One of the things I get asked often is, “Out of the people who follow you on Twitter, how do you determine who to follow back?” Prior to a few weeks ago, that answer was, “Everybody.”  I had this notion that I would follow everyone who would follow me and then use lists to suss out who I really wanted to listen to versus those that I wanted to tune into sometimes.

Unfortunately, that method turned out to be the incorrect path for me.

When you follow everyone back regardless of what they are Tweeting, who they are, what they are about, etc., you run the risk of getting overwhelmed by your Twitter feed.  Once the overwhelm kicks in, most people do one of two things: (1) ignore Twitter or (2) only reply to @ replies and DMs.

To avoid overwhelming your Twitter feed, you should analyze Twitterers before following them back, making sure to only follow those individuals who are producing quality Tweets on a consistent basis.  To help you figure this part out, I will share with you the types of Twitters I NEVER follow back and why.

This post should also help you recognize any patterns in your own Tweets that might turn others off.  Remember, you want to be engaging and exciting and informative without being too spammy.  It’s a fine balance but when achieved, will net you the greatest results on Twitter.

I Won’t Follow You Back Twitterer Type #1 – The Quote-a-holic

Quotes can be useful on your Twitter stream because they often appeal to many and get retweeted often.  However, they should be used sparingly.  This Twitterer is a quote spammer and will get picked up in a TwitCleaner.com report for Tweeting primarily quotes.

The only time this is acceptable is if your account is setup purposely to broadcast out quotes and your screen name indicates that.  Otherwise, it’s just an overuse of a lot of cliched statements (although, admittedly, I like sharing a quote from time to time!)

I Won’t Follow You Back Twitterer Type #2 – The Re-Tweeter

Retweeting is a MAJOR part of Twitter and should be done when you come across quality content that you want to share with your own followers.  However, doing more retweets than original content will flag you on the TwitCleaner.com report and will annoy the heck out of your followers.

If you do a lot of retweets, considering adding a note to the beginning to make it relevant to your Twitter followers.  For example: “Love this post, highly recommend! RT @soandso their Tweet goes here.”  At least that way, your followers aren’t just getting spammed with links, resources and tools they may not need.

I Won’t Follow You Back Twitterer Type #3 – The @ Spammer

This one is a HUGE turnoff when it comes to the Twitterverse.  Follow Friday was started as a day to recommend someone (or a couple of people) and give a reason as to why people should follow them.  ”Cool people to follow!” is not a good enough reason and comes across as spam.

This behaviour will get you flagged on the TwitCleaner.com report and will annoy people to no end.  Plus, there is a good chance that they are just ignoring your Follow Friday recommendations.  Instead, Tweet something like, “#FollowFriday #ff – @TrinaLamarche because she is resourceful, sweet & helpful!”

I Won’t Follow You Back Twitterer Type #4 – The Over-Sharer of Links

Links and resources are great to share but if it’s all you do and your account is void of @ replies, you’ll want to reconsider what you’re Tweeting.  Twitter should be a place of engagement and should have a balance of links, @ replies and retweets.  Spamming links, like the account below, will only get you flagged on the TwitCleaner.com report and unfollowed.

I’d love you to add to this list!  What are some of the things that turn you off and cause you to unfollow?

I was speaking at an event last night on the subject of social media and building your business online and when I got to the part about Twitter, the question came up around Twitter lingo. You know… all of the stuff that is said via Twitter that leaves some people wondering what it means? I do realize for the social media savvy, these may not be new to you but for a lot of you, it might help clear up some of the unknowns.

@Name

This is the “handle” or the ID of each and every Twitter user. This is how things like replies, direct messages and mentions get flagged for that user so that they can see that you’ve responded to them. It also helps you to share that person with your own followers. It’s a great way to help promote others and communicate with them.

For example:

@ErinBlaskie – Where did you say I could grab that free ebook from?

Putting the @name first means that only the person it’s directed to will see it.  Your other Twitter users won’t see it unless they go to your profile.  They will also see it if that person follows you and the person you are writing to.  Alternatively, if you wanted to send a Tweet everyone could read, you would structure it like this:

Can’t wait to read the free e-book from @ErinBlaskie – where can I download a copy Erin?

Then, everyone will see it including me.

DM (also known as a direct message)

A direct message is a Tweet that is private.  You can send these by clicking on anyone’s user name and choosing “Message” or “Direct Message” or just by typing d username (example: d ErinBlaskie).  Note the space after the d and the lack of the @ sign.  It’s not required when direct messaging someone.

