You’ve probably noticed Twitter by now.

Whether you love it, hate it or just don’t get it, there’s no getting away from it — Twitter is ‘going mainstream’, the way Facebook did a couple of years ago.

Which means it’s no longer just the geeks and early adopters who are using it. Famous people such as Barack Obama, Steven Fry, Oprah Winfrey and Britney Spears are on Twitter.

There’s a serious point to Tim’s joke — when a media diva like Oprah, who isn’t short of communication channels to choose from, starts experimenting with Twitter, there must be something in it.

But Twitter is not just for geeks and celebrities. ‘Normal’ people like you and me are using it. Millions of us. Which, again, suggests there’s something in it.

But what’s in it for you?

What Twitter Can Do For You

I’m writing this because I meet lots of people these days who ask me:

‘What’s the point of Twitter? I just don’t get it. Why would I want to waste my time telling people what I’m doing? And why would anyone waste their time reading it?’.

Now it’s possible that Twitter just isn’t ‘your thing’ and you’d be better off ignoring it.

And if you actively dislike Twitter, there are plenty of ignorant journalists and experts who should be intelligent enough to know better, prepared to bolster the argument that Twitter is in fact a complete waste of time, and symptomatic of our dumbed down 21st-century culture.

But it looks to me as though lots of people who don’t see the point of Twitter could gain significant benefit from using it. Not only that, I think they would really enjoy it — if they gave it a chance.

Do any of the following appeal to you?

• meeting new and interesting people (in real life as well as on the web)
• staying in touch with people who matter to you
• stimulating your creativity with new discoveries
• building your reputation
• receiving helpful feedback
• finding new business opportunities
• generating more sales
• knowing what people are saying about you and/or your company
• breaking up your day with some friendly chitchat — even if you’re working alone

If you’re not interested in any of these things, then you can safely ignore Twitter. But if you want some (or even all) of them, then Twitter could be just perfect for you.

If you’re already an active web publisher — whether of text, images, music or video — Twitter can act as a catalyst for your other projects and help you increase your impact.

If you’re not yet a confident web user or publisher, Twitter is a great way to dip your toes in the water and get used to writing and interacting with people online. It’s free, very quick to set up — and unlike a blog or website, you don’t need to invest a lot of time in it.

Not convinced? Give it a try. Twitter is like ice cream — if you step back and analyse it, sounds like a really bad idea (all those calories and additives?). But once you try it, the objections tend to melt away.

OK, Twitter doesn’t offer quite the same level of instant gratification as ice cream. For some people it’s more of an acquired taste. But once you ‘get it’, you’ll wonder how you managed without it.

Getting Started – the ABC of Twitter

A. Set Up a Twitter Account

1. Go to Twitter.com
2. Click on the Get Started — Join button.
3. Fill out the sign-up form.
4. Once you’ve set up your account, click on ‘Settings’ at the top of the page. In the Account tab, fill out your ‘One line bio’. For many visitors to your Twitter page, this will be the first thing they look at — so if your Twitter account is remotely connected to your work, make sure it describes what you do as clearly as possible. Mine describes the three most important things I do: ‘Poet, creative coach and co-founder, Lateral Action’.
5. If you have a website, add a link to it in the box labelled ‘More Info URL’. That way, people who get to know you on Twitter can find out more about you — and your Twitter account becomes a great way of driving users to your site.

If it’s available, I recommend you use your own name as your username, because:

• It’s unmistakably you — people like to know who they’re talking to on Twitter, and it will help you build your reputation.
• You may change your job or your brand name, but you probably won’t change your own name. So if your circumstances change, you can keep your Twitter account.
• If you want to experiment with alter egos or have a Twitter account for your company, you can do that as well. But you never know when a personal account could come in handy.
• It stops someone else using the name and either impersonating you or becoming ‘that (slightly) famous person with the same name as you’.

B. Start Listening

Think of Twitter as a virtual cocktail party.

I’m guessing you don’t charge straight into a party and start talking to all and sundry the moment you’re in the door. After saying ‘Hello’ you probably spend a bit of time listening to other people’s conversation. For one thing, it’s only polite and shows other people that you are interested in them. And for another, it gives you a chance to tune in to what they’re talking about.

After a while, you’ll notice an opportunity to join the conversation — someone will ask a question, touch upon a subject you know about, or remind you of something in your own experience. And because you’ve been listening to them, you can be reasonably confident that what you say will be of interest. Sometimes it takes a bit of courage to speak up, but once you do you’ll usually glad you’ve broken the ice.

