Patty Mooney writes:

Twitter catapults any writer into haiku mode.

[Reply]

Piano Lessons by QM writes:

Nice tie in between Twitter and article writing but it’s not the same thing. 140 characters does not an article make.

[Reply]

Leanne Hoagland-Smith writes:

Learning to be succinct is an ongoing process. Twitter helps with that and expands your vocabulary.

No 140 characters does not make an article, but it is a good interest feeder and can be used to drive additional traffic to your articles. I use bit shortner.

Again, marketing is all about attraction and this leads to the question how can you attract in 140 characters?

[Reply]

Gary Clark writes:

Twitter is like standing in the middle of a huge crowded shopping mall and yelling at the top of your voice – “here I am.”

Yell that often enough and throw in information the listener can use, while answering their “what’s in it for me” question – in 140 characters or less, and people will start to look for you. Pull marketing comes of age.

[Reply]

jagmohan writes:

i have learnt a lot by your essay. Some times I would just tweet it is raining, it is hot or it is cold. your article has deifnitley given me an insight about what to tweet.

With regards

[Reply]

Barbara McNichol writes:

Marc
Enjoyed your article. May I post it on my blog, giving you credit of course? nonfictionbookeditor.com
Best, Barbara

[Reply]

Jim Schakenbach writes:

This is interesting, but it’s a stretch. Twitter, texting, Facebook, and MySpace actually do a lot of damage linguistically. Unfortunately, the Internet enables no thought to go unpublished. Twitter’s 140 character limit rewards brevity for brevity’s sake as a technical convenience.

Hemingway fully understood the power of brevity and knew how to create a strong narrative. He was a master storyteller. That is sadly lacking in digital communications today. Too many people have stunted vocabularies and simply don’t know how to craft language beyond 140 characters.

[Reply]

Jeffrey B. Allen writes:

I could not agree more.
If I see the letters LOL one more time I am going to jump out of my skin. I think Hemingway would be turning over in his grave if he saw the sloppy writing that is invading our everyday communications.

September 28, 2009 at 7:21 AM

[Reply]

Larry Wentz writes:

Great Article – I’ve found that on Twitter that you really need to “get to the point” which also is what you need to do in articles.

Tweets – “140 character novels that get to the point without the filler”

[Reply]

Doreen writes:

You are so right. Learning to write succinctly is necessary on Twitter. Using it has helped me get to the point in my writing more quickly. And blogging has released creative juices in me that had previously lay dormant. I am embracing the new technology. Even bought me a new iPhone! (which I love.)

[Reply]

Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

Tweety tips! Really observant ones.

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

My biggest gripes about fellow tweeters is that don’t tweet complete thoughts and/or will fill whole pages with FF (Follow Friday)which is honestly just spam. Another thing that I don’t think people realize it that, their last tweet of the day? Is what people see and judge them by, if they are finding followers organically. Complete thoughts though, even in a reply, that is the biggest thing. So YES! Good info here indeed.

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

OMG.. I HATE that! Posting and then looking to see what I wrote and realizing that NO! I did not proofread my comment well enough. Waa! Just so whoever on the planet knows? I realize I should have written: My biggest gripes about fellow tweeters ARE.. not is! Gads.

[Reply]

Nelida Kreer writes:

Great suggestions, I could not agree more. It is not about whether you can write a 140-char article – which you cannot – but to learn to get to brass tacks, and say what you want to say in as few words as possible. Also, another Tweeter-virtue: it teaches you to stay focused and niche-oriented; otherwise people won’t follow you and you won’t follow people. And also, a great bonus was left out: Twitter is a great source of ideas for your article writing! Practically inexhaustible, and the sky is the limit…..I have only lately started Twitting, and am quickly becoming addicted.

[Reply]

Nelida Kreer writes:

Ooops. Correcting some typos: “Another Twitter virtue…” And “I have only lately started tweeting…”. Got my vowels mixed up, sorry folks….

[Reply]

Julian writes:

Twitter has certainly forced me to be more focused and to learn how to catch a readers interest. You build your skill level the more you tweet. The twitter community lets you know how you are doing with your content.

