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What to do if the boss catches you Twittering
March 10, 2008

"Is someone in here Twittering?"

The titles of this piece very easily could have been "Dude, what's a twitter?" or "Twitter with no regrets" and I probably would have gotten the same blank stare from most of you.

The good news is that I won't hold it against you if have no idea what Twitter is. I use Twitter more and more every day and in some ways it has replaced RSS feeds and other news sources. I can get industry news faster than anywhere else online from the people who make it and I guarantee that if your industry is not well represented now, it will be soon and it's worth your while to check it out.

What exactly is a Twitter?

Twitter is a non-intrusive way to give and get information and it's really cool. I call it bite sized RSS. It works as a web site, application, mobile phone and/or browser plug-in. Here's the official definition:

"Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? " - Twitter.com

What you should do with Twitter

I use Twitter to follow people who's opinions I respect, I post on what I am up to "Stuck at O'hare for 3 hours", ask and answer questions, get industry news and learn about cool gadgets like Enso. I even follow ESPN sports with on ESPN with it.

How to Twitter

Twitter is really very simple. First you create an account then you start following people who you find insightful, witty, annoying or pretty much anything. There are no rules, pick the folks you want to follow and bingo, when they post a note, you see it in twitter. Choose to post your own thoughts, reply to someone elses or simlpy watch the conversations.

Try it! Create an account, start following folks (sakdaddy for instance), get some of your friends and co-workers from around the country and around the world to jump aboard and "presto" you have a community. The information you can get and the quick conversations that can be had are pretty addictive. 

Twitter Tools

After you have created an account, poked around and found some people to follow go out and look at some of the many tools and gadgets that make twitter so useful. As much as I would like to drop a bunch of links here and tell you the great gadgets you need to make the most of Twitter, there's no reason to! My pal and fellow Search Marketer David Wallace has done it already on his blog. Check out his Gadget Guide to Using Twitter.

What to do when the boss catches you Twittering

Enlighten her to the many benefits of using it! Show her how you get, give and share information that allows you to do your job more efficiently and more effectively. Yes, you can make a Twittering fool out of your boss (if you are the boss, I didn't mean a word of that).

Nice chatting with all of you! If anyone wants to get in touch directly, has comments or has thoughts for future posts please drop me a note to Steve at TheKrullGroup.com (ps, we write it like that so the spammers don't pick it up)

- Steve

Steve Krull founded The Krull Group in 2006 after several years managing various technology, Web sites and Search Marketing as part of both Bank One, ConsumerGuide.com and HowStuffWorks.com. Today, Steve and his team manage Search Marketing programs for a variety of business to business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) clients.

Posted by Steve Krull on March 10, 2008 | Comments (0)