What Twitter Has Taught Me About Blogging

ARTICLE BY James Costa | POSTED ON January 26th, 2010 | Blogging | 6 Comments

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’m a Twitter-addict. I use Tweetie on my Mac, and Tweetie 2 on my iPhone – I’m constantly connected to my network. I happen to check my Twitter stream more than my e-mails. But not only should we be using Twitter as a source of networking for our different activities – as bloggers we can use it as a good test of practice for practicing our writing.

I’ve been “tweeting” for almost three years now. I’ll let you determine what that says about me. I happen to be one of the believers of Twitter when it comes to the success of many marketing campaigns. More and more contests, awards, and other such campaigns are being held through the Twitter stream. In fact, I’ve met many a Twitter user on the street who are “following” me recognize me from my display picture (creepy).

While other people say spending too much time on Twitter is a waste of time, I disagree. Twitter has shaped my writing and helped me focus on certain elements of my blogging that are more important than others.

Oh, and if you aren’t already, you should start following us on Twitter and via RSS – We’re going to be launching a big contest in the coming weeks for our readers, we have a solid list of articles coming, and this week we’ll be announcing some changes around the blog. Stay tuned, and enjoy the article!

Networking Is Important

We’ve been told this too many times, so I won’t dwell on this point. There are over 19 million people using Twitter, and as of mid-2005, an estimated 70 million blogs existed on the Internet. These are huge numbers. That would mean there is a lot of competition to get our message heard, right? No. We can’t know everyone on Twitter, so we need to work with others to get our messages out there. Why do you think contests, awards, and more of the like are using Twitter as a tool to generate interest and run campaigns?

I have been fortunate enough to land two separate gigs with clients through Twitter. Without Twitter, these clients may not have ever heard of The Phuse. As bloggers we need to use this invaluable marketing tool to our advantage to communicate with other like-minded bloggers in the Twitter community, and use them as vehicles for the articles we put out there.

Here are a few ways to get started:

• Get yourself listed! Having yourself listed will help other like-minded people find you.
• Find others! Albeit through using the above as a tool to find these people, or going through sites you frequent and finding them on Twitter, you need to start following people.
• What you put into it is what you get out of it. The more positive you put into Twitter, the more positive will come back to you. Don’t just focus on tweeting – focus on building relationships with other Tweeps and using common twitter tools like RT and #hastags!

Keep It Simple, Stupid

With Twitter you’re limited to keeping your tweets to 140 characters. Even if you use tools like Tweetlonger, your messages will still remain short and to the point. Those who know me know I’m a very talkative person, and my writing can sometimes reflect that. Twitter teaches me to take the fluff out of what I’m saying and get to the point.

Some ways to do this:

• Write everything that’s on your mind. Start writing and don’t stop. When you’re inspired with an idea – run with it! Put down every idea that comes into your mind regardless of spelling or grammar mistakes. Sometimes before writing a rough first draft, I’ll write a mind map and list of things I want to talk about in any given article. This helps later so I can check off each item to ensure I covered it.
• Now that you have your points and you’ve rambled, start organizing them into headers, sections, etc.
• Edit, edit, edit. Read over what you’ve written, and start removing the fluff. Say your article is 1,000 words – challenge yourself to fit it into 850 words!

Spelling and Grammar Are Important

As if you didn’t know this before, when you’re working within the confines of 140 characters, sometimes you’ll be forced to use slang and use creative spelling to shorten what you’re saying. Still, your followers want to know what you’re saying so you have to make sense of these 140 characters.

While we can’t always spell things correctly because we’re trying to use our characters as best we can, we have to really read over what we’re saying and ensure that it is understandable. Since you’re writing less, people can dwell much easier on your grammar and spelling mistakes.

What has it taught you?

What has Twitter taught you? What do you take back from Twitter, how do you find it useful, and what suggestions for it’s use do you have? Share your ideas below in the comments!

• 5 Tips To Help You Make The Best Use of Twitter As A Marketing Tool
• How addicted to Twitter are you?

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