[Reply]

Rich writes:

Besides improving my conciseness skills, and pushing traffic to my articles and blog, the best use of Twitter is RESEARCH!

I watch what people tweet about, showing their interest, and they often include an article that helps me start researching that topic for mor info to write a full article.

There are many Twitter Research tools available, and most will list “most tweeted” etc.

[Reply]

Barry writes:

Marc, Have you noticed how many younger people can not write? Your points about simplicity and being brief are excellent. However, too many of our youth are being thrust through their schooling without being able to read and write.
Also notice how many words are being slaughtered by the internet lingo.
Oh well, just thought I would add a few thoughts.

[Reply]

Marc writes:

Barry,

All the more reason article authors need to be role models of high-quality writing practices! =)

[Reply]

Heidi Walker writes:

I wish people would actually write a “mini” article anymore. Nowadays it looks like a mini mall to me. Every Bob, Bill and Tony is trying to sell something, just posting their tiny urls. There should be a law against these serial “spammers”, because that’s what they are doing. They don’t have the proper twitter “etiquette” and should be thrown out. I delete followers that constantly bully their way into my domain. I kick them out. And you should, too.

[Reply]

Kimberly writes:

Reading Twitter posts has shown me the broad range of interests out there that can become my topic. the more posts on it, the more interest there is. Twitter also gives links to great idea sources and useful info.

[Reply]

Marie Lyn Onggo writes:

Nice article! I just wish that those who tweet get to read this one. Hope to finally see the end of non-sense tweets

[Reply]

Marie Lyn Onggo writes:

The secret there is having a purpose why you tweet and keeping that purpose in mind while tweeting

[Reply]

Timeshare Relief writes:

I, myself, is just about to start tweeting because EzineArticles is making it more useful to do so.

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Actually the idea of no nonsense on Twitter feels sad to me. There are a LOT of lonely people out there and sometimes what they are having for dinner is all they have to say. I think what ruins Twitter for me, is internet marketers with get rich quick tweets. I rarely follow back internet marketers. When a follow request comes in, I look to see just how empty their tweets are, consider them and if I want to see their tweets or not… Not! If that is all they tweet, I’d rather read what someone is having for dinner. I think people need to try to be more creative in marketing… competition is high. It just isn’t enough to RT the same ol’ sales pitch. And for that? I gotta say THANK YOU TWITTER!

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

I just want to clarify what I wrote, I am talking about “affiliate marketing” more specifically. After all, “I” am an internet marketer! You guys know what I am talking about I am sure …Right?

[Reply]

Rudi Sturlese writes:

Thanks for this article and various comments. It’s an eye opener for me and gives me direction.

[Reply]

James Artre writes:

I digress to Hemingway here, as you cited in your article, when he stated:”Write the truest sentence you know.” Should you become proficient at this, most everything else will fall into its proper place.

140 characters should, hopefully, make you think as you Tweet.

Thinking is good…

[Reply]

Caroline Makepeace writes:

I like the connection made here between twitter and article writing- less is more as they say. I like the point about the elaborate adjectives and adverbs as this often makes an article feel too overdone and ‘try hard’ rather than natural and free flowing. I’m all about keeping it real.

[Reply]

Lisa writes:

I agree w/ this post and many of the follow-up comments.

Kathy, I agree the marketing spam is much more of a bother to me than people talking about their day. I don’t mind chatting it up w/ someone about the weather or what they’re having for dinner but the “BUY MY CRAP” spam gets you unfollowed by me quickly.

Barry, I like where you’re going with that. It reminds me of an article I just wrote about formalities in society as well as on the Net. It seems good old-fashioned manners are slipping away with proper grammar. (I bet they’re hiding wherever it is that those missing socks go when you pull only one to a pair out of the dryer.)

[Reply]

Dan Cosgrove writes:

You can definitely improve your headline-writing skills by tweeting. I’ve had to make things more to the point several times in tweets.

Viva simplicity!

[Reply]

desirachh writes:

Yes, this is a great information. Twitter can be a good training place for the aspirant article writers. It also gives freedom of expression.

