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April 15, 2011 12:15 PM Subscribe
So, what's this Twitter thing all about?
I've recently begun to understand Twitter's potential: filtering the firehose of information out there will let me become part of conversations that are ongoing and interesting to me ... um ... right?
I feel like everything I read that's a primer on Twitter assumes a level of knowledge higher than mine. I would like to change this.
So how do I do that? I follow about 40 individuals, most of whom I know, and let's say 10 or so random cultural institutions/celebrities/news outlets I am just inclined to like -- NY Times, New Yorker, Steve Martin, etc.
But I'm not seeing it -- don't really know how to look for what I'm interested in, don't know what to offer.
Can you help me get started? For example -- here's some stuff I'm interested in: Journalism, media news, narrative nonfiction writing (also called Creative Nonfiction), criticism of all kinds, film, travel writing, essays ...
How do I find people talking about that stuff on Twitter? Where do I begin?
Thanks
I've recently begun to understand Twitter's potential: filtering the firehose of information out there will let me become part of conversations that are ongoing and interesting to me ... um ... right?
I feel like everything I read that's a primer on Twitter assumes a level of knowledge higher than mine. I would like to change this.
So how do I do that? I follow about 40 individuals, most of whom I know, and let's say 10 or so random cultural institutions/celebrities/news outlets I am just inclined to like -- NY Times, New Yorker, Steve Martin, etc.
But I'm not seeing it -- don't really know how to look for what I'm interested in, don't know what to offer.
Can you help me get started? For example -- here's some stuff I'm interested in: Journalism, media news, narrative nonfiction writing (also called Creative Nonfiction), criticism of all kinds, film, travel writing, essays ...
How do I find people talking about that stuff on Twitter? Where do I begin?
Thanks
Perhaps I didn't directly answer your question -- so my advice would be to search for a few people interested in the same things you are interested in, see who they follow, see who follows them, etc.. Let your stream grow organically, rather than trying to add 300 relevant people right from the get go.
posted by modernnomad at 12:21 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by modernnomad at 12:21 PM on April 15, 2011
Try hash tags which pull up tweets on topics - see if #creativenonfiction exists for examples. All look for lists that people make and tend to title topically such as /africantech or /music.
posted by infini at 12:21 PM on April 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by infini at 12:21 PM on April 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
You can start by searching for hashtags of things you are interested in to see if people have posted about them. For example, search #creativenonfiction as well as doing a search on those terms. It might pick up a few good results. The more specific, the better.
If you access Twitter on the web, it might give you some suggestions of whom to follow. I usually find a few people who have similar interst and then check out their followers. I usually do this on the web because the Twitter interface allows you to click on the followers and see their tweets and info.
But I keep my Twitter feed trim. I recently chopped it down from about 70 accounts I was following to 45-ish. The key was finding the account that was creating and deleting the ones that were mostly re-tweeting.
posted by perhapses at 12:21 PM on April 15, 2011
If you access Twitter on the web, it might give you some suggestions of whom to follow. I usually find a few people who have similar interst and then check out their followers. I usually do this on the web because the Twitter interface allows you to click on the followers and see their tweets and info.
But I keep my Twitter feed trim. I recently chopped it down from about 70 accounts I was following to 45-ish. The key was finding the account that was creating and deleting the ones that were mostly re-tweeting.
posted by perhapses at 12:21 PM on April 15, 2011
For journalism / media news, most of the people who have been blogging / writing about these kinds of things - Clay Shirky, Jeff Jarvis, Jay Rosen, Jim Romanesko, media bloggers - all probably tweeting. If you're already reading up on them on the web, look them up on Twitter (or on their blog) and start following them! They in turn will point you regularly to more voices.
This goes the same for any of the stuff you're interested in - start with the names you already know: writers from the New Yorker, film critics you already like, Roger Ebert.
