This is a public service announcement for anyone who makes what I think is an AWESOME decision to follow me on Twitter (@JD_Dillon). Everyone uses Twitter a bit differently. Sure, I only have 2,288 followers as of this moment. Those certainly aren’t Jane Bozarth or Justin Bieber numbers. Has anyone ever put those 2 names in the same sentence before? Anyway … I take my Twitter responsibilities seriously and hope to provide value to anyone who includes me in their feed.
Before you become the receiver of my 28k+ 140-character messages, here’s what you should know …
I only use Twitter for professional stuff.
You’ll only be seeing stuff related to workplace learning and performance coming from me on Twitter. I may reference the odd cultural event or sports moment, and I’m sometimes known to make snarky comments in reply to others’ tweets. I’m actually in a Bon Jovi song title/comment exchange with Aaron Silvers as I write this. Overall, its pretty much straight professional stuff in 140 characters. I save the personal stuff for Facebook and Snapchat – and a bit of a blend between the 2 on Instagram.
I live tweet – A LOT!
How else do you get to 28,000 tweets in 6 years without Bieber-like popularity. I live tweet from every professional event I attend, typically adding 200+ messages to my feed during multi-day conferences. In doing so, I try not to just repeat what presenters are saying – unless its particularly interesting. Rather, I try to add my own perspective or insight to the information already being shared by others via the event hashtag.
I’m a Twitter chat addict.
This is another way to get to 28k tweets. I typically participate in at least 3 live Twitter chats every week. I’m a regular at #lrnchat on Thursday evenings, #GuildChat on Friday afternoons and #chat2lrn every other Thursday afternoon. I sometimes pop into #ESNChat, #PKMChat and a variety of other topical convos. Twitter chats helped me build my PLN and introduced me to some of the best and brightest in global L&D. I highly recommend jumping in if you notice me throwing around tweets that start with “A1) …”
I retweet with value in mind.
I read almost everything I retweet before I share it. If I didn’t read it, then it came from a VERY reliable source that I trust to share only the awesomest of stuff. I don’t just retweet for visibility or to be part of the conversation.
I GIF because I care.
IMO Twitter should be informative AND fun. To add a little personality to my 140-character messages, I like to include GIFs now and then. In doing so, I’m particular about my GIF selection and try to convey the context and emotion of the message via imagery. I also aim for subtlety as opposed to BIG HUGE OUTLANDISH images.
What about you? What would be included in your public service announcement for your Twitter followers? Would it be different for your other social networks?