[Reply]

Leanne Boyd writes:

Thank you, Marc, for the excellent article, which has opened up the Twitter blessings but also the Twitter can of worms… as evidenced by the responses here. I agree with my fellow readers on so many scores.

The immediate thought that came to mind before reading your article, is that one of the MAIN differences (other than length of writing) is that Twitter has succumbed to this really irritating “Net Talk.” Surely your average tweet, my own included, don’t live up to the rules of EzineArticles, let alone all the other directories and those who uphold any form of grammar/spelling standards. It pushes Twitter into the same category as texting and that bizarre form of lingo.

I also agree with the previous reader who pointed out this insane “Follow Friday” as well as every other day… or the other forms of ##hashtag stuff. There are some days when entire pages are just that.

My last gripe? This has got to be what may be the demise of any usefulness of Twitter. And that is this newest tendency for peeps to have multi-gazillion followers! HOW can somebody have 35K followers and ever expect to read… or get to KNOW… that many people? And how can YOU expect that your tweet will ever be seen? I don’t follow most of these twitter czars.

I sadly find that I am not as “in love” with Twitter as before. We each have one prime gift, which is Time. And it’s easy to waste this gift! I take a lot of time, forming most of my tweets… and highly agree with the tone of your article. The essence of a writing – just like with the impact of Headlines – can be honed in the Twitter environment.

[Reply]

Jeff Herring writes:

“Nice post Marc – Twitter does make you a more succinct writer & is a great place to refer ppl to your articles.”*

*The comment above was completed in less than 140 characters…

It can be done!

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Leanne~ I so agree with you about the gazillion followers thing. I do a companies Twitter for them and I have one of my own. “They” got their followers though one of those sites that promise them. I got mine for the most part by picking them out. The difference in Tweets is HUGE. I find my organically picked followers are more interesting and post less spam. Course I mostly follow artists so it is a given that they might post a bit more creatively. It’s weird anyway.

Lisa.. you cutie!

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

FYI Twitter is going to roll out commercial accounts this year.

“Co-founder Biz Stone said the company is in the first phase of rolling out commercial accounts that will entice business users to pay for premium services like detailed analytics.”

[Reply]

Lisa writes:

On the topic of too many followers; I have over 21,000 at last count and follow nearly that many back and I do not automate anything. I hand-pick everyone I follow and I don’t spend hours every day doing it. I offer daily HAHD tips, my EzineArticles, Associated Content articles, writing tips and more through my Twitter feed and I find it’s great for socializing and networking. I follow those who are useful to me, friends and acquaintances, some of my clients, other EzineArticles authors so I see their articles, newsfeeds and other sources of article ideas and writing tips, etc.

I’m perfectly aware that some accounts with large numbers of followers are just spammers or people who buy followers but to assume that no one can handle that many followers/following and find it beneficial is false.

If I find anyone in my list that’s not useful to me in some way, I remove them. I’ve still been around the 20,000 mark for months. As for those who follow me, there may be spammers there but I don’t follow them back and if I spot them, I block them/report them as spam.

(With that many followers, I can ask just about any question at any time of day/night and get an almost instant response. That can sometimes be useful.)

[Reply]

Robert Henderson writes:

“Twitter’s like a pushup bra–you use it to tighten your focus.” This tweet of mine was retweeted quite a bit. Writing for Twitter is quite similar to how I created TV spots when I was a writer/producer except that there’s no audio or video enhancement to help grab viewer attention in the Twitter stream. As with all good writing, the more concrete and visual you can be, the better. Twitter’s space constraint forces a writer to find succinct precise wording, which means either having a good vocabulary or going to a thesaurus or dictionary. Like me, I think a writer’s first thought on deciding to use Twitter is “this will help my writing become more meaty, brief, and clear.” For promoting navigation to links, Twitter is good for writing blurbs, good practice for selecting and revising salient quotations.

[Reply]

Leanne Boyd writes:

Lisa, my goodness. We are all still governed by the same 24-hour day. I just did some ‘figgering’ … and I’m not a math whiz, so correct me if I’ve computed this wrong.

