Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

I’ve been using Twitter for some time now. It has almost replaced my RSS reader completely and to a degree, my reliance on Google to find stuff. If I want to find out the latest gossip or ask for advice on how to use something new, I head straight for Twitter.com. If I want to find the latest world news I simply scroll through all the conversations for the past few hours - everything of real importance is likely to have been discussed there before anywhere else. You won’t just find stories, you’ll find opinions on those stories.

I was in New York recently to take part in a panel discussion about Mobile TV. Whenever I wanted a recommendation for a restaurant within walking distance, or the address of a specific clothes shop, I turned to my Twitter community. Within minutes I had the answers to any question I asked. Some people went as far as to Google restaurants and read the reviews before making recommendations to me.

Here are some tips for new users

Most people will only spend a few seconds reviewing your Twitter page before deciding whether to follow you or not. The more followers they have, the less time they’re likely to spend. So, these tips should help increase the chances of people following you.

1. Use your full name - don’t just display a screen name.
2. Fill in the bio. Include a few words that describe you. Try to make it punchy. Say what you do for a living.
3. Link to a Web page that’s relevant, preferably a blog or Facebook page.
4. Don’t follow everyone you find interesting at once. Wait for some of them to reciprocate, or you’ll look like a stalker.
5. Using a company name as your screen name is ok for some people. Jason Calacanis, Loren Feldman and Mike Arrington are amongst the ‘exception to the rule’ category. I personally prefer to follow people, not companies.
6. Be honest, open and above all, be yourself.
7. Be patient. You won’t build relationships or feel the community spirit over night. It take a little getting used to. Use twitter to have conversations with people for at least a few weeks before forming an opinion.
8. If you’re unsure whether to publish a comment, publish it. Ok, that’s probably not the best tip, but it’s what I do all the time. Sometimes it doesn’t work in my favour but mostly it does as people know that what they see is the real me.
9. Make it easy for others to retweet your message.

If you’re new, you’re not likely to know what a ‘retweet’ is so, I’ll explain - it’s longhand for ‘RT’ and it’s something you do when you wish to promote someone elses twitter message to your own followers. All you do is type RT followed by the message you wish quote and where appropriate, include your own thoughts.

When someone retweets your message, they include your screen name, the letters RT and a space. So, it’s difficult or time consuming for others to RT your message if it’s almost 140 characters long and they’re forced to edit your message. My screen name is @PaulWalsh which means I must keep my messages to 127 characters or less to make it easy for others to retweet without the need to edit. Below is a formula which I think is pretty cool (thanks to Louise - it sums up what I’ve just said in less than 140 characters.

RT formula: <140 - (username + 4) x interestingness = probability of RT

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and drop me a note to say you read this post. It’s always nice to see where people come from.

Have I missed anything? What tips would you give?