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Twitter is a micro-blogger platform that allows users to create entries that are only 140 characters in length. These entries are referred to as “tweets”. Originally designed to keep friends and family up to date on what you’re doing, Twitter can also be a great place to share your latest book project, promotional ideas as well as interacting with fellow tweets (folks who twitter) and writers. And yes, you can have a blog and a Twitter page. I have both but I feed my blog into my Twitter site so that my Twitter page gets updated each time I add new content to my blog. There’s an easy application to add your blog feed to Twitter, it takes just minutes to do. Head on over to: Twitterfeed (http://twitterfeed.com/).

Don’t feel bad if the first time you go to Twitter it seems like a mess of conversation, most people feel confused when they first enter Twitter-land and many don’t see the point. When I made my first entrance into micro-blogging none of it made sense to me. It seems a bit useless to be honest but then I got the hang of it and saw the real benefit to having and managing a Twitter account. That’s really the key. Much like any social media tool we’ve discussed in this book it’s more than just having an account: you have to manage it too. But give yourself a little time on Twitter before you give up on it, at some point it’ll either all make sense or it won’t. Either way you’re only out a few hours and, perhaps, a few informational tweets.

To sign up for a Twitter account just go to http://www.twitter.com and complete their short sign up form. Remember to brand yourself! This is important. Once you create a Twitter account you can’t go back and change your name so find something that works for you. Maybe it’s fictionwriter or businesswriter or whatever you want. My Twitter page is @bookgal, (note that all Twitter names are preceded by an @ when referenced on the site you can also find me at http://www.twitter.com/bookgal) this is fun play on words for what I do (and what I love). I don’t recommend that you use an underscore (so stay away from Michael_the_writer) since underscores can be tough to remember and if someone is trying to tweet to you from their cell phone or blackberry those underscore keys can be tricky. Once you have a Twitter account you can immediately start tweeting. The service is completely free and you can also keep up with other people’s tweets by “following” them. Their micro-blog entries will show up on your Twitter home page so you can easily keep track of them. You can also be notified by phone when they add a tweet. You can twitter from anywhere, even your phone. I’ve been known to twitter from my blackberry.

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