“If you’re not using Twitter yet, you may feel as if you’ve missed out,” writes Rafe Needleman at the beginning of his helpful and encouraging Webware post, “Newbie’s guide to Twitter.” Personally, I’m still struggling to get a handle on Twitter, and I’d probably find Needleman’s encouraging words more encouraging if he had not posted them on March 15, 2007 – a million years ago in SMT (Social Media Time). Still, there’s no time like the present and luckily. . .
Yesterday, in response to my TCC (Twitter Confusion Confession), my friend @janelerner recommended that I check out Jessica Hische’s “Mom, this is how twitter works.”
@jessicahische’s insights into the very basics of Twitter protocol is a masterful must-read for all TCT (Totally Confused Twitterers) like me. You’ll also find it useful if you tweet regularly but are not entirely clear on some of the SNI (Surprisingly Not Intuitive) aspects of who receives which tweets and why.
With incredibly clarity in the “who sees what” section of her document, Hische makes it clear that there’s a big difference between whether I put “@jessicahische” at the beginning of a tweet or anywhere else in my tweet. Whether or not @jessicahische is following me (@ethansalwen) will also impact my tweeting, and my tweeting will be affected if others are following the both of us. (Unlikely. @jessicahische has 5,005 followers; I have 12.)
Hische explains the critical fundamentals with no fuss about reasons for tweeting or strategies for doing so. This is refreshing. For all the gobs of Twitter advice I encountered today on the Web, I have found none with the the basic TDI (Twitter Driving Instructions) as clearly presented as those of Hische.
(If your Titter IQ is equal to or — gasp! — lower than mine, check out the “Twitter in Plain English” video at the end of this post.)
Even if this basic information is as old to you as Needleman’s post, like @janelerner, you’ll appreciate the ability to forward this Hische’s “mom resource” to any TCT friends coming to you with a TCC.
By the by. . .
Hische is one heck of a quality act in the world of creative professionals. This is made fairly clear simply through her stunning work featured on her elegant website, but even more so in this wonderful interview she gave at the recent Semi-Permanent event in Australia, where she was a speaker.
And for Twitter in plain English. . .