I know that many Kossacks are on Twitter (Markos certainly is, and I see others there), but many more either are not or are not active Twitter users. Further, even those who are on Twitter may not be aware of its full potential as an informational and advocacy tool. With that in mind, I want to use this diary to give just a few tips on leveraging Twitter's reach and especially its search tools for more powerful "grasstweeting."
First, keep in mind that Twitter is not only a Web site but a service as well; the Twitter team has long made available an API (for "application programming interface") that enables 3rd-party software and Web site developers to provide access and tools for more sophisticated Twitter use. (Many of those tools can be found at OneForty.com, and are available for everything from Windows and Mac OS X to smartphones like the Palm Pre, BlackBerry and iPhone.)
Second, consider search. Twitter actually has quite a powerful search capability, going beyond key words and phrases to Boolean search (using AND, OR, wildcards and parentheses) and other search operators to enable users to find very specific information. Those search terms work as well or better in the 3rd-party Twitter software such as TweetDeck, which enable not only one-time but continuously running searches in their own dedicated column on the screen.
Next, find the folks whom you wish to follow, because their tweets will provide you with the best information. Those may be reporters, politicians, advocates, pundits, or just insightful users. Twitter has just rolled out list functionality, and some publications will list the Twitter IDs of their reporters (as does The New York Times, for example), but you can also build your own list of "ones to follow" by choosing a particularly active and effective Twitter user and checking out her profile to see who he or she follows. (For example, our own Kos' following list is here.)
Finally, don't forget the hashtag. In Twitter-speak, a hashtag is a word or phrase (without spaces) preceded by a # sign (in British English, a "hash"). Hashtags have become very popular on Twitter because they allow users to label their tweets with a topic, for easy grouping and searching. For example, while the initials hcr could stand for anything, the hashtag #hcr is generally used to label tweets about health care reform. (Hashtag.org has a useful, albeit not complete, directory of hashtags here.)
With these basics in mind, here are some key tips for making the most effective use of Twitter as a tool for political (or any other kind of) knowledge-sharing and advocacy:
- Follow influential people, and respond back to their tweets when you have something useful to add. This can create connections (they may follow you back), and you may also be able to get their attention with your tweet in a way that you never could via e-mail, postal mail or other forms of communications.
- Retweet (with attribution!) insightful points. Not only will you potentially be spreading the insight to those on your (growing) list of followers who might not have seen the original, but you may catch the attention of the user who originally posted it (Twitter's "replies" function will show not only replies but any mention of the user's name; if you RT something I tweet as @ProfJonathan, for example, I'll spot it as a reply.)
- Maximize your own retweetability. Remember that Twitter tweets have a maximum of 140 characters; for a retweet, that must include not only the text of the tweet, but (ideally) the abbreviation RT and the Twitter ID of the person whose tweet is being repeated. Rule of thumb is to use a maximum of 115-120 characters or so in your tweets, if you want them to be easily retweeted without having to be edited. (Choosing a shorter Twitter ID also makes retweeting easier.) Both the Twitter Web site and most or all Twitter client software give you a running count as you type your tweet. One other point about the 140-character limit: it makes inserting long links a challenge. Happily, there are many tools out there (both standalone and built into software like TweetDeck) which will replace long URLs with much shorter links that redirect to the original page. (I happen to use is.gd, but there are lots of other choices.)
- Hashtags are your friends. Not only will placing appropriate hashtags in your tweets make them easier for others to find, but if you keep running searches with relevant hashtags (#hcr, for example), you may find tweets to which you can then respond, whether to open dialog or at least to correct egregious errors.
- Remember the dot. Some months ago, Twitter made a change to its system, so that when you directly reply to a user (by starting out your tweet with an @ sign and the user's ID), only those of your followers who are also following that other user will see your message. As a result, a lot of valuable discussion is being missed. To get around this, just put a . in front of your tweet; that way, all of your followers will see it. (For example, I started a back-and-forth discussion on healthcare reform with a Twitter user named peiklk this morning, after spotting a particularly misguided tweet through my #hcr search. I'm not following peiklk, nor would my own followers be likely to do so, so I made sure to include the . before many of my replies like this one so my followers could, well, follow the discussion.)
- Be cordial and factual. Remember not only that anything you tweet can and may be used against you in the court of public opinion (or by your current or future employer), but that we are the party of fact rather than invective. Link to original sources for facts whenever possible (using the URL shorteners described in point 3 above).
That's my brief list. I'd welcome any other tips or thoughts in the comments. Again, my Twitter ID is @ProfJonathan, and I'd appreciate your tweets and following as well. {ProfJonathan}