A friend of the blog emailed this question last week.  He’s new on Twitter and wants advice on getting going. What would you say?

Q: How does anyone know I’m on Twitter?  Spam?!

A: People know you’re on Twitter because you use it
Okay, let me put some meat on that bone.

Why do you want to tweet?
You ask how does “anyone” know.  You probably don’t have enthusiasm to communication with just anyone though.  So think some about groups you care about. Are  there shared topics, experiences, businesses, or geographies that connect the people you want to talk to? Would these audiences prefer your personal and professional comments separately, or mixed together?

Think in terms of what groups matter to you; where you have something to say. Where do you want to be part of the buzz?

At some point the number of followers is meaningless. There are studies that show little difference in impact between people with thousands vs. tens of thousands of followers.  So, think about what audience matters to you, and what you can do that matters to them.

People often first find out about you because you follow them
Anyone who is seriously using Twitter has a nose for “follower spam.” Here’s what a few Twitter friends said they look for before returning a follow:

Continued