If you are new to Twitter or you find it difficult to connect with others, try one of these three approaches (or combine all three):

SMART

Show others that you know your stuff about a technical topic. You don’t have to write the post yourself; in fact, you can link to a post and give credit to the person who wrote the post, showing that you are both smart and friendly.

Examples:

Warning: don’t just tweet links. Every now and then, add something personal to your tweets, such as a short comment about the link. Or mention a favorite hobby that you do when you are not working.

FRIENDLY

Say hello to others who are online. Surprise! They will probably say hello back to you. If you add a personal note, all the better.

Example:
On Friday morning, I said hello to four Tweeps who I saw were online. Guess what? All four said hello back. Here are two of the responses:

Warning: you don’t want to overstay your welcome. Not everyone has all day to sit around and chat (most don’t). And if someone doesn’t respond, try someone else.

RESPONSIVE

If you see someone tweeting how do you do X or asking a question or talking about a problem, respond. You don’t have to know the answer. If you have some ideas for the person, great, but you can also pass on the question by retweeting it to your followers.

Example:
Here’s an example where webpc responds to Eva_Abreu about a Skype question:

Warning: Using any or all of these Twitter styles could be addictive.

So, how do *you* connect on Twitter?

Popularity: 4% [?]

In Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, Shel Israel talks about three ways that Twitter Search is different than Google Search. The other two had occurred to me already, but the first one he mentions I had not thought of on my own. You can guess the other two in the comments. This post talks about finding recent results vs. most visited results.

When one does a search in Google, the most visited posts come up. For example, let’s say we search for “insurance new jersey.” When I search in Google, here’s what I get (under sponsored links and local links):

When I looked this up two days later in Google, I got pretty much the same results. These may not be the most relevant results.

In Twitter, however, you get the most recent. So let’s go back to our example of “insurance new jersey.” Here’s what I get on Friday, April 2, 2010:

And here’s what I get on Sunday, April 4, 2010:

Wednesday, April 7, 2010:

Different, huh? How can this relate to your business? From the research side, if the Google results are just what you need, then you found what you need right away.

But say you want to find others who are conversing about insurance in New Jersey. Twitter may be a better approach. Also, Twitter is showing you what is going on *right now* instead of a cumulative response over time. If there is a sudden flood and you want to find out who is talking about insurance coverage, Twitter would have those results right away. The example Shel Israel gives in his book Twitterville is his own book – when he searches for his name, he gets a popular blog he wrote back in 2004 as the top result. But when he searches on Twitter, he gets most recently discussed tweets, which may be his newest book.

Can you guess the other two ways that Twitter search differs from Google search? I will put the answer in the comments later this week. Also, if you can come up with some good examples of terms (instead of “insurance new jersey” – something relevant to your business or nonprofit) that you might search for in Twitter vs. Google, please put those in the comments.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Many people don’t know what to do with Twitter when they first take a look. How can anyone connect with only 140 characters sent off to who knows where?

I have met many people in my geographical area, New Jersey or more specifically Central New Jersey, through Twitter. Some of them I have later met in person; they continue to be valuable business contacts. I have been saving many of the New Jersey in a folder in my email; I decided to organize some of those Twitter contacts (tweeps? tweeple?) on a page called New Jersey on Twitter. I organized the page by professional area, so if you are not from New Jersey, you may still find valuable contacts on that page in fields such as web services, social media or public relations.

Note: on this post, I used “New Jersey” often as the example. You can substitute your city, state, country or other geographical area.

Suggestions on how one can use Twitter to build a network of people in your area:

Find Some People on Twitter in Your Area

• Use TweepSearch to search bios. You can put in “New Jersey” and get results of all sorts of people with New Jersey in their Twitter bio.
• Put keyword “New Jersey” in http://search.twitter.com/ and see who is talking about New Jersey. Chances are, some of them are from New Jersey. Or try “new jersey network.” Follow the ones that interest you.
• Nearby Tweets – I demonstrated this application at a Twitter research workshop I conducted to find people in New Jersey who were in the pharmaceutical business. We used keyword #pharma to narrow our selection to pharmaceutical tweets.
• UberTwitter for Blackberry – if you have a Blackberry, Geri Rosman recommends this app.
• Follow some people from New Jersey (or your chosen location) and then ask them for suggestions of more people from that location.

Find the Power Users in Twitter in Your Area

How do you know someone is a power user of Twitter instead of a casual user? Large numbers of followers might be a clue, but not always. Look to see the content of their tweets. Are they talking about your area? To others? Do they ever mention networking or Tweetups? A Tweetup is a gathering of Twitter users face-to-face – great way to network with others. Do they have a Twitter list of your geographical area? See next section for more on Twitter lists.

