TWITTER-ING IT RIGHT!

Twitter is the latest craze! It is a very easy-to-use social networking website that has become the rage these days. Once you sign up with Twitter, you answer one simple question: What are you doing right now? Your answer is an update of your life and is read and "followed" by your contacts, signed up with twitter as well. "Following" is mutual and the cornerstone of keeping people in touch with each other. Here is how you can twitter for maximum fun and benefit...

1. Create a Twitter Account: Visit www.twitter.com and sign up. The best part: It's free! It is a good idea to put up your picture to help people identify you. You can even use twitter from your phone, standard SMS rates apply. It is best to cross check the same with your mobile network provider.

2. Develop your Twitter Personality: Twitter-ing comprises of short and interesting updates of your life. No update can be longer than 140 characters. In order to catch and retain people's attention, it is vital to make your update crisp and appealing. Depending on your target audience, you can tailor your statements.


3. Get Your Family and Friends to Sign Up: You can add contacts to your twitter account from your address books on mail servers like yahoo, hotmail etc., if they are already on twitter. In case they are not, you can invite them to join. You can even search people on twitter who interest you and follow their updates!

4. Connect and Network: It pays to be interesting to your "followers", but it pays more to be interested in your followers; so communicate and network to your hearts content. Even certain institutions, organizations and publications are present on twitter. You can follow them and stay in touch with whatever it is that interests you.

5. Re-Tweet: Even the most attentive follower will not read all your posts. Repost updates you feel are particularly interesting or valuable, spacing them broadly across time. When others do the same, it will become much easier for everyone to stay in touch and twittering will not even eat up too much time.

You can use twitter to connect to people and increase your presence online, be it for business or pleasure. In fact, you can make twitter the centre of your online universe. All profiles across the social media universe can list and link to your twitter page as your primary page. Eventually, it can help you grow your client base, spread the word about your business, advertise, make new friends and more, if you use it right. So go ahead, and explore the endless possibilities!