First off, I would not consider myself to be a Twitter “power user”, but I do use Twitter a lot. The main reason I use and love twitter is because I treat it as a curated list of great content. It’s curated by people I trust, respect and have actively chosen to keep up with.
So, how do I actually use this service? I actually get asked this quite often by friends and students. I’ll try and break it down into the simplest form, people I follow and people I add to a list.
Following on Twitter
As of this writing, I’m currently following less than 150 people. The people who are on this list fall into one of the following categories:
- Family Members
- Personal Friends
- Close Co-Workers
- Companies or Organizations I respect or own
If you don’t fall into one of these categories, then you don’t get a follow. Please don’t take it personally. I probably really like you and think you have a lot of great things to say, but you are not quite “follow” status in my book. Instead, you will most likely land yourself on one of my Twitter lists.
Lists on Twitter
I have a handful of lists on Twitter. Here they are:
- Atlantians – Interesting people or places in Atlanta, GA
- Scrantonians – Interesting people or places in Scranton, PA
- Techies – Developers, Teachers, Designers – all things tech
- Good Work – Pastors, Churches, Organizations – only ones I support
- The Iron Yard – Everyone I work with
- The Iron Yard : Students – People who have been gone to TIY
That about sums it up.
You’ll notice, I don’t have a Comedians, Celebrities or Athletes category. This is mainly because I try to limit myself from going down crazy rabbit holes on the internet. Also, by only tracking people that actively have a part of my life it helps keep the content relevant to me.
Twitter is a great resource, just make sure you find the way to use it that makes sense for you.