Twitter works the same way. Once you’ve signed up, and said something like ‘Hello world, here I am’, your first priority should be to find and start following other users. That way you’ll get a feel for what people are saying and how they use Twitter.

Following people is easy:

1. When you visit someone’s Twitter page, you’ll see a Follow button directly under their picture.
2. Click the button and their next update will appear on your Twitter page.
3. Each time you refresh your Twitter page, you’ll get the latest updates from all the people you’re following.
4. Once you’re used to this and tired of pressing ‘refresh’, you can use a Twitter client like Twhirl or Tweetdeck to make life easier by automating the delivery process. (Depending on where you live, and what kind of phone you have, you can also use Twitter on your mobile phone, but that’s another story.)

Finding people to follow can seem a little harder, especially at first. But it’s not that difficult.

• Start with your friends – ask who’s on Twitter and where you can follow them. If they really are your friends, they’ll probably follow you back, and hey presto! You’re already in a conversation.
• Add your business contacts – again, ask for the link to their Twitter page. If they use Twitter professionally, they’ll be delighted to add you as a follower, and once again they are likely to follow you back.
• Follow people who interest you – whether you’re interested in celebrities, thought leaders, prominent people in your industry, authors, bloggers or potential business contacts, you’ll find plenty of them on Twitter.

N.b. If you want to keep your social and business conversations completely separate, it’s a good idea to set up separate Twitter accounts for personal and business use!

Don’t worry about being perceived as a stalker — unless they have protected their updates (for approved followers only), people will be very happy to add you to their audience of followers. They may even notice you and follow back — if they see something interesting on your Twitter page …

Once you start following people, spend a bit of time looking through the lists of people they are following (clearly displayed on their Twitter page) and start following the ones you know or find interesting.

C. Start Talking

Just like a real cocktail party, once you’ve listened for a bit you’ll feel the urge to join in. Technically, it’s a piece of cake:

1. Type your message (maximum 140 characters) into the box at the top of your screen.
2. Press ‘Update’.
3. Your message will now be sent to everyone who is following you.

But what should you say?

Here’s a clue – Don’t (always) answer the question ‘What are you doing?’

Will people really be interested in the fact that you’ve just had a cheese sandwich or are reading Hello! Foucault on the train? To be brutally honest — probably not. Unless you habitually perform daredevil rescues, tame lions or make breakthrough discoveries, your average day probably won’t make very exciting reading.

No problem. Just remember the cocktail party — you don’t talk about yourself all the time there (do you?). You talk about things that are likely to interest the other people at the party. Such as:

• responses to their questions
• questions of your own
• titbits of information or advice
• interesting anecdotes
• requests for help
• thoughts or observations
• jokes

That doesn’t sound too difficult does it? It basically boils down to being yourself, showing a genuine interest in other people and engaging them in conversation.

Yet you’d be amazed how many people forget their basic social etiquette online (and not just on Twitter). These are the people who think Twitter is just another broadcasting or marketing ‘channel’ and start bombarding people with sales messages, boasting about their achievements or trying to say something impressively profound. They are the online equivalent of the party bore.

Fortunately you don’t have to listen to them. Just click the ‘Following’ link under their photo and you can stop following them — which means you never have to read another word they write.

Part of the beauty of Twitter is that it’s very hard to spam people — the onus is on you to be interesting, entertaining or helpful. And just like in real life, the way to do this is be yourself, follow your passions and enjoy the company of the people around you.

Follow Me …

You can follow my Twitter updates at http://twitter.com/markmcguinness

I do my best to serve up bite-sized inspiration on Twitter — tips, quotations and interesting links for creative people. I also use Twitter as a virtual water-cooler — somewhere to relax, exchange banter with friends and meet new people. Come and say hi …

More about Twitter

If I’ve whetted your appetite for Twitter, you may like to read my previous articles on the subject:

6 Reasons Why I Was Wrong about Twitter

Get More Followers by Spending Less Time on Twitter

How Does Twitter Affect Your Creativity?

The Top 10 Social Networks for Creative People

Darren Rowse’s blog Twitip is a great source of advice about using Twitter.

And my Delicious Twitter page is where I bookmark interesting Twitter articles and resources as I discover them. Subscribe to the page’s feed to get the latest additions delivered to you.