Agree with modernnomad - let your stream grow organically from there.
posted by sestaaak at 12:23 PM on April 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
This goes the same for any of the stuff you're interested in - start with the names you already know: writers from the New Yorker, film critics you already like, Roger Ebert.
Agree with modernnomad - let your stream grow organically from there.
posted by sestaaak at 12:23 PM on April 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I use twitter for two things, basically - following my customers to see what their various organizations are up to and following a small handful of people who seem to be connected to everyone.
The first gives me a more convenient way of tracking the various press releases, industry goings-on, and things that their various customers might find interesting.
The second means that these Very Well Connected folks end up re-tweeting stuff from all over, so the end up as good focal points for whatever is cool/big at the moment. My favorite for this, frankly, is William Gibson (@GreatDismal).
posted by jquinby at 12:33 PM on April 15, 2011
The first gives me a more convenient way of tracking the various press releases, industry goings-on, and things that their various customers might find interesting.
The second means that these Very Well Connected folks end up re-tweeting stuff from all over, so the end up as good focal points for whatever is cool/big at the moment. My favorite for this, frankly, is William Gibson (@GreatDismal).
posted by jquinby at 12:33 PM on April 15, 2011
don't know what to offer
Talk about what you're reading and you will attract people who like to read. Talk about [local news topic] and you will attract others nearby who are interested in that. If someone says, "I'm going to see [film] tonight!" and [film] interests you, then the next day, tweet them and ask them how they liked it. You don't have to know them or follow them. Just start conversations based on what others are talking about. Don't feel pressured to be interesting; just be yourself, talk about what you know (and ask questions about what you don't) and people will follow you or not.
posted by desjardins at 12:37 PM on April 15, 2011
Talk about what you're reading and you will attract people who like to read. Talk about [local news topic] and you will attract others nearby who are interested in that. If someone says, "I'm going to see [film] tonight!" and [film] interests you, then the next day, tweet them and ask them how they liked it. You don't have to know them or follow them. Just start conversations based on what others are talking about. Don't feel pressured to be interesting; just be yourself, talk about what you know (and ask questions about what you don't) and people will follow you or not.
posted by desjardins at 12:37 PM on April 15, 2011
I didn't really "get" twitter until I discovered it was a hotbed of activity for the writing community that I'm a part of (young adult fiction). By identifying, and following, writers I admire, I was able to connect with some that I never would have otherwise. Now I sort of use it as a place to throw up links that I like or have very casual conversations with others in my field.
It helped me to realize that many people use hashtags as a sort of stand in for AOL chatrooms, either to have actual chats (#askaneditor is one, where editors will field questions from authors) or via common-interest-subjects. For example, when I'm watching a TV show (say, Fringe), I'll often click on a hash tag (#fringe) to see what people are saying about an episode. It's fun to share your own thoughts this way, too. In this fashion, #amwriting and #amediting is a great "place" to talk about daily writing successes.
I sometimes also just tweet about my lunch.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:41 PM on April 15, 2011
It helped me to realize that many people use hashtags as a sort of stand in for AOL chatrooms, either to have actual chats (#askaneditor is one, where editors will field questions from authors) or via common-interest-subjects. For example, when I'm watching a TV show (say, Fringe), I'll often click on a hash tag (#fringe) to see what people are saying about an episode. It's fun to share your own thoughts this way, too. In this fashion, #amwriting and #amediting is a great "place" to talk about daily writing successes.
I sometimes also just tweet about my lunch.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:41 PM on April 15, 2011
Once you find people tweeting about topics you like, you may want to try TweetDeck as a way to organize them. I'm sure there are other apps that are good for Twitter... this one lets you create columns based on search terms, groups you set up, etc.
posted by dywypi at 1:05 PM on April 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by dywypi at 1:05 PM on April 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
I see it more as a kind of group conversation, but I mostly follow freinds. And its superceded email for a lot of folk that I contact. its just kinda like a huge chat room that only followers are in.
posted by mary8nne at 1:06 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by mary8nne at 1:06 PM on April 15, 2011
Try taking a list of names of individuals from the fields you're interested in (Journalism, media news, narrative nonfiction writing (also called Creative Nonfiction), criticism of all kinds, film, travel writing, essays ...), and google for " twitter". Chances are you'll find quite of few of them on Twitter. Read their timelines, see who they reply to - replies are those comments prepended with @ symbols. Look at the timelines for those people, see who has something interesting to say - lather, rinse, repeat.