===
Followers: 21,000 tweeps

Perhaps 1/3 of these, post every day: 7,000 tweeps

Perhaps it takes 10 seconds to read one post: 7,000 x 10 = 70,000 seconds

ONE day of 24 hours has: 24 x 60-min x 60-sec = 86,400 seconds

Out of ONE DAY, you then have left over: 86,400 – 70,000 = 16,400 seconds

Which is: 16,400-sec / 60-sec-per-min = 273-1/3 minutes

Which is: 4.555 hours

And you run a business, have a life, plus sleep in those 4.5 hours?

Let’s add in perhaps tweeting back to perhaps… ONLY 200… which in my estimation is an astounding amount of interactivity for one day. How long does it take you to ‘twit’ a solid, “makes-sense” reply? Do you think on it, do you research it, do you sit in dire consternation because what you want to say takes 145 characters and so that “ups” the time you take to… 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds?
===

My list is totally organically grown, since November 2008. I am at about 3300 followers; very carefully picked, and pruned weekly to let the spammers out the door. There have been days where I spent an extraordinary amount of time because of new interesting people and what they’ve said.

I am NOT at Twitter 24 hours per day. So there is NO way to keep up with even 3300 people let alone 21K.

But when it’s all said and done (in 140-char timing or whatever!) real life/real work takes over, and I soberly return to what my business is all about. Which is: books. Not 140 characters. Time consuming, thoughtful, and about to launch into what is predicted to be very successful. Oh. Plus I create the sales page/web site, plus all graphics, although these fall more into the arena of custom art. 46 books and full sites since we began, April Fool’s Day 2009.

I cannot imagine you really can keep up with 21K people in a week, let alone a day. If so, and you truly do, I wish you would share your time management abilities here. I’m thinking loads of people could use these skills.

I would consider these the acts of Twonder Woman.

Leanne

[Reply]

Lisa writes:

I wasn’t insulting anyone who prefers to keep their Twitter lists small. I admire that over people who want a lot of numbers just for the sake of numbers. I was simply pointing out that not everyone who follows a large number is unable to keep up with them properly.

I clearly explained how and why I have a larger number in my post above. Therefore, I’m not sure of your intentions in your post, Leanne. It almost comes across like you are trying to “call me out” or something.

I would be happy to share tips on time management as well as tips on Twitter and organizing/managing large numbers of Tweets per day/week. I also write about these very topics quite often.

If you’re active in the EzineArticles community, you will notice that I have no problem sharing my ideas, tips and advice with others.

However, your statement seemed more like a sarcastic jab at me than an actual request for my opinions, although it is sometimes difficult to tell one’s intentions/tone from simple text alone.

BTW, since you mentioned your “totally organically grown, very carefully picked list”, were you aware that you are following me (and have been for a long time) and that I followed you back because I like to follow your blog post Tweets and you often RT interesting information and links?

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

OHHHH My GOSH!! BRILLIANT LISA…. YOU ROCK!!

I AM in the process of TRYING to get more followers…. no matter what I have written before I think it is essential for selling product. Sooo LISA yes chica YOU ROCK.

Ohh and the time management thing? YES! I need help. With all your articles you must write about it all no?

I have 7K posts on Twitter and for the life of me cannot understand how the heck that happened, tee hee. I guess I just feel jabbery. But the whole time management thing? Sometimes I think it is just the artist’s brain and I am naturally scattered. I need to produce though. I think it is all a part of procrastination (maybe?) …yet I do produce a tremendous amount of art. Ahh me.. see what I mean? I’m scattered! Twitter, articles, art… back to followers and, and… Ohh that reminds me, I am behind now on article writing for the Challenge. Ooof!

[Reply]

Leanne Boyd writes:

Hi again Lisa… yup, now that you point out our Twitter relationship, I of course recognize you. Lol, and have you bookmarked as of quite some time ago (another example of [at least, for me] WHO can keep up with bookmarked pages?). I was only being halfway sarcastic and/or smart-a**ed. The truthful question still being… HOW on earth do you keep up with that big of a following? You say you are not automated… ok, but what about some of the twitter organizational tools? I have found since the get-go, which for me, was November … all these apps constructed in AIR, do NOT work on Vista. So that deletes quite a number of seemingly excellent tools, for me and others on Vista.