Are You on Twitter?

If so – what do you like/dislike about it?

If not – have I whetted your curiosity? Why/Why not?

When I first heard about Twitter, I was horrified. Of all the weird and wonderful internet applications I’ve come across, this sounded like one of the more banal and pointless. But recently I’ve been forced to eat my words. I’m a convert. Here’s why…

What is Twitter?

If you’ve never heard of Twitter, this is the basic idea. You sign up for account at Twitter.com Whereupon you’re faced with the question What are you doing? and a box where you can type your answer in not more than 140 characters. When you’re done, hit the update button and your ‘Tweet’ (yes, they really call them that) is published on the Twitter site.

Each time you add a Tweet, it appears on the same page, which also has an RSS feed so people can sign up to ‘follow’ you. As an example, here’s my Twitter feed.

You can also ‘follow’ other people and have their Tweets delivered to you. Here’s the feed of people I’m following.

Why 140 characters? Because that’s the maximum number of characters in a standard text message on a mobile phone (or SMS message on a cellphone as I believe they are known over the pond). So not only can you follow people on the Twitter site, you can also send and receive Tweets on your mobile phone – i.e. you can be connected to Twitter anywhere with mobile phone reception.

Why on earth would you want to do any of that?

Good question. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to do it, so I didn’t, for ages. Even when people I respect were enthusing about it. Over a year ago I remember Russell teasing me about being behind the times, but as far as Twitter was concerned, I was happy to be a Luddite. It sounded like a combination of all the bad things about digital communication rolled into one, with none of the plus points.

Over the past year I’ve become increasingly mystified by the number of apparently sane and intelligent friends and acquaintances urging me to join them on Twitter. To the point where, like Facebook last year, I got the distinct impression that if I didn’t join in, I was missing out on something.

So I gave it a go, and discovered I was wrong about Twitter. It’s amazing. Much more exciting than we thought Facebook was going to be. And even harder to explain to people who haven’t tried it. But I’ll have a go.

To explain why I was wrong, I’ll list each of my objections to the idea of Twitter and in each case give my actual experience of Twitter as a counter-example.

1. What’s the point?

This was the first hurdle. Why would anyone want to know what I’m doing right now? To be frank, my life isn’t exactly an action adventure. I can’t imagine anyone being interested in the mundane details of what I have for breakfast or which supermarket I shop in. Maybe if I were David Bowie or Seamus Heaney, but even then the novelty would probably wear off pretty soon. After months of trying to persuade people that blogs can be more than narcissistic online diaries, why would I want to start writing one in bite-sized chunks?

I was wrong about this in two ways. Firstly, the ‘What are you doing?’ question is a bit of a red herring. Lots of people don’t answer it. Instead they post thoughts, questions, links and replies to other Twitter users. That’s right – people reply to each other’s Tweets. Then they reply to the replies – put the Tweets together, join the dots and you discover that you’re having a conversation. Now you may be familiar with the idea of blogging as a conversation (which it is) but this is much quicker, quirkier and more spontaneous. While there can be hours, days or months between some exchanges via blog comments and trackbacks, the Twitter conversation is practically live, with replies coming within minutes or even a couple of seconds of the original Tweet.

The second reason I was wrong about this is related to the first. Because Twitter is a live conversation, the content of what you say doesn’t have to be earth-shatteringly interesting every time. Next time you’re hanging out with a group of friends, take a minute or two to just sit and listen to the conversation. Chances are a lot of the remarks would sound pretty mundane out of context – but they serve to keep the conversation going.

Grant McCracken has thought about this a lot harder than I have, and describes it as ‘phatic communication’:

This is communication with little hard, informational content, but lots of emotional and social content. Phatic communications doesn’t get much said, but it has social effects so powerful, it gets lots done.

In the world according to Grant, even the humble cat blog can become philosophically and socially acceptable:

When I use Twitter or Facebook to say that I am entertaining my cat, no one, I’m pretty, sure gives a good God damn that I am entertaining my cat. But they are reminded that they have someone called Grant McCracken exists in their network.

Grant picked up the notion of phatic communication from Mark Earls, champion of the idea that human beings are herd animals. Maybe Tweets are the digital equivalent of all the snorts and grunts and trumpetings and flicking of tails by which herds of animals maintain contact and cohesion as they wander the dusty savannah. Digital savannah, anyone? EDIT: since writing this post Mark kindly sent me this excellent article about Twitter, which he wrote for Market Leader last year. It includes this observation:

Twitter is curiously comforting, like being part of a flock of birds on neighbouring roosts, twittering away.

