Twitter. If I can answer any questions, I'd be happy to help out. I really enjoy Twitter; I follow many authors, agents, editors, and many other folks with similar interests, such as law enforcement, breast cancer, autism.
Lists is another interesting aspect; you can designate whom you follow in categories you choose to name; this way, if you'd like to just read what agents are tweeting about, click on your "Agents" list. It sort of filters your list.
If "unsavory" people start following you (obvious spam, for instance), you can block them from following you. Click on your followers list, and there's an "action" box to the extreme right. Click on it, and there's a drop-down; click "block."
Keep me posted on your Twitter progress ~ and most of all, have fun!
Kathleen, you always have interesting content, and I enjoy reading your posts very much. So, I have awarded you with The Versatile Blogger award because you deserve it, and as a thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, le0pard13 ~ what an honor. I appreciate it so very much! I will do a blog post on it!
ReplyDelete