I hate to be a brat (no I don’t, keeps me on my toes)… but my head is reeling after just now, revisiting your site. I’ve read a number of your articles, as well. And… we seem to have the same overkill background and career history. I have always felt I’ve got some very strong time management skills, which have gone out the ceiling in the past years since 1995 and my return to academics. Yes, a decade and 3 degrees. Nobody realizes that education PLUS freelance does = legal suicide! And you either whip it into shape with managing your time or it eats you alive. Some days/weeks, I admit to feeling gnawed around the edges.

SO! If you have a list of twitter tools that you use, I would be really interested in poking into some of them. I’m not so much interested in growing my list, as I am in finding ways of boiling the existing-and-slowly growing current list down to my really useful tweeps and really being able to keep up with them. I am at the point now where it has got to be about the interaction, and the growing of relationships… or the whole essence of twitter is diminished, for me.

I type about 90wpm. From the look of your output, you must do about eleventy-hundred? lol.

Lisa, I am sorry if I offended. But I admit to having a big sarcastic bone… if I did not, the area I’ve lived in for now, 5 very hard years, would have killed me. All places are not created equal. For all the grandeur of the Arizona state, this north-central area is beset with more than your average Yogi Bear buncha problems. Internet business? Like there’s any other choice here? No work, no services. I think I’ve turned it around, here, for me. But it’s taken real focus and long hours to do that. I’ve done a 180 and finally! (after being online since 1994) gotten into ART and writing. Before, it was academics, teaching online, and the online version of my dad’s 38year old publishing house.

Ok, enuf rant and rave. Thanks for your good words! I will be really grateful if you have a list of tools that you use. I tend to veer away from the tweets expounding on the latest and greatest tools… affiliates who probably don’t even use the things.

[Reply]

Lisa writes:

No offense taken; I just wasn’t sure if you really wanted my opinions/tips or not. :)

As for AIR apps that work in Vista, I prefer TweetDeck. Once you learn all that it can do, it’s awesome. You can sort people according to groups that you create yourself. You can search by keywords, filter by keywords and even filter out words, set your API and more.

There are also useful webtools such as those that put conversations in a forum-thread type format for you and archives them for longer periods of time. (Ever had someone Tweet you “I know, right? That was so funny!” and you have no clue what they’re talking about so you search your timeline but it’s been so long now that you can’t find it? This resolves that problem.)

Twittangle lets you rate and tag your friends and filter them on a timeline. Untweeps lets you unfollow people who have not Tweeted in a certain number of days. You can choose what you want to set it to.

TwtrFrnd lets you compare common followers. For example, I can see that Leanne and I both share Kathy as a follower. This can help you find new people who share your interests.

It’s also important to know that not everyone I follow Tweets every day but this doesn’t make them a useless follow. I have at least 20 clients on Twitter that message me when projects come up. They’ll @ or DM and say “Lisa, are you available this week?” or “Have time for a rush article today? I’ll pay extra.”

I like to follow quotes and tips Tweeters as well and when I am looking for inspiration or a quote for an article, I go to “HealthQuotesTweeter”, “ParentingQuotesTweeter” or whichever account applies and look through all their feeds for something useful to my need. Removing them would make it more difficult to find them later but I don’t necessarily read and reply to every Tweet they put out daily.

Since this is a popular topic, I have a set of articles coming up that address many of these things individually and in more detail. Those of you who follow me should see them in a couple of days. :)

P.S. Leanne is on the right track with staying away from Tweets that promise you latest and greatest tools. Either they are spammy affiliates or in some cases, they actually try to steal or hack your Twitter accounts. You can follow @spam for warnings about this sort of thing.

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

WOW! THANK YOU LISA!

OK… Onward then.. I have some tools. I have seen TweetDeck of course but never used it. OK, I will! Yay!

I look forward to your articles and am going to apply your other advice too.

“SMILES”

[Reply]

Lisa writes:

You are very welcome.

Slightly unrelated but did you know EzineArticles has a “suggest topic” feature on every author bio page?

Anyone reading this can feel free to send me topic ideas with questions and if I have the knowledge, I’ll write an article in response.

