How to Build an Effective Twitter Group
As a Futurist I’m often asked what I think about certain social media tools (and most technology for that matter). My answer is always aligned to the thought that ‘if the technology is working for you, and not against you, it’s probably a good thing. Here then are my thoughts about building up a useful Twitter group
You’ll need to define what you want from Twitter. If you’re wanting to use Twitter to gather followers or to treat it as a social expansion model, then you should follow everyone who follows you. BUT if you want to use Twitter for business purposes, then here’s my own approach:
1. NEVER follow anyone who is already being followed by three or more of your current group. The rationale is that Twitter can be a quick source of information for you but you don’t want to receive the SAME ReTweet from 200 people. That just clogs your inbox. Twitter prompting you to follow people followed by others you already know, has NOTHING to do with it being useful for you! Instead, try to follow people where the three people in your group are geographically dispersed across time zones.
2. If you’re wanting to get your message out to more people, send your tweets at a time when the larger population is likely to be online. If you’re in Australia, sending a tweet out at 9pm will probably miss almost everyone in North America for instance, because most people will be in bed! So check your timezones.
3. Retweet good links, but check the link BEFORE you retweet – maybe the tweet and the story aren’t quite what you expect.
4. You can thank people for the retweet but really it’s them retweeting that should be thanks enough
5. Remember that Twitter is one platform. If you have a good thought to share then do so across multiple platforms.
6. NO FAMILY TWEETS. Beyond ‘Exhausted today – hard to focus’ there’s no value in discussing where you are going for dinner, what you’re wearing or what TV show you intend to watch UNLESS you can show it is business related.
So, there’s my guidelines. Not set in stone and won’t work for everyone. Numbers 1&2 are the main ones, and each to their own
Marcus 🙂
A quick note for the history buffs among us – in this month of August fifty years ago, the first components of the Berlin Wall were constructed with rings of barbed wire severing Berlin into visually distinct west and east Berlin. Russia’s main challenge at that time was the 10,000 or so East Germans each…
Read More >Let me start by saying that my Masters of Science qualification is NOT held in economics and with that said I’m holding an interested person’s perspective toward wanting to know ‘why’ and ‘how’. I have some questions and thoughts about the theory of Supply and Demand and would be happy to have some feedback from…
Read More >Below you’ll find this afternoon’s discussion with ABC Darwin radio in which host Vicki Kerrigan chats with futurist Marcus Barber about the emerging research into lab grown meat as a potential addition to or replacement of, existing livestock farming methods. The program streamed live on 105.7 ABC Darwin this afternoon, discussing the University of…
Read More >Continuing the futures discussions on ABC Darwin Radio, this time with Paul Dale who is filling in for Vicki Kerrigan whilst Vicki is handling the breakfast time slot, we discuss some of the conference sessions at the World Futures Conference here in Vancouver You can listen to the audio stream here and cue this…
Read More >My slides from today’s presentation on ‘Getting You Future Right’ can be found at the link below To those at the session, my apologies for the technical challenges and hope these slides can provide more context for you – contact me if you have any questions. Â Access the Slides Here
Read More >Here’s the upload of my conversation with Vicki Kerrigan at ABC Radio Darwin. In it I offer the first three of ten steps designed to help you get your future right. In last week’s session I left Vicki with a question to ponder: Is my life headed where I want it to go, and if…
Read More >Futurist Marcus Barber will be joining ABC’s Vicki Kerrigan in Darwin for the first of an ongoing discussion about the future this Wednesday. Each week on Wednesday afternoon’s, Vicki and Marcus will discuss the future of something, how we prepare for the future, what the future looks like for some industries and other related futures…
Read More >The panel session at the National Manufacturing Week 2011 went well though with four of us on the panel, time was quite compressed. Some really good thoughts from Phillip Chindamo from AIG, Damon Cantwell from Deloitte and Erol Harvey from Minifab, delightfully chaired by Sandra George from SEBN at the City of Greater Dandenong. Rather…
Read More >On Thursday I’ll be part of the panel that wraps up the National Manufacturing Week 2011 in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre under the theme of Meeting the challenges of the next generation of manufacturing with a focus on Innovation and Sustainability. It should be an interesting chat as we consider what…
Read More >There’s lots to like about borrowing ideas from other areas especially where those ideas can lead to a significant positive shift. In the link below, Zaid Ali Alsagoff an educational blogging specialist highlights why the Finnish Education system stands as a potential model to embrace. And whilst there are examples of this type of thinking…
Read More >