I’ve been a web developer as long as I’ve been an internet user. Back in 1997, I immediately saw the internet as an opportunity to promote myself and my music, so I started building web pages within three months of getting on the web. It’s given me a very specific perspective. For example I love myspace (I’m the only one) and hate Facebook (I’m one of three). Why? Because myspace puts my music in front of you. Immediately. It’s a terrible design but it’s a good layout. Above the fold is only what I want you to see – my photo, my music, my ‘sounds like’ list, and a hint of my gigs, and the rest of my info. Note how many times I was able to use the word ‘my’. That’s promotion. Facebook on the other hand is immediately noisy. Little on my page has anything to do with me. And I don’t care to take the time to control that. It’s great for a community of people but terrible for self-promotion. And like it or not, that’s always where my head is at.
So I get excited about friend invites on myspace. Here’s an opportunity to hear someone new (again, realize that I’m using myspace for music promotion) and to connect with someone relevant. I actually check out the page of everyone who friends me. Again – any friend invite could be a bot, but I can tell immediately by going to their page. I’ve found a lot of great music this way, and have used it well for networking. I don’t accept everyone. It’s to my benefit to keep my the noise-level of my account low.
I find myself using twitter the same way. Right now, I check out the feed of everyone who starts following me. Above the fold is a good snapshot of who/what the follower is – their description, their link, and what they’re saying. People who follow everyone, are noisy, or are not saying anything don’t get followed back. The simple layout lets me get the info I want quickly.
So here’s what you get when you follow me on Twitter. You get one chance to capture my interest. The openness of Twitter is great, but you need to think about it. Are you keeping things relevant – be it about you, your brand your company, whatever? Or are you posting and replying to noise? I’m not talking in black and white here, but general rules apply. Are using Twitter like Facebook or like Myspace, and are you making the impression you want to?