Twitter is a Totally Different and Refreshing Experience

I actually stole that line (the title) from Marlon Sanders, a Twitter user who wrote "Marlon Sander's 21-Step Cheat Sheet to Profiting from Twitter." In the article, he speaks to meeting people who can promote your product or business for free, connecting to people you like, and going to Twitter to avoid the negativity of forums.

I've only been there a few weeks and have already built a following of over 530. The number of followers is not limited like on Facebook. Weird Al Yankovic (yes, I follow him) has over one million followers. These people are called whales (10,000 or more). Most whales have around 30,000 to 50,000 and aren't celebs but business people. There are manufactured ways to achieve similar results rapidly, but to me it's all about connecting and relationships, so I like to see who's decided to follow me and to respond personally. Some have auto-responders that drop a message automatically, but the personal touch, even thought more work, has a longer lasting effect in building more solid relationships.

I also like the term "follow" as opposed to "friend" on Facebook because who has 5,000 friends? (current Facebook friend max) And Twitter is different in the sense that you have organizations for profit and non-profit as well as individuals. On Facebook you have to be you, an individual, to open an account, just like on LinkedIn which is more business oriented. But Twitter is unique for more important reasons.

• I have tweeps (followers) like:

• GearGrinds " where you can sound-off if you're pissed off. Read/post messages for free"

• happinessisfab "a kick ass entrepreneur who loves teaching others!"

• HolyStable "Author/Songwriter/Producer Celebrate the Miracle of our Savior's love! The sublime experience of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus can transform tender relationships!"

• Petfundango "Teachers, parents, and kids can discover the joy of having a small animal in their lives"

• singleparentuni "Three Single Parents who are passionate about helping single parents be Single, Strong and Successful"

• College_Success " The College Success Foundation provides college scholarships and mentoring to low-income, high-potential students. CFS is a 501(c)(3) organization"

• dudetodad "A dude (@hughweber) and dad (to @emersonweber - born 3/29/09) parenting by a mantra of "Work. Play. Do Good." Founder of @MrsDudesFund for families with Cancer!"

• momlogic "Real advice. Real stories. Real moms"

• buddhistmonk He has nothing written other than "Buddhist Monk"

One issue, however, is that there's not much of an opportunity to really get to know who you're dealing with sometimes. Some on Twitter don't even have a bio (When you click on an individual's avatar you get basic info: name, location, and bio. You may not even get a web site to go to, to get more information), but many have a Facebook account listed where you can get more detail. These are usually the most trustworthy people. And if you know anything about marketing, you certainly want to be "seen," meaning that you define who you are clearly and that you are an actual person. People generally won't deal with someone who hides behind a web site, a bad policy especially for those in business.

Another aspect of Twitter is that it's easy to find new people and organizations to follow. You can use the Twitter "Find People" and search on any given keyword. (Facebook is quite limited in this regard and in recent weeks has actually taken away the advanced search; now you have to rely more and more on knowing someone before they'll "friend" you.) If you're a mom looking for support just type in "mom" and you get tons of individuals and organizations geared to mom related topics. You can also use TwitterDeck a powerful device that lets you see in real time people talking about what ever word or phrase you search on. Great for those looking for information on college life, family problems, business concerns, on and on.

There are great non-profits, for profits, and individuals of all kinds that help create quite an interesting and powerfully diverse community. And if you come to Twitter, that's the key word "community." You want to build a report regardless of your intent. If you just come to sell and not add value, then best you stick to spamming email accounts. Most here frown upon straight sales. Most are very supportive and will even promote you on Follow Friday as someone of note. Look for the supporters, they are the givers, movers and shakers, like my friend FoodSustainable who helps "promote art, artists, events, at no charge." He sent a couple of my e-books to his list of thousands. People are there to help and be helped.

So whether you're looking to pick up some advice, connect, discover, market or sell Twitter is a great community. Come on by, and when you do, look me up (JeffreyPBrown).