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lisa_A_Mason#1

[Reply]

George writes:

This is great article on twitter, actually embracing simplicity on twitter is very true, you can not afford to waste the 140 character you are given to describe what you are tweeting. Actual all you have to do is to use your keyword very well here, it also just provide an easy back link to your article

[Reply]

Shel Horowitz writes:

I used to be a really concise writer, to the point where it was an effort to create a 1000-word article; I would usually run out of steam around 600 words.

In later decades, I started to run off at the mouth.

Writing Tweets, e-mail subject lines, and AdWord headlines has reminded me to be concise.

Shel Horowitz, award-winning author of six marketing books
Twitter: @shelhorowitz

[Reply]

Lance Winslow writes:

I think that Twitter might be destroying our society by making everyone stupid. But, I might be wrong.

[Reply]

Clive Anderson writes:

No-one is doubting that Hemingway was a master, but I strongly dissaprove of Twitter and Facebook too.

My reasons behind this are simple. They both serve no real purpose other than to offer people who don’t have a clue about what goes on within the Internet a chance to be in with the “In Crowd.”

They are both destroyers of lives and go against any common decency.

Ask anyone outside the marketing circle why they have a Twitter or Facebook account and I bet the answer is pretty fantasticle nonsense.

I havbe heard more justifyable debates on the radio and such like as to why they should be pulled down than anthing else.

If people want to keep in touch they can use email. If they want to make new friends visit chat rooms. If they want to tell the world about something exciting then use a Blog or better yet write and Article…

Kind Regards

Clive Anderson

[Reply]

Patty Mooney writes:

By the sheer number of comments here, I would say that people are intrigued with the potential uses of Twitter and Facebook. I have met cousins I didn’t know I had on Facebook, and from a genealogy standpoint, it’s been great for me. I have been in touch with nieces, nephews, cousins, sisters and my mom; it’s a one-stop shop that combines the advantages of email, a chat room and a blog. Having accounts on Twitter, Facebook, as well as a blog, is helping to keep our business site at the top of Google. To say that FB abd Twitter “are both destroyers of lives and go against any common decency” brings to mind the guy clinging to his Remington manual typewriter at the onset of computers.

[Reply]

Leanne Boyd writes:

Patty :-)) I love it! (Although I have a typewriter much older than the remington you mention, carefully packed away for … uh… not posterity, my daughters could care less, lol). But GOOD POINT!

I missed the whole weekend on these replies, heavy deadline, and pooch gone berserk over rainstorms and thunder). Catching up…

And I so agree with you! Loads of my H.S. graduating class from Boulder, CO are now aboard. It’s so cool finding out what peeps have been doing! Twitter may be a time waster in many regards… but more useful than, say, a weekend cartoon-a-thon? (altho that’s sometimes fun, too)

[Reply]

Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

Debate heating up! Point is the two companions are not compulsory! Simple advice; like it, tweet and tweet; don’t like it, don’t.

[Reply]

Robert Henderson writes:

It’s not helpful to simply state, as in the comment previous to this one, that there’s no arguing about taste when it comes to using or not using Twitter. The purpose of the discussion is to share with other writers how Twitter helps improve one’s writing, which may then lead other writers to try it. Saying that Twitter’s a waste of time if one has never tried using it also is not a helpful comment. It takes about a minute to create a well written “tweet” and perhaps 2-3 weeks of watching others Twitter and trying it oneself to begin to see that it’s worth doing. That’s not much of an investment of one’s time. Keep an open mind; don’t diss what you don’t know about; and see if the rewards we’re discussing here are worth the investment for you.

[Reply]

Lisa writes:

This comment thread has given me 20 new articles and counting!

[Reply]

Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

Right, Robert. It was only to convey that those who like it definitely use it for their benefits and learn and gain more and more from it. And it is not necessary that those who are against it don’t use it. They may have used it and disliked it for some reason. Again, twitter cannot be the exclusive domain of only writers; it is a platform for all to write and interact just like sending letters by post earlier times. All letter writers were not authors. So, the debate is set to continue.

[Reply]

Lance Winslow writes:

Twitter is silly and wasteful; whoops I’m out of characters now.