Using New Jersey as an example, I would suggest Eva Abreu, who has a website devoted to social media in New Jersey or njfamilymag who tweets many New Jersey events. Do you have someone in your area that you would consider to be a power user of Twitter? Look to see who that person is following or who follows that person to find more people in your area. Perhaps they also know about networking events in your area.

Create Twitter Lists

Create your own geographic lists. Visit the lists of others in your area. Follow some of those lists.

Examples of Twitter lists organized by location:
http://twitter.com/leoraw/newjersey – my own list (most are some with whom I have had at least one exchange on Twitter – by no means an exhaustive list of Twitterers in New Jersey)
http://twitter.com/Brightfarm/areastuff – Barbara Lopez lives in Sacramento.
http://twitter.com/eric_andersen/boston-social-media – Eric Anderson’s list of social media in Boston.
http://twitter.com/mominisrael/israeli-bloggers – Hannah Katsman’s list of Israeli bloggers

Some areas are harder for forming social media connections than others. Ron Graham, who used to live in New Jersey but now lives in Akron, Ohio, put together this Social Media Akron Facebook page in the hopes that he could build a local Akron Twitter list. Know any business people in Akron? Tell them to connect with Ron Graham.

Share Your Location Feature

New on Twitter is a Share Your Location feature. This seemed to go live as I wrote this post. Not much information yet.

What have been your experiences connecting with others locally via Twitter? Feel free to share the good, the bad and the I-don’t-get-it.

Photos: upper left – Boston Public Gardens (Wikimedia), bottom left – Sacramento (Wikimedia), upper right – Cape May, lower right – Jerusalem

Popularity: 14% [?]

When one posts a link on Twitter, one only has 140 characters available. This has resulted in an increase in demand for link shortening services.

Whenever I can on Twitter, I try to use the actual URL of the post instead of a shortening service. Two reasons:

1. People can then see the URL directly and know what they are clicking on. It also gives some branding to the domain name.
2. If I search for that domain using Twitter search, I can see what has been tweeted of that domain.

So this is the code that you need to remember:

What’s that 1234? That’s the number of the post. If you go to the Admin section of your WordPress blog, you will see the number of the post when you hover with your mouse over the Edit button of the post. As an example, this is the link to this particular post:

It’s a good idea to memorize that ?p=POST_NUMBER so you can use it in a hurry some day when you want to tweet something with the original URL, and you don’t have much time.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Eva Abreu is exploring ways that people use Twitter to connect and produce new business relationships. In her column for the Home News Tribune, she wrote: “I recently posted a query asking my “followers” for Twitter business success stories for this column.” One of the two stories she highlighted was how I connected with Kacy Campion Renna of CCW Insurance.

Leora Wenger (@leoraw), a Highland Park-based freelance web designer, met Kacy Campion Renna (@NJInsuranceGirl), owner of CCW Insurance Company, Belmar, on Twitter through another user, Deborah Smith (@jerseybites), a Social Media consultant in Ocean County. After about four months of exchanging informal tweets, Kacy needed emergency help with her website. They connected by phone, and Leora solved the initial problem, which then led to their business relationship.

Amy Boroff (@njdevmgr), development manger for Junior Achievement of NJ in Princeton, discovered one of her new Twitter followers was Kate Specchio (@ecsfoundation), co-founder of Morris County-based The Emily C. Specchio Foundation. Through their tweets, Amy recognized the potential for working together. They continued to communicate on Twitter in real-time, after working hours, to learn more about each respective organization. After several weeks, JANJ submitted a proposal to ECS for funding for an inaugural event: the Women’s Future Leadership Forum. The ECS Foundation accepted the proposal and granted funds to help support aspiring female high school students become future leaders.

Have you experienced a business success story through Twitter? How has Twitter helped you?

•   •   •

Coming next week to Websites for Small Biz blog: highlighting a specific post (or posts) on your home page in WordPress.

Popularity: 3% [?]

What is a Twitter Landing Page? Why create one?

Twitter presents many people to you in a stream; you are given one link in your profile to make a presentation. Some professionals develop a unique Twitter Landing Page to introduce themselves to new people. To learn more:

• ProBlogger: Develop a Twitter Landing Page
• Unbounce: What is a Twitter Landing Page?

And here are ten pages that I found noteworthy:

Glenn Hilton

Glenn Hilton’s page features a large graphic with a photo in the upper left corner that changes upon refresh and a Twitter-like look. He explains his use of Twitter, and he has a comment form at the bottom.

Meryl K. Evans

Meryl K. Evans uses her page to give a basic introduction to herself. The main graphic on the page is her logo – the other eye-catching elements are the subscribe buttons – clearly, she wants you to come back and read more!

