Do you use Twitter? How do you use it?

A lot of people talk about it so I tried for a month. I read some guides then started posting every day.

I went a networking event to ‘live tweet’ and got some new followers that way.

After one month of having a good go at it, I’ve decided that it’s not for me right now.

It’s been fantastic, getting a constant stream of news, ideas and links about my clients, my industry, my interests. It’s also very gratifying to get followers you respect and have never met.

Spending attention on Twitter meant I strayed from my previous information diet of emails, podcasts, blogs, newspapers. I missed that so I’ve decided to go back to it.

My information diet somehow more manageable if it doesn’t come to me in an easy-to-digest form like the Twitter stream. Perhaps it’s like choosing to eat wholemeal bread.

What I have learned:

• If you have a distinction between your ‘professional’ self and ‘personal’ self, Twitter is ideal for the professional one. However, it seems that more and more people don’t distinguish between those two personas.
• Don’t follow The Age unless you’re disciplined enough not to click on every link (it’s all interesting). Same goes with other news websites, I suspect.
• Definitely ‘live tweet’ at events. It’s a great way to get people coming up to meet you.
• Think about using Twitter if you don’t already have an established routine of following industry news. Twitter is an all-encompassing information channel.

I think I’ll use Twitter occasionally but I’ve uninstalled the app from my phone. No more tempting bright blue bird.