The nice thing about Twitter is that the brevity of comments and the undifferentiated flow of comments means that tweets from a stranger can be as noticeable as those from a friend or an 'important' person in a field. Go ahead and talk to folks you find interesting. There are tons of authors and artists that I doubt I could reach via a postcard or email (that would get vetted by their publicist first), but I chat with them semi-regularly on Twitter. It's unique in that regard.
posted by gyges at 1:13 PM on April 15, 2011
The nice thing about Twitter is that the brevity of comments and the undifferentiated flow of comments means that tweets from a stranger can be as noticeable as those from a friend or an 'important' person in a field. Go ahead and talk to folks you find interesting. There are tons of authors and artists that I doubt I could reach via a postcard or email (that would get vetted by their publicist first), but I chat with them semi-regularly on Twitter. It's unique in that regard.
posted by gyges at 1:13 PM on April 15, 2011
Twitter is the kind of thing that you dip a toe in for a while and as you go along you pick up what to do. I've used it for four or so years.
I have two accounts.One is a business account where I talk industry specific and business stuff. My clientele is education / non-profit based so this account is always positive, full of tips and tricks and very SFW. I have 250 followers and follow 200.
My personal Twitter is more eclectic. I Twitter about the things I personally am interested in but also talk some crap, engage with my friends, etc. I can be a bit snarky or a bit NSFW but never rude to or about people. I follow local (NZ) news, people with similar interests and people who make me smile or think. I've found these people by checking out who my contacts follow and by starting conversations with them I'm also not afraid to unfollow people who are constantly negative, whiney or annoy me. Life is too short to be annoyed by 140 characters! I have 400 followers and follow 350 back on that aaccount. It works for me.
I use Seesmic on Windows and OSX and I use Plume or Seesmic on my Android. In my job I'm often sitting waiting for a computer to restart or something to load. It's a perfect time to check what's happening!
posted by chairish at 1:41 PM on April 15, 2011
I have two accounts.One is a business account where I talk industry specific and business stuff. My clientele is education / non-profit based so this account is always positive, full of tips and tricks and very SFW. I have 250 followers and follow 200.
My personal Twitter is more eclectic. I Twitter about the things I personally am interested in but also talk some crap, engage with my friends, etc. I can be a bit snarky or a bit NSFW but never rude to or about people. I follow local (NZ) news, people with similar interests and people who make me smile or think. I've found these people by checking out who my contacts follow and by starting conversations with them I'm also not afraid to unfollow people who are constantly negative, whiney or annoy me. Life is too short to be annoyed by 140 characters! I have 400 followers and follow 350 back on that aaccount. It works for me.
I use Seesmic on Windows and OSX and I use Plume or Seesmic on my Android. In my job I'm often sitting waiting for a computer to restart or something to load. It's a perfect time to check what's happening!
posted by chairish at 1:41 PM on April 15, 2011
Here's a similar previous question that may be helpful.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:42 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by restless_nomad at 1:42 PM on April 15, 2011
Nthing gyges - I have chatted with NZ politicians, NZ media people and local celebrities. That's an opportunity that traditional media doesn't give me.
posted by chairish at 1:43 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by chairish at 1:43 PM on April 15, 2011
nthing doing searches that will help you find people or things you like. Don't be afraid to add and drop people in your feed - usually the only way to really find whether you like someone is to put them in your feed and watch it a while. One of the pundits I follow has accurately noted that many people (bots?) will put "real" content in an account, build a little following, then basically start spamming. And dropping people is not as potentially drama-inducing as it can be on FB. Unless they are major OCD, odds are they'll never know. FB feels like a family or high school reunion half the time; twitter feels like a (non-smarmy) bar or a well-tuned mixer at a conference if it's running right for me. And if it isn't I start trimming.