Eric Hall

What I like about Eric’s page is his photo: it’s warm and welcoming. Makes one feel comfortable approaching him to do business. Under the company logo he has a search box, giving one the opportunity to find out more in an easy fashion.

Joanna Young

Joanna’s photo of an orange umbrella surrounded by many gray umbrellas with “Power up your words and find your writing voice” catches my eye. Yes, the image does exude confidence.

Leah Jones

The Twitter landing page of Leah Jones has one big image – her company logo. On this page we learn about “phatic communication” and how she wanted to hate Twitter when she started.

Matthew Lyle

I like the black-and-white sophistication (matched with monochrome photo) and clarity of Matthew’s page.

Beth Kanter

Beth’s page features both a smiling, friendly photo of herself as well as an action photo, showing her presenting. The page has a multitude of information and links to more about non-profits in general.

Heidi Cool

Heidi welcomes readers to her page, explains her web development business and social media philosophy, and tells her Twitter following policy. The main imagery is her photo, which has a black background, as does the background of her site.

Laura Fitton

Laura uses a lot of icon imagery on her Twitter Landing Page. The background is basic white, and the yellows of her books on the right stand out against the abundant use of the sky blue color on her page. Her attractive photo, with its dark brown background, is in the upper left, a place one’s eye usually looks first.

Leora Wenger

Finally, here is my page – I emphasized imagery and design with just enough text to relay the message. Plenty of links to click on this page if you want to find out more.

Thank you to Debra Askanase and Nedra Weinrich for suggesting some of these pages.

Upcoming Posts – Your Input Wanted

Do you have a page on your website (or on a friend’s) that you feel is noteworthy? Feel free to include the link in the comments.

Popularity: 10% [?]

On Friday I enjoyed a face-to-face meeting with 4 others (Annie Boccio, Jennifer Wilner, Eva Abreu and Joanna Carides). Annie is pictured talking into Eva’s laptop because we had our “tweetup” (where folks on Twitter meet in person) at the same time as a group in northern New Jersey. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hear well with the Skype, so it was difficult to connect well with our friends in the north (Joe Mull, Dorrie Rifkin, Chris Kieff, Amy Koehler, khk2000, Cathy Farber, John Herman). But we had time to talk amongst ourselves about our own businesses and lives.

What are some reasons one might want to meet others in person?

1. You might get a new client.
2. You might learn something that will help your business.
3. You might help someone in the group get a new client or help them with their business.
4. Your work involves staring at a screen all day or talking into the telephone (mine certainly does!), and you love the idea of talking about your work in person, with real live people.
5. You like meeting new people.

Any more suggestions for why one would attend a face to face meeting?

I also ran a Twitter Research Workshop at the Highland Park Public Library on Monday night, so it was a good face-to-face week for me. It was great to have Dhaval Jani and Haim Cohen at the workshop, as they helped answer some of the participants’ questions.

Do you have opportunities to network in person where you live? How have you found the experience? Eva Abreu organized the tweetup on Friday, and she used http://www.meetup.com/ for the invites and feedback. If you want, you can use it to join our Central New Jersey group or to organize your own in your area.

If you have suggestions on how the audio for Skype can be improved, feel free to say so in the comments.

Update: See Eva’s video -

Popularity: 4% [?]

In preparation for a Twitter Research Workshop at our library, I gathered these links for the workshop attendants and for you. Some are for specific professions such as real estate or small business, some are beginner links and others are tools for research. If you happen to be on Twitter at about 8 pm Eastern Time on Monday night, November 16, feel free to help the workshop attendants by following me and tweeting replies to their questions.

100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Twitter Research
Directories such as Twemes and Twubble. Conversations by Congress (Tweet Congress) and by lawyers (LegalBirds). More.

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A non-fanatical beginner’s guide to Twitter
“Pretend you’re visiting a foreign country where you don’t speak the language– there are always a few basic phrases you want to have in your back pocket.”

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How To Twitter – First Steps and a Twitter Glossary
When you say something on twitter, it has to be under 140 characters…called a tweet. It’s a noun and a verb. “Oh, I saw this tweet…” and “He was tweeting all day.”

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27 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Can Use Today
“If you use Twitter for marketing your small business, I sorted thru tons of apps to bring you the most helpful.”

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25 Small Business Twitter Tips
“Personal life reigns… but not too much. Add in some of your personal life while you are using Twitter. What is important to remember is that you are using Twitter for your business generation as well. The people following you want to know that you are REAL… but not to the point where they are hearing about what you are eating or where you are driving.”

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Using Twitter @replies for Research
“It’s not enough to ask your network questions – when they respond you must follow through.”

