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Do You Write Twitter, Or Read Twitter?

Twitter For Readers

When I first started using Twitter, I had nothing to say.

Let me preface my introduction to Twitter.  I’ve always been a big fan of (the idea behind) RSS. I follow a lot of blogs and I do get tired of browsing to all of them individually.

At least a dozen times I’ve gathered a list of all of my favorite blogs, added them to an RSS reader and then realized that there isn’t a single RSS that doesn’t annoy the crap out of me to use*.

*Let me take that back. The RSS reader built in to the Opera browser is as close to perfect as I can imagine. Unfortunately there are a slew of other reasons I can’t use that browser regularly.

Then came Twitter. All of my favorite blogs have Twitter accounts, and following them not only keeps me up-to-date on their posts, but I get to see what they’re reading and working on. This has become my only real use for Twitter as a reader. I follow all of my favorite publishers so I can stay up to date with all of the great content they put out.

Twitter For Publishers

In early 2011, I started blogging.

Becoming a publisher gave me an entirely different perspective on using Twitter.  Twitter for publishers suddenly becomes all about gaining followers and increasing your CTR ( Click Through Rate ) on links you share. Looking back now, I think I took three wrong approaches when getting started as a publisher:

1. I misrepresented myself.
2. I acted like a business, not a person.
3. I lumped my Tweets together, other times going days with no activity.

Where I think I went wrong was misrepresenting myself to my Twitter followers. I tried to be someone I wasn’t, which gained me a decent number of followers. However, when I would let my real personality shine through; I’d lose those followers and have to start over again.

Recently, I wrote a post about being yourself on Twitter and I’ve tried to stick to it over the last few months. It’s been a slow growth, but every week ends with me having more followers than the last. I think some of the best things you can do as a Twitter publisher are:

• Always Be Yourself
• Be Transparent ( If you’re desperate for clicks and re-tweets, ask for them! )
• Be patient. Just like a website, a new Twitter account will take a while to pick up steam.
• Learn from the best. Look at the most popular Twitterers in your field. More than likely they are funny, honest, intelligent and provide value to their followers.

Are You A Reader Or A Publisher?

How do you use Twitter?

What’s worked or backfired for you in the past?

Share in the comments and let’s get a conversation started!