For Architects Journal readers, and anyone who may be interested, here are some useful resources about Twitter.
What is Twitter?
Here’s a very basic introduction to how twitter works, by CommonCraft. Replace the ‘friends and family’ with ‘business contacts’ and the networking potential is clear.
To tweet or not to tweet for Construction Professionals
A presentation I gave at the emap Construction Marketing Conference in February 2010. Includes survey data and a ‘basic anatomy’ section.
Twitter is a Serious Business Tool – some examples of how I use twitter for business.
What is twitter really useful for? – Some more ideas about building relationships on twitter
Two posts on the ‘Twitter is a Waste of Time’ debate, one by me and one by Paul Wilkinson.
Satistics – Reports on Social Media Statistics and Twitter by Sysomos
Why Take Your Network Online?
Here’s a presentation I gave at the RIBA in 2009 which explains effective online networking using Twitter, Blogs and Linkedin. You can also download a pdf of the presentation with notes.
How to get started
Some blog posts and screencasts:
Seven First Steps to Take on Twitter
Find and Follow your Linkedin Connections on Twitter
Twitter: How to Reply (including a secret tip you won’t want to miss)
Twitter is Stretchy and Sticky
Twitter: No-one Reads Everything you Say (and that’s OK)
Access more twitter related blogposts on Justprofessionals.
Do’s and Don’ts
Don’t assume this is ‘fast and easy’. In Social Media, as in any other endeavour, your return represents your investment.
10 Tips for Using Twitter to Support Your Practice by Jason Wagner on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) website
Using Pull Marketing on Twitter (and how Push marketing won’t work)
Follow Friday – what is it and how should I do it?
6 Ways to Screw Up Your Social Media Strategy
Find Engaging People on Twitter – because its about the Conversation
How to manage following thousands of people on twitter – some advice to use search more
Some useful tools
Search Twitter using a tool like Google. Check the advanced search option and extract RSS feeds
Realtime Twitter Trends Map – what are people discussing in your locality now?
Want to find out where Twitter users in construction are? check out the ArchitectMap website for details of our crowd-sourced google maps for designers, contractors and graduates
Twitter Friends Network Browser – a visualisation of twitter networks. Type in a user name and click and drag away. See who a user follows (and follow them to see their conversations in your stream.
MentionMap – a visualisation of twitter conversations. Displays the users a twitter user has interacted with most. Helpful ‘about’ post here. A new, more powerful version will be launched soon.
I’ve left comments on below so that if you have other useful resources to share please do.
Still need help? I give a one hour mentoring session online for £100 – get in touch with me for more information.
A bit more about Twitter
If you’re visiting from Twitter and would like to follow me, you are very welcome. I look forward to connecting with you.
I check out everyone who follows me but I don’t follow automatically. Just like you, I follow people who are of personal interest. That said, more often than not I will follow people who follow me. It is rare for me to unfollow, because you never know where good value lies. As a result I follow plenty of people, which helps me make the most of twitter in particular.
With several hundred people to follow, and not being on twitter 24/7, I miss a tweet or six once in a while, so if you are tweeting something and you particularly want me to see it, do @SuButcher me with the details. I try to reply to all @messages and DMs though I would recommend you @SuButcher me rather than DM unless it is confidential, as then other people then get to see your content too.
I see social media as a continuum which connects work and social life, but I do tweet differently at different times. I use Twitter for iphone when commuting and Hoosuite/Twitter for Mac when at the desk. I used to use Tweetdeck but Hootsuite has many of the same features and stats tracking, and is less flaky! As an iPhone user I’m more likely to view video in YouTube format than Flash, and when travelling I’m more likely to be checking the whole twitter stream rather than filtering groups as I can with Hootsuite.
You can see when I’m most active on twitter by checking out these statistics.
I do have other twitter accounts – I have an account for the Architects Twitter League and an account where I follow (and help find) people in the UK Construction industry.