A couple of weeks ago, Jim Knight began using Twitter as a communication tool for coaches. It’s gaining some traction, and many of you have begun following both me and Stratepedia.

If this is the first you’ve heard of Twitter, fear not–EDUCAUSE has released a brief overview of Twitter and its application to learning that’s as good as any introduction I could write. Better yet, visit Twitter, sign up for an account, and give it a try for yourself. Many people suggest that’s the only way to get what it can do.

I’m not a Twitter pro by any means–I only post a couple of times a day at the most, and, last I checked, I could still count my followers on my fingers and toes. But I’ve stumbled upon a few little things along the way to make using the service a bit less cumbersome.

1. Get a client. A Twitter client is a standalone program you download to your computer and configure to keep an eye on your Twitter account. This means you don’t have to go to the Twitter webpage each time you want to post or read others’ posts. I use a Mac client called Twitterific (the free, ad-supported one) on both my computer and my iPhone. More clients are available on Twitter’s downloads page, and even more can be found on the Twitter Fan Wiki. If you find a good one, tell us about it in the comments below (and/or in your Twitter stream).
2. Make replies trackable. This makes more sense in action than in words, so try this: Next time you’re replying to someone’s tweet (or just trying to get their attention), begin that tweet with the person’s username preceded by an @. For example, if you wanted to reply to something I said on Twitter, begin with @ruralocity. Then I can easily track things that are responses to something I posted by clicking my Replies tab. See “What are @replies?” on Twitter’s support site for more information, or just try it yourself by clicking the Reply icon associated with another tweet. One last thing–replies are not personal, private messages! They will show up alongside your tweets, so don’t say anything you wouldn’t say out loud in a crowd.
3. Don’t feel the need to follow everyone who follows you. Having a lot of Twitter followers is a badge of honor for some. Unfortunately, Twitter is also becoming yet another platform for spammers to do their dirty work. Both of these types of users will add you in the hopes that you’ll reciprocate. You can usually tell these types by looking at their following-to-follower ratios. My general rule of thumb? If someone’s tweets look interesting, I’ll follow them back. If I know someone in real life (or in some other, non-Twitter capacity) I’ll follow them back. How you handle it is your call.

Tags: social networking, Twitter