[Reply]

Lance Winslow writes:

Writers should not promote Twitter, they may wish to use it for marketing, but they definitely shouldn’t hype it. Why? Simple really, Twitter is making writers irrelevant. After all, it is dummying down society and making everyone stupid, reducing everything down to miniature sound bytes of 140-characters.

The last people on Earth who should be hyping Twitter is Ezine Article writers, because you are only allowing it to replace you faster. Why write a whole article if you can tweet an idea in 140-characters? See the point, and if everyone in the world becomes so stupid that they can only have that much of an attention span, then all of us have ZERO Audience in the future.

In fact, it’s almost as silly as the guy who sells “Computer Article Generation Software,” and everytime someone buys it, there goes another writer and eventually all writers will be gone. Did you know that the newspaper industry now has writing programs where you type in the; Who, What, Where, Why and How, and the darn thing makes the news article for you? Well, now some brilliant unemployed writer/software designer has a system that can scour the Internet and and pull the Who-What-Why-Where-and-How from all the articles on the Internet and create a new one.

No humans needed, no writers employed, game over!

So, all you folks that are promoting Twitter, are realy promoting the dummying down of the human race and making yourselves as writers irrelevant. Fine, go ahead, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In fact, the reason no one sees this, is everyone has stopped thinking, probably due to all this social media nonsense which is polluting your minds.

So, that’s what I think.

And by the way;

All of my articles are written by me, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of my articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers. I believe those who use these strategies lack integrity and mislead the reader. Indeed, those who use such cheating tools, crutches, and tricks of the trade may even be breaking the law by misleading the consumer and misrepresenting themselves in online marketing, which I find completely unacceptable.

[Reply]

Patty Mooney writes:

“It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.”
(a “tweet” from William Shakespeare)

:)

[Reply]

Lance Winslow writes:

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” a tweet from Jim Morrison, and so, I see whose got yours – Twitter

[Reply]

Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

Benefits of Twitter! I think Lance can now write at least five articles on his doomsday warning.

One thing is slowly sinking in me that Twitter is much more relevant to shopkeepers than for professional writers. You make a good meaningful article-prone tweet; and, finally what happens. Just nothing.

[Reply]

Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Sometimes I create a quote from my own poetry or article. I add #quotes and often add a link to find said writing. People are looking for things to RT and quotes work out the best for that. They are hesitant to RT a quote with a url so I do both, some with and some without. I have had many read my poems and articles “because” of my #quote Tweets and other tweets that say look at this or that. Use bit.ly to track your urls and you will be able to see if anyone has read your article/poem based on your Tweet. You can post your url from EzineArticles, that adds to reads on EA’s site, as well as seeing your website urls, resource box, and possibly your whole list of articles. It’s a circle.

Lance, Twitter is here, like it or not. I think writers need to figure out how to utilize it to their advantage.

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Patty Mooney writes:

Lisa, I used one of your Twitter articles at my blog, “A Life In Business:”

http://dbaentrepreneur.blogspot.com/

I see Twitter as just another tool in my writer’s arsenal; similar to a martial artist having a selection of numchucks, swords, chains or whatever does the job. My dad always used to say, “Whatever makes you happy.”

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Lance Winslow writes:

Great article surrounding this debate in USA Today, today. You might like to read some additional comments from folks around the nation, both pro and con. Still, the article calls those opposed to Twitter; Twitter Haters! Which I find completely laughable and politically correct, reminds me of some of the politics around this nation, where the critics are slighted and slandered, then silenced with hate-baiting.

Humans are so funny, in all their sound and fury. Twitter is just made of the weak human mind actually; Oh, wait, I just got a tweet; wow, incredible Paris Hilton’s dog, well, you’ll never guess what it had for breakfast? Join Paris Hilton’s Tweet List and see all you are missing, silly humans. Tricks are for Kids, not dogs.

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Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Lance.. good god man! Get a grip! …Teee heee

Twitter tweets will NEVER know Lance
cause he’s too smart for ‘em.. SEE?
If he has any time left after article writing
he’s freaking out and fidgety.
Planning his next 250 plus words
for google info seekers to read.
And that my Twitter friends?
Is where we all oughta to be
Writing for EzineArticles
with blissful reverie!

