We’ve seen many articles inTech Beat and elsewhere that extol the virtues of “social media” and they often list the main sites: Facebook, LinkedIN, YouTube and Twitter. Social media sites allow people to connect with others and provide easy tools to contribute content. But when I attend local tech events and someone asks how many people are on Twitter, only a few hands go up. And usually some of those only go up half way indicating, “I have a Twitter account, but I don’t use it.”

This is certainly understandable. Twitter is an enigma to most people. It’s what’s called a microblogging system. That is you have to limit your posts to a certain number of characters. In Twitter’s case it’s 140. You can read why that number was chosen and more history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter.

People who think Twitter is a waste of time usually raise questions like these:

• What could I possibly write of interest in only 140 characters?
• What could someone else post in 140 characters that could be interesting to me?
• Why would I care about what someone is eating for lunch?

Additionally, the very name of the service makes it sound trivial. And posting to Twitter is called a “tweet”. A term I can hardly say out load without choking. The surface triviality of Twitter has led to jokes by nearly every comedian I have seen on TV, and this further spreads the popular notion that it has little value.

The truth is, Twitter is not for everyone. What is? However, if you are interested in making connections with new people, learning new information, staying on top of news, or getting help from experts, there may be no better resource available.

 First, the basics: Twitter is estimated to have 200 million users with 50 million tweets per day. While that’s not nearly as large as Facebook’s 500 million, it’s not an insignificant number. And, unlike Facebook, Twitter is an open, public forum (unless you protect your tweets), so anyone can follow and communicate with anyone on the system. Here are 4 steps to take if you want to try becoming involved in Twitter:

Follow Others

The first thing to do when you sign up for Twitter is to begin following interesting people. Since I am involved in technology, social media and web development, I follow people interested in the same topics. And many of them follow me back. But I also follow people interested in writing and kayaking, a couple other personal interests. You can find interesting people to follow by using Twitter’s search. Enter a term or phrase and see who is including that in their posts. Read what they are saying. If they are offering interesting information follow them. You can also see who they are following and follow those people as well. Look for Twitter icons on your favorite sites or blogs and follow the people behind those icons. Use a service like Twellow (http://twellow.com) to find people who share your interests or who live in your area. I follow a great group of people in Humboldt County and I learn so much from them.

Share Information

One of the best ways to get followers (don’t use automated programs to boost your numbers) is to post interesting information. If you publish content on a website, let people know about your latest posts. When you find something interesting, share that resource on Twitter. Use a URL shortener to save characters and maybe have room for a personal comment on that resource. Since your posts will also be findable through search, others may find you and begin following you. They may even “retweet” your posts. Retweeting others is also a great way to share information and gain followers.

Ask Questions

Maybe you have a problem you are trying to solve or maybe you’re looking for a great Thai restaurant in a city you’re visiting. Toss a question out there on Twitter. You might be surprised at the answers you get back, and the new friends you might make.

Learn the Tools

Twitter’s open platform has allowed an ecosystem of mostly free third party applications and services that can greatly enhance your experience. For example use an application like HootSuite or TweetDeck to post to Twitter and other social media services and to organize your tweet stream to be more efficient. A great resource for finding and sharing tools is http://oneforty.com.

While Twitter can seem both vacuous and bewildering in its surface simplicity, putting a little effort into it can yield both personal and professional benefits. The best source for learning more about Twitter and many other social networks is Mashable: http://mashable.com. And of course, you can always follow me: @bobmorse.

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Bob Morse is a web developer and consultant. You can find him at http://morsemedia.net, Facebook: http://facebook.com/morsemedia, and on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bobmorse. He is a long time member of the Redwood Technology Consortium.

Copyright 2010 Eureka Times-Standard Newspaper. The print version of this article first appeared in the 7/28/10 edition of the Times-Standard.