Your own direct messages show up when clicking on Direct Messages in the sidebar of Twitter.  If you are using a tool like Tweetdeck, they will show up in their own column.

Example:

d ErinBlaskie Just wondering if we’re still meeting for coffee later?

RT (also known as re-tweet)

This is what is called a re-tweet. A re-tweet is when you see something a friend or colleague has Tweeted that you feel may be beneficial for your Twitter followers to also read. So, you can use the re-tweet button on Twitter’s website or the re-tweet button in many of the Twitter tools (like Tweetdeck). The best way to structure this:

RT @ErinBlaskie – New on the Blog: Twitter Lingo Explained http://www.erinblaskie.com/twitter-lingo-explained/

You can also add your own comment like:

Awesome read!! RT @ErinBlaskie – New on the Blog: Twitter Lingo Explained http://www.erinblaskie.com/twitter-lingo-explained/

Or, you can structure it like this:

Twitter Lingo Explained http://www.erinblaskie.com/twitter-lingo-explained/ (via @ErinBlaskie)

#Topic (also known as a hash tag)

Whenever you want to tag something and have it come up with other Tweets of it’s kind, you would use a hash tag.  This could be the name of a group, an event, a topic, a subject or anything that you want to classify information as.  You can generate your own hash tags or use others that you see on the web or are instructed to use.  Hash tags do not need to be created anywhere online… you can just simply start using one.

An example would be:

Heading to the #GenYOTT event tonight with @JenButson and @TrinaLamarche!

That would classify it as a Gen Y event and anyone else interested or attending the event could look at all of the Tweets regarding that event in one easy place.  To view the Tweets in a category you can either click on the hash tag or go to http://search.twitter.com and search for it.

Twitter Lists

Tweet-Up

An offline, real world meet-up of Twitter users.

Favorite (also known as the star icon)

Any Tweets can be favorited or saved inside of your favorites list on Twitter.  Next to each Tweet there is a star icon if you hover over the right side.  Once pressed, it will light up the star in yellow so that you can note it.  I use the favorites for positive feedback or testimonials on Twitter.  Then, people can pull up that list to see what people are saying and I can use it to build my testimonials page.

Add to the List!

What am I forgetting?  Add more Twitter lingo to this list and let’s build out a helpful tool for first time Twitterers!!

This will be a post in which I update things about TweetDeck tonight (July 1, 2009).  I understand it’s not a common practice to keep updating one post but this first one is just a graphical demo for my friend Laura.   I will take questions from Twitter and compile them into this post.  Mmhmm.  Live blogging.

Managing Your Tweets in TweetDeck

Buttons from left to right:

• Move Column Left
• Show What is Popular in This Column
• Filter This Column
• Mark All As Seen
• Clear Seen Tweets
• Clear All
• Move Column Right

When you mark a Tweet as “seen” (or hit mark all as seen as I have before), your Tweets change from this:

To this:

(The slight variation being the little white dot disappears.)

Syncing Your TweetDeck Between Two Computers

Great question from Bob in Kingston. (The question being the header above.)

This is done inside of the Settings panel of TweetDeck but before I show you how to do this – let me caution you on something.  It’s not perfect. While it does sync your two accounts, the “marked as read” and “seen” Tweets don’t always reflect across multiple computers.  Even with this method.  And, you still need to setup your column preferences on each computer.

1. Login to Tweet Deck and click on “Settings”

2. Click on Sync (the last tab on this window).

Ideally, this is *supposed* to work – this is why TweetDeck has the sync option but I’ve found that it doesn’t always connect to the server thus not creating a perfect replica of what you have in both accounts.

3. Login to your other TweetDeck account and do the same process.

Other questions? Tweet me! @ErinBlaskie

[tags]TweetDeck, Tweet, mark tweets as read, TweetDeck functions, Erin Blaskie[/tags]

WOW!  Just when I thought I couldn’t fall in love with Twitter any further…  I get named a top upcoming entrepreneur and leader on Twitter.

Thank you SO much to Adam Haroun for writing this article and for naming me #4 on the list…  I appreciate it greatly!

Although, I must admit that it does make me feel a bit of Tweeting pressure…

For those of you who haven’t had the chance to visit Canada just yet…sure, we might have some brutally cold winters, and throw the occasional  (or not-so-occasional) “Eh” into our sentences, but one thing you may not have come to realize about Canada is that we are a land of emerging young entrepreneurs and leaders who are taking social media by storm and leaving our mark in the world!