If you decide to jump in, the best way to START building a list is to start paying attention to your colleague's twitter accounts they might list on their blog, e-mail sigs, etc. Another is to collect account names from events you might go to.
If you live in an area where these things happen, tweetups are cool if you're not afraid to sit down at a bar or restaurant with 5-10 other people. They're either very cool or wind up looking like this. To start finding out about them, find and start following people who are big on the local scene. If you're interested in media, that shouldn't be hard to find...
I think it's best to go slow and build a list over time. Also, let "followers" take care of itself. If you tweet interesting stuff, and even to a certain extent if you just follow people yourself, it'll happen. Please don't do weird stuff to "build followers"
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:42 PM on April 15, 2011
If you decide to jump in, the best way to START building a list is to start paying attention to your colleague's twitter accounts they might list on their blog, e-mail sigs, etc. Another is to collect account names from events you might go to.
If you live in an area where these things happen, tweetups are cool if you're not afraid to sit down at a bar or restaurant with 5-10 other people. They're either very cool or wind up looking like this. To start finding out about them, find and start following people who are big on the local scene. If you're interested in media, that shouldn't be hard to find...
I think it's best to go slow and build a list over time. Also, let "followers" take care of itself. If you tweet interesting stuff, and even to a certain extent if you just follow people yourself, it'll happen. Please don't do weird stuff to "build followers"
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:42 PM on April 15, 2011
Since you follow about 40 people that are your friends and know you, I'm assuming they know you're interests, right?
Straight up ask for suggestions from them. Just send out a series of tweets asking for "Who do you follow that tweets intelligently about journalism and media? Suggestions for me?"
Of course, basic rule of search too: If you have authors/sources you already follow in particular fields, search for their name and "twitter" on Google, etc.
PhoBWanKenobi hit on the chatroom analogy for hashtags, and my personal interpretation of Twitter is that is is like a delayed chat room in a lot of ways. Just like you are among X number of people in a chat room and when you type something and hit enter it goes out to everyone in the room, it's the same on Twitter where instead of a "room" it just goes out to your followers (i.e. your friends list). They see it, read it, reply to it if it provokes/prompts a reaction to what you sent out there. I've often thought of it as "delayed group instant messaging".
If you're going to use it for professional purposes, I can't urge you strongly enough to stay away from whatever services offer to get you a follower base. Bots are annoying as hell and instantly spottable and will get you reported as SPAM quicker than an anvil being tossed off of a bridge hits the water.
I use mine almost exclusively for personal things, and the only people that are "professional" that I follow are those that are using it for movie news and that I can tell use it for tweeting other things as well, not just as a link dump for their blogs. That's probably the single most annoying purpose of Twitter that I can think of, the "I just posted this to my blog!" and that's all you ever see from that person in their feed.
posted by smallerdemon at 3:15 PM on April 15, 2011
Straight up ask for suggestions from them. Just send out a series of tweets asking for "Who do you follow that tweets intelligently about journalism and media? Suggestions for me?"
Of course, basic rule of search too: If you have authors/sources you already follow in particular fields, search for their name and "twitter" on Google, etc.
PhoBWanKenobi hit on the chatroom analogy for hashtags, and my personal interpretation of Twitter is that is is like a delayed chat room in a lot of ways. Just like you are among X number of people in a chat room and when you type something and hit enter it goes out to everyone in the room, it's the same on Twitter where instead of a "room" it just goes out to your followers (i.e. your friends list). They see it, read it, reply to it if it provokes/prompts a reaction to what you sent out there. I've often thought of it as "delayed group instant messaging".