I’d like to say ‘great minds think alike’, but in the Herd universe thinking is overrated and most behaviour is based on imitation. i.e. I probably copied the metaphor from Mark.

2. It will be one more thing to keep up with, like e-mail and blogs

This was a big one for me. Anyone who’s read my e-book on time management will know how challenging I’ve found it to keep up with the deluge of e-mail that comes with running an increasingly web-based business. So the idea of adding yet another stream of digital communication to my e-mail and blog feeds was about as appealing as a hole in the head. How on earth did people manage to keep up?

But the thing is, you don’t need to keep up with Twitter, any more than you need to keep up with everything that’s said by your friends when you’re not there. Unlike e-mail, there is absolutely no pressure to respond. Unlike subscribing to someone’s blog, there is no expectation that you will keep up with everything they write on Twitter. Because it’s a live conversation, you can join and leave it whenever you want. It’s impossible to ‘get behind’ and have to deal with a backlog.

3. The last thing I need is another source of interruptions

Again, I’ve blogged before about the havoc caused by interruptions to focused work, and the need to switch off things like e-mail and phones at certain stages of the creative process. So why would I want to open up another gateway to interruptions and broken concentration?

The answer to this is related to the previous point – because you don’t need to keep up with Twitter, you can switch it on and off whenever you like, with no fear of missing something important or letting a backlog pile up. Anyone who can switch off their e-mail to focus on a piece of writing or artwork, or let a phone call go through to the answerphone and call back later should have no problem switching off Twitter.

I tend to switch on Twitter when I’m ready for a break from concentrated work, or I’ve been working on my own all day and fancy a bit of instant human interaction. For an independent consultant used to working alone, this can be wonderfully refreshing, like having office background noise and banter on tap. Several consultant and freelancer friends have said the same thing to me – even while we’re scattered all over the place doing our thing, we can still feel connected. On quite a few occasions a chance meeting on Twitter has turned into a phone call, private message exchange or meeting up for a coffee and a chat.

When I’ve had enough or socialising, or when it’s time to get back on with the job, I simply shut down Twhirl (my Twitter application of choice).

4. Every time I switch on my mobile phone I’ll be deluged with text messages

I had an image of myself coming to the end of a day of meetings, switching on my phone and being deluged with the hundreds of text messages that had been sent since I last logged on. I’m glad to say that doesn’t happen. Because Twitter isn’t about keeping up and having to follow every single message, when you switch on your phone you only get the Tweets sent from that moment onwards. So unless you’re following thousands of Twitterers (not advisable) the trickle of text messages should be easily manageable.

5. I don’t want to be connected all the time

I had an image of Twitter as being something that most people used via their mobile phones, as a way of being always connected wherever they were. Which made me feel slightly queasy, the way I do if I spend too long at the computer. I don’t know about you, but I feel much better for having plenty of time out of the reach of electronic communications.

While a few people do Twitter all the time, I’ve discovered that many only use it at their computer. Even phone users don’t typically have it on by default – like me, they tend to switch on phone alerts when they’re out and about and feel the need of a little human contact, or when they discover something interesting and want to share it with other people. Otherwise, it’s pretty easy to escape Twitter.

6. It will be yet another internet addiction

Well after playing with Twitter for a few weeks, I don’t think this is true for me. While there is definitely an addictive quality to Twitter, I find it pretty easy to leave it alone. It’s not as if I’m on there all the time, I just like a little now and then. Just to be sociable. Honest. You should try it yourself, then you’ll see what I’m talking about….

Well I guess that’s that kind of thing all addicts say at first. But so far I’ve managed to keep my life on track, get plenty of writing and other work done, and I’m probably spending more time meeting up with people in ‘real life’ because of Twitter. So I don’t think it’s doing me too much harm. Plus it’s free, so I’ve not had to resort to stealing televisions or robbing banks to feed the habit.

It’s a bit like this…

I’ve been thinking about how to explain Twitter to people who haven’t tried it, and the best I can come up with is this analogy. Imagine you’re at a party in a big house and you’ve been having a great time, then suddenly you stumble upon a room at the back you hadn’t noticed before – and find lots of people you met briefly or saw from a distance earlier in the party, but here they’re all sat round in a much more intimate, relaxed group, goofing off and joking around. From time to time the conversation throws up interesting insights or tidbits, but there’s no pressure to be brilliant, or to say anything at all if you don’t feel like it. Your companions are much more approachable than they seemed in other rooms of the party house, and you glimpse a different side to them than you saw before.