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5 Great Ways to Use Twitter for Real Estate
“Start thinking of Twitter as an educational resource…a networking resource…keep in touch with your clients.”

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Top Five Twitter Travel Lists
With the new Twitter Lists feature, it’s super simple to follow frequent travelers around the globe.

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5 Terrific Twitter Research Tools
TweetStats, Trendrr, Tweetmeme, WeFollow and Xefer

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Twitter for Research: Why and How to Do It, Including Case Studies
Ask and search. Monitter, Twitterlocal and Friendfeed. Reply and hashtag.

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See my earlier post: 20 Twitter and Blog Links to Give Your Friends, which includes tips for librarians and for chiropractors.

On a different topic, I am gathering links to small business blogs to feature in an upcoming post. Do you have a small business blog or a blog that can provide useful information for those in small business that you would like to include?

Popularity: 1% [?]

What is a hashtag? It’s a word proceeded by a #. Example: #blogs

How do you know what hashtag to use?
You will probably want to use existing hashtags. So you will need to search to find what those are. Using existing hashtags is important if you want others to find your tweets, others who are talking about the same topic.

In some cases, for example, you are running an event, you might want to make up your own. So you need to make sure it is a unique hashtag. You can just search for the hashtag, and if you don’t find it, use it!

Some ways to research existing hashtags:
What I usually do is go to http://search.twitter.com and type in words related to what I am researching. For example, if I want apple pie recipes, I might try #pie, #applepie or #pierecipes to see if anyone is using those.

This site, Twubs, has many hashtags listed, some that are for specific groups or events. So getting back to my apple pie example, I found #cooking there. That gives me the idea to try #baking.

Tagalus has thousands of hashtags defined. You can define a new one, too. Unfortunately, it didn’t help at all with my apple pie recipe search.

Getting back to apple pie, I went to Twitter Search and tried a few different hashtags and then a hashtag combined with the word apple. Finally, here are some people interested in apple pie:

What are Trending Topics?
Trending Topics can be found on the Twitter Search page or on your main Twitter page. Often these topics have hashtags. Here are the trending topics on November 4, 2009:

You can also go to What the Trend? to learn more about the current trending topics.

Use hashtags to connect in a fun way:
One can use Twitter to connect with others – if you can’t think of what else to tweet, try Jack’s hashtag in the morning:

You might think, well, this is silly, but on the other hand, you might discover that Jack has a great business idea for moving your small biz site along. Or someone else does who responds to your hashtag. It’s like an ice breaker at a party.

Read more about Twitter hashtags:

• HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Twitter #Hashtags
• The Twitter Hash Tag: What Is It and How Do You Use It?
• Ultimate Guide to Twitter Hashtags
• HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business

Popularity: 3% [?]

I will be conducting a Twitter Research Workshop in November at the Highland Park Public Library in New Jersey. Here are some ideas on how one can use Twitter to research a topic.

How can one use Twitter for research? One can divide this into two approaches: active and passive.

Passive Twitter Research

Let’s say you want to explore email newsletters for your business or organization. A passive twitter approach might be to go to one of these Twitter search and type “email marketing” or “email newsletter” or “html email” and see what you get.

I went to http://search.twitter.com/ and typed in “email newsletter.” Here’s what I got:

So how can one proceed with this? One can now ask macmktg what she recommends for an email newsletter. Or one can examine the WordPress method that mmangen suggests.

When I type in “email marketing,” I found at least 2 people recommending a post:

Active Research

When I suggested asking macmktg what she recommends for a newsletter, that would be an example of active research – one is no longer just reading the information on the web, but actually researching out to a person on a topic in which that person may have some expertise.

Way back in August I asked about this topic of email marketing services while participating in my favorite chat group, @sbbuzz. (More on sbbuzz on this post). I got many response from some small business experts, such as:

• working_arts: @leoraw constant contact – very easy to use #sbbuzz
• joemagennis: @leoraw Just moved from ConstantContact to AWeber. Scheduled messages according to signup date, number of posts etc very versatile #sbbuzz
• bradfordshimp: @leoraw I am in love with MailChimp. Super user friendly, and (this is important) fun! #sbbuzz
• bradfordshimp: @leoraw MailChimp doesn’t have triggers though, which is big for one of my clients. We use Big Response for that. #sbbuzz

More on this sbbuzz summary.

Here are the websites of those services that were recommended: MailChimp, Constant Contact, Big Response, AWeber

Update from Bradford Shimp: “MailChimp now does offer triggers via their autoresponders, so I have moved completely to their service. I highly recommend MailChimp.”

I also got a response via my contact form from Andrew Creem of Data Buddy who suggested his website: www.databuddy.com.

Have you had a good experience researching a topic via Twitter that you would like to share?

Popularity: 2% [?]