If you're going to use it for professional purposes, I can't urge you strongly enough to stay away from whatever services offer to get you a follower base. Bots are annoying as hell and instantly spottable and will get you reported as SPAM quicker than an anvil being tossed off of a bridge hits the water.
I use mine almost exclusively for personal things, and the only people that are "professional" that I follow are those that are using it for movie news and that I can tell use it for tweeting other things as well, not just as a link dump for their blogs. That's probably the single most annoying purpose of Twitter that I can think of, the "I just posted this to my blog!" and that's all you ever see from that person in their feed.
posted by smallerdemon at 3:15 PM on April 15, 2011
For creative nonfiction, you'd do worse than following @SusanOrlean. Also, on Fridays, a lot of people participate in Follow Friday (#followfriday or more commonly #ff), listing people they recommend to their followers.
Another thing to use is the list function. I have lists for writing/publishing, gluten free, and librarians.
posted by sugarfish at 3:19 PM on April 15, 2011
Another thing to use is the list function. I have lists for writing/publishing, gluten free, and librarians.
posted by sugarfish at 3:19 PM on April 15, 2011
Don't be afraid to follow more people. I follow a lot and organize with lists.
Twitter is very elastic, and you can do whatever works for you with it in a passive or active way.
I always look at who interesting people are following.
If you think you're going to use it in an active professional capacity, lurk until you get a sense of how the conversation feels.
Twitter has a lot of free laughs for you, some thought-provoking. There are so many smart and funny people tweeting all day, and some of them are turning it into a unique comedic art form.
Check out Steve Martin, Norm Macdonald, Rob Delaney, Alec Sulkin (@thesulk), Donald Glover, Jenny Slate, etc.
posted by BillBishop at 5:54 PM on April 15, 2011
Twitter is very elastic, and you can do whatever works for you with it in a passive or active way.
I always look at who interesting people are following.
If you think you're going to use it in an active professional capacity, lurk until you get a sense of how the conversation feels.
Twitter has a lot of free laughs for you, some thought-provoking. There are so many smart and funny people tweeting all day, and some of them are turning it into a unique comedic art form.
Check out Steve Martin, Norm Macdonald, Rob Delaney, Alec Sulkin (@thesulk), Donald Glover, Jenny Slate, etc.
posted by BillBishop at 5:54 PM on April 15, 2011
I use it as a sometime supplement to Facebook. I've got Tweetdeck so I have a column for hashtags I'm interested in. I mostly use it for political stuff.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:13 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:13 PM on April 15, 2011
Twitter is also great for finding out what's going on around you. Sometimes I drive into San Francisco and see people teeming out of Moscone Center (a huge event venue). I'll search for 'moscone' on twitter, and instantly know what's happening there.
Or I'll be chilling out in Peet's Coffee, and I'll search for #sanfrancisco to see what's happening in the city that day.
posted by blahtsk at 10:57 PM on April 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Or I'll be chilling out in Peet's Coffee, and I'll search for #sanfrancisco to see what's happening in the city that day.
posted by blahtsk at 10:57 PM on April 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
For me, Twitter is mostly for keeping track of people I know online but don't know in real life. I'm following some metafilter people and the people from mefightclub, and a couple of novelty accounts like the FakeAPStyleBook.
The way you seem to want to use twitter is how I would use an RSS reader like Google Reader.
posted by JDHarper at 5:55 AM on April 16, 2011
The way you seem to want to use twitter is how I would use an RSS reader like Google Reader.
posted by JDHarper at 5:55 AM on April 16, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I have been using it every day for the last week and I am starting to see what you mean about letting it grow organically. For those of you who are interested, I have put my Twitter ID in my profile.
posted by Buffaload at 5:36 AM on April 22, 2011
posted by Buffaload at 5:36 AM on April 22, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
For me, it's been far more useful than I ever anticipated, but it wouldn't be that way if I was just using it with friends I already had contact with and they were tweeting about what they were doing that day etc.
posted by modernnomad at 12:20 PM on April 15, 2011 [3 favorites]