So what has Twitter got to do with creativity?

I’m in luck here, as creative powerhouse Tim Siedell has already answered this question on Bad Banana Blog:

Oftentimes, when I’m percolating on an idea or two, I’ll jump into my Twitter stream and just see what happens. While my subconscious continues to chug along, I scan various tweets, click through to links, see what other people are doing and thinking about, and then WHAM! A word, a phrase, a thought spins my brain into a totally new direction. Over the past year, I can think of quite a few ideas directly generated or made better through this use of Twitter. I’m talking client work, not just creative play. As a person who must create on deadline, one of my jobs is to keep my radar up for any source of inspiration. Right now, Twitter is one of my favorite tools for doing so.

Tim’s experience fits the classic approach to generating ideas by combining different perspectives on a problem or topic – which is easy to do in a conversational forum like Twitter. He seems to be using Twitter as a creative randomizer.

Others are using Twitter for creative research. Like Brian Clark who last week invited his Twitter followers to Define what creativity means to you. This morning several of his respondents were lucky enough to be featured in a post on Copyblogger.

In Creative Constraints: Going to Jail to Get Free, Merlin Mann suggests that the 140 character limit on Twitter posts can enable creativity. As a fan of the famously constricted 17-syllable Japanese haiku, I couldn’t agree more. To prove the point, A.E. Baxter is writing Twitter Fiction, which you can follow here on Twitter.

But not everyone sees Twitter as a boon to creativity. Back in December 2006, Kathy Sierra’s post on The Asymptotic Twitter Curve pretty well summed up my reasons for not trying Twitter – used excessively, all those interruptions will destroy your creative flow. Although I believe the interruption-factor is manageable, it’s worth reading Kathy’s post as she describes some genuine pitfalls of digital communications for creative people.

Follow me…

I’ve given you my current take on Twitter, but I’m still getting used to it and certainly haven’t figured it out yet. Some people take a more strategic approach, particularly bloggers looking to build their audience, and while I’m certainly not averse to that happening I don’t feel quite comfortable with it as the main motivation for Twittering. One of the things I like about Twitter is the opportunity for spontaneous, informal, fun conversation, a bit of ‘time off’ from my other writing, so I wouldn’t want to lose those qualities.

So if you follow me on Twitter you’ll get a different version of me – one who doesn’t talk about creativity all the time for a start. If you’re lucky, you’ll also be among the first to hear about links and news of interest to creative professionals – like the free tickets to NESTA’s Innovation Edge conference I Twittered about last week. (If you’re interested in getting links like this, I’m also posting them on my Wishful Linking blog.)

When I started Twittering a few weeks ago, I alerted e-mail subscribers and members of the Wishful Thinking Facebook group to my experiment. I got some interesting feedback, including Rosanne who was candid enough to tell me my Twitter feed was pretty boring, ‘conversations and topics I was not a part of’. That told me that the best way to experience Twitter isn’t to read the feed via a webpage, but to get a Twitter account and join in the conversation yourself. If you decide to follow someone, you can also choose to filter out their replies directed at specific users, so that you only pick up the Tweets they write with the whole world in mind.

Twitter resources

I first came across this excellent video introduction to Twitter on Tim Siedell’s blog:

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Twhirl is the software I used for most of my Twittering. Twitterific is also pretty good.

Other people’s takes on Twitter:

Maki – 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners
Nathania Johnson – Three Ways to Maximize Your Twitter Time for Networking, Marketing and Fun

Caroline Middlebrook – The Big Juicy Twitter Guide

Mike Sansome – Why I Use Twitter- Increase Infosumption without a Headache

Darren Rowse – 9 Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers, How to Use Twitter – Tips for Bloggers and 35 Twitter Tips from 35 Twitter Users.

Chris Brogan – How I Use Twitter to Promote My Blog

David Armano – Twitter + Your “Far Outer Circle”

Hugh MacLeod – My increasingly Twitter’d world

Kevin Dugan – Top 10 Twitter Hacks

How about you?

Have you tried Twitter?

If not – why not?

If so – what do you think of it?

Any tips on using Twitter for creativity?