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Lance Winslow writes:

Ha ha ha, good one Kathy, unfortunately from here on out we’ll all have to keep our poetry and prose to 140 characters and no more. It’s the new paradigm, everyone get on board; “He’s a pepper, she’s a pepper, wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?”

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Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Saw this quote on “Twitter” this morning, so of course, I just HAD to add it.

“To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize.” ~Mark Twain

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John Stover writes:

I just signed up with twitter. What are some hints to help me promote my Business?

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

John,

Tips for using Twitter to promote your biz?

First, develop a relationship with your followers by posting useful stuff frequently. I’d recommend a ‘pitch’ tweet once every 10-15 tweets, if at all.

Second, drive your followership up because your tweets are only as good as the relationship you have with your followership TIMES the number of followers you have. To get more followers, follow more people who match your ideal target customer…and promote your twitter profile to your permission-based email list, and website.

Lance,

I’m not sure I agree that Twitter is dummying down us all; but rather we’re all uninterested in long forms of expression.

It certainly isn’t making everyone stupid. We can do that without twitter. ;-)

Leanne,

The number one rule in Social Media is that there are no rules.

Therefore, who says you have to read every post of everyone you follow? I think you already know the answer which is that those of us who follow more than we can keep up with do it for more reasons than to just read their tweets.

Reason I/we follow more than we can keep up with: Because that’s the only way my/our followers can DM us. Being followed and not following a person back is only a 1-way conversation. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer 2-way conversations when possible.

I read about 200 tweets a week and I use SMS/TXT to zero in on who I want to follow every tweet plus I use search.twitter.com to drill into various keywords of interest. I stopped reading every tweet about a year ago.

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Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Chris~ This is so good: “I’d recommend a ‘pitch’ tweet once every 10-15 tweets, if at all” I think, no wait, I know, that I have done way too many ‘pitch’ tweets, so this is a perfect guideline. Thank you!

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Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

What is a ‘pitch’ tweet? Please tell me how many types of tweets are there.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

A PITCH tweet is one where you are MARKETING or SELLING something.

Example of a PITCH tweet:

Become an EzineArticles Premium member today for same-business-day article review speed: http://EzineArticles.com/premium/

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Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

Thanks Chris. In that case more than 90% are ‘pitching’ only! Good advice.

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James Artre writes:

As is true in all successful endeavors, I have found it best to be a problem solver. Thus, when Tweeting, look for problems to solve and then offer them a solution, back at your blog.

For example:

Tweeter: “List building sucks!”

A rather short, but to the point, little Tweet wouldn’t you say?

It could easily get passed over in the myriad of 140 character tweets, posted by people who are simply “Pushing” their wares on others, correct?

However, when I replied with this:

Tweet: “Sup bro, what’s making you pull your list building hair out by the roots? Let me know what I can do to help. Feel free to DM me – James” (137 characters, including commas, spaces, periods and the quote marks! And who says you can’t say a lot in 140 characters, or less?)

Also notice that I did not offer up a solution with a link back to my blog, yet.

Long story short, after a few DM’s back and forth, it turns out I did have a solution to his problem.

But more importantly, I established a long-term relationship with a new friend (consumer) and they have gone on to become a great affiliate for me because of this.

Where we go wrong many times, however, is when we put more trust in the “experts” then we do ourselves. As my Grandmother used to tell me:

“It’s easy to gather the honey, provided you talk to the bees and don’t go kicking their nest over, first.”

It’s much easier to do business, when we can get past the techniques of a thing, and simply focus on building relationships and solving problems.

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Leanne Boyd writes:

James… bravo and standing O. You have succinctly described how I see Twitter. What you’ve stated is true relationship building, and not this mess (yes mess) that Twitter is becoming. Forest. Trees. It’s getting harder to see either.

And I’ve bookmarked your site :-)

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Lalitha Brahma writes:

I commend you for writing such a short precise content rich article about Twitter. I use twitter, but could never think of educating about Twitter, the way you did. I like the last one “Finish Your Thought” Thanks Marc

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