I have been privileged to meet many brilliant young entrepreneurs and emerging leaders through social media; including many of my fellow Canucks! Through networking on Twitter, I’ve been able to get to know many dynamic, driven entrepreneurs and leaders in an array of industries, stages of business development, and of all different ages…and now I’m thrilled to have the chance to share these young movers and shakers with you and why they are great people to learn from and follow on their path to success.

If you think I’ve left anyone out of this list (or if any mistakes have been made), please leave a comment below and we will make necessary adjustments.

Read the rest of the article here.

[tags]Erin Blaskie, Adam Haroun, Twitter, Tweet, upcoming entrepreneurs, leaders, Canada[/tags]

Recently, Tweetdeck announced an upgrade and this made a lot of people very, very happy.  The reason?  Tweetdeck used to experience some bugs and Adobe Air did not make that any easier.  Now, Tweetdeck is back with an improved interface and a fabulous new iPhone app.

However, some people are still perplexed at why one should use Tweetdeck over just going straight to a browser, accessing it via a mobile device or using something over Tweetdeck.

Here are three ways to use Tweetdeck to improve your Twitter experience:

1. Categorize Your Twitter Followers
   Tweetdeck has these things called “groups” and you can setup as many of them as you want.  Once setup, you have the ability to then list them in columns for easy access and so you can see them at all times.  Some of the columns I recommend include: clients, team, favorites, tech tips, etc.  Categorize
   the things that are most important so you can converse with your rock stars in a much easier way. 
    
2. Use Tweetdeck to Clear Replies You’ve Seen
   Do you ever find your @ replies just get to be overwhelming?  If so, use Tweetdeck to “mark them as read” so that you know you’ve either seen it or actioned it and you can now move on.  The worst thing about the browser interface is that you can often forget if you’ve replied or not and then spend a lot of time going back into your history.  Tweetdeck eliminates that. 
    
3. Setup Notifications to Play When Tweets Come In Directed at You
   Now, some people may find this distracting but as more and more people use Twitter as their primary means of communication, you can use Tweetdeck to be notified immediately as to when someone mentions your name or messages you directly. This will help you stay on the top of your game without being too distracted by e-mail and telephone.

These are just three ways that you can use Tweetdeck to improve your Twitter experience.  It helps with automation, ease of use and helps to keep that conversation going.

If you use Tweetdeck, what are some of the ways that you find it helps your usage of Twitter the most?

[tags]Tweetdeck, Twitter, Tweet, Twitterers, categories, group, conversation, communication, Erin Blaskie[/tags]

It’s officially on.

If you haven’t been following the news, you may not have seen the latest Paul Brent (CTV Ottawa) coverage on Twitter. The coolest part is, that coverage also featured yours truly when they were showing a snapshot of the most popular Ottawa based Twitterers.

If you haven’t yet heard of Twitter, you might want to come out from under that rock you’ve been living under   I kid because I love.  In all seriousness, Twitter has seen immense and rapid growth and has become a household name.  You really can’t go anywhere these days without hearing, “Follow me!” at least once and to be honest, I kinda like it.

As per the Paul Brent piece:

It’s a simple act that has captured the online world’s attention. During March alone, 19 million people visited the Twitter website.

Good thing I got in on this fight early….

I’m second behind the Prime Minister in the Ottawa, Ontario, Canada category on Twitterholic.  This has gotta change.

My sister and I set off to the Parliament Buildings after seeing Malcolm Gladwell speak at the United Way charity event and we shot our preparation video for the fight of our lives…  The fight to get more followers on Twitter than the Prime Minister of Canada.

This video features a dude walking across the entire country, my dad and I by a bonfire, a camera man, some fight club tips and a dude looking for siggy’s for his petition (I recommended he use Twitter to gain more awareness for his cause… he didn’t seem phased by it.)

So, watch it.  Tweet it.  Share it.  Digg it.  Send it.  Talk about it. Let’s show the Prime Minister of Canada that SOCIAL media is far better than any press coverage you get when running an entire country.  Let’s do eet.

P.S. – Thanks   I wouldn’t be making this vid if it weren’t for you all following me! xoxo

[tags]Erin Blaskie, Twitter, Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, Canada, Ottawa, Malcolm Gladwell, United Way, Paul Brent, CTV Ottawa, CTV, Follow Me, Tweet, Parliament Buildings, Digg, YouTube, Erin vs Prime Minister, twitter fight[/tags]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually talk like we do on Twitter in real life? CollegeHumor.com did and they shot a video on the streets of New York about it. Funny video but entirely relevant to our current world.

[tags]Twitter, Twitter in real life, College Humor, Tweet, Twitter talk, Erin Blaskie[/tags]