Well, I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I was going to like Twitter…but I gotta say, I’m a believer. Now, I’m not in Terry Storch’s camp…it’s not going to replace my blog but it certainly supplements it.

So after a few months using the twitter and learning a thing or two I thought I’d share what I’ve learned and found (thanks to a nudge from @hardlynormal).

First how I use twitter. I use it as a communication and connection tool. I use it to connect people to the blog by announcing and link to new posts, I use it to connect to people I meet and stay in touch, I use it to communicate and give a glimpse into the life of a guy trying to change the way the church communicates. Some see twitter as one way…I’m not in that camp. I have conversations either privately (direct) or through replying. What I’ve enjoyed with replying is that it gets others involved in the conversation. I’ve also used it for sharing and receiving information. What movie should I see, what’s a good tool for this, etc.

And now for a few lessons that work for me, they may or may not work for you. Your call.

1. I don’t follow everyone that follows me. I follow most of them, but only if after checking out their twits I find their information and connections both useful and not overwhelming.
2. there is too much of a good thing. A few tweets a day is great, and only when I have something worth some sort of value
3. Yes, that means I don’t need your just woke up or are going to bed.
4. When talking about someone don’t use their name use their twtter id. Yes I’m talking to you @matthewbarnett.
5. Retweeting (RT) is great…but don’t be a spam monster with it. Only RT stuff that is really interesting that you want to tell everyone about.

And now for a few tools:

• the greatest tool of them all: Twitter Fox this is what really sucked me in and made it easy to drink the coolaid.
• Twitter Counter : find out just how cool of a twit you are.
• TwitterSnooze : so much better than unfollowing, but just as effective
• just tweet it : a great directory of twits
• TwitterBerry keeps me connected on the go
• Qwitter : I don’t use this, my ego couldn’t take it.

So that’s my twittering journey so far…how about you? Even better yet, how are you using this in ministry?

Oh…and if you’re not following me, what are you waiting for?

Tags: @holycowcreative, follow, twit, twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 11:24 pm and is filed under communicating . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.