tweet, tweet

Soundtrack: Cell Block Tango from Chicago (SO CATCHY!)
Word Count: Wrote about 2600 today, in a cafe. Most of them make no sense due to an unfortunate caffeine high but it was nice to get out for a while :)

As of yesterday I am officially on Twitter!

For months (basically ever since I started reading magazines on writing including how to build a social media platform--ooh, look at me, all fancy and writer-ly) I've heard about how important connecting is as a writer. Not saying I can legitimately call myself a writer, but I think that connecting with other people that share the same interests, no matter how professional you are, is a fun and rewarding experience.

So, what are the ins and outs of tweeting up a storm? I've turned to my best bud, the internet, for some helpful tips.

1. One hundred and forty characters. That's all you get per post. This is like the epitome of editing--you have to condense everything you say. It makes reading other people's comments a lot easier, especially if you're slightly ADD like me, but it can also be a little stressful when you start nearing 140 and the count goes bold. Twitter is punchy and straight forward, and that's why it's so popular.
2. @yourmum. If you want to reply to someone, just type @ then their user name. It's a lot easier to work up the courage to do that than actually talk to them--especially if "they" are a published author, recognized musician, etc. This is a nice and easy way to talk to people you admire or are interested in without really talking to them...?
3. #thislistissoincrediblystupid. To express an opinion or tag a tweet with an emotion, a topic, etc just type # and something, for example: "GHANA WON!!! #worldcup"
   
4. It's pretty easy to find your friends because most people have their full name or either their profile or as their actual user name (for example, my user name is erikaloggin). It's also easy to locate famous authors, publishing houses, agents and musicians--like I've just done. I'm now officially following Maureen Johnson, John Green, Hannah Moskowitz, Megan Crewe and many more.
5. Following--but not in a creepy way! To be subscribed to someones tweets you go to their profile and click "Follow". Yes, after thinking about it a little, it's basically the creepiest terminology they could have used, second only to a "Stalk" button. I guess it makes sense, though, considering how many people tweet via cell phone wherever they are.
6. Describe yourself in 160 words or less. That's how long your bio can be--max. This was a major challenge for me considering most writers use their bio to talk about how many books they have published, when they're coming out, etc. I wrote about how I like singing along--badly--to Leonard Cohen.
7. Make a name for yourself. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter--they're all valuable tools to help get your name out there. For instance, when I Google my name the first eight links are actually me! Okay, maybe not so impressive, but the very first search result is my new Twitter account followed by my Nerdfighter account (which, to be honest, I never go on), my blog and my DeviantArt page. Oh, and a newspaper article about my school, exciting stuff.

Well, that's basically a history of my time on Twitter--all 24 hours of it. What about you? Are you a Twitter fanatic, or one of the firmly opposed? Somewhere in between?

Quite frankly, I never really saw the point of Twitter but now that I'm on it, I have to say, it's kind of fun :3 Except, of course, that several people use way too many exclamation marks. You've only got 140 characters, why not spend half of them making every word sound exciting and flashy? I can think of a few good reasons...

If anyone wants to be friends on Twitter--or, God forbid, follow me--I'd love to see you there. I'm known as erikaloggin. I know, not the most creative user name, but every other variation of my name that I could think of were taken. Well, at least it suits me.

Love,
Erika