What's the deal with Twitter?

[chrisbookarama]

I know it's been around for years but I've always avoided it. I guess I don't get it. I see that many Book Bloggers have joined up and seem to love it. What am I missing? Or should I stay away?

[Tall Stories - Fine Books for...]

once you have 'followed'some people and created more 'followers', you can send people to your blogspot, website etc. It works really well to increase traffic flow to a site

[Melissa]

I just signed up too! I haven't had much time to play with it yet, but hope to soon. What's the easiest way to find fellow book bloggers? Some have the twitter link on their blog, but not all...

[Maw Books]

I would look at the follow lists of my fellow blogger friends. Most likely we would know the same people. It's a good place to start.

[Amy]

Someone should do a post on this. Also key book people to follow.

[Maw Books]

A great article about the difference between Twitter and Facebook.

http://www.twitip.com/the-misunderstood-uses-of-twitter-and-faceboo...

[Wayne Hurlbert]

Do a search in Twitter's now working again Find People. Enter search words (both singular and plural) like book reviews, publisher, publicist, author, book tours and many great people will appear. You can check the person before you follow. The list shows when their last post was made. Don't bother with anyone who hasn't updated in more than 10 days unless there is a good reason to do so (they are a publisher or fave author). There are lots of fish in the Twitter sea. :-)

After that search, check the people that the people you follow and see who they follow. Many times, that will lead to some people you know, and want to follow, but forgot about.

Follow lists build gradually over time. Have fun with it, and jump into conversations anywhere. People love it. Think of it as a huge online mixer.

[Musa]

I don't know what ur missing tell you the truth I just joined, I publish my book though LULU and I join the conversation but tell you the truth I really don't understand what's going. From, what I heard it's suppose to be the next big thing. Twitter is growing fast with I think over 3 million subscribers and by next year I think their projecting 5 million . I think it's something I have to jump on, but I really didn't get it when I got in. I'll keep you posted

[Gary Val Tenuta]

I have a Twitter account. I've read all the "help" stuff and the FAQ stuff and I'm following 4 different Twits (or whatever, LOL!) and guess what...? I still don't get it. It's just weird. I see that people are having "conversations" on the groups that I've marked "to follow" but I have no idea how they're doing that. I don't see any way to post a message or make a comment on any of their pages. Does it require a masters degree in rocket science to understand Twitter, or what's the deal?

[Maw Books]

To reply to something that somebody else has said, then click on the little return arrow on the right side that highlights when you scroll over their tweet. That will come up with an @whoever in the "what are you doing" box. Then simply type and hit return. If you know the name just type in @whoever and the same thing. They will see that you have replied and can do the same.

Are you using a third party application at all?

[Tall Stories - Fine Books for...]

it take a little while to get used to it. Try to follow people or publishers first rather than conversations. Find the publishers, or find your newspapers and radio stations. I feel you need to follow more than 4 sources before it begins to make a wee bit of sense.

[Book Calendar]

It is great for following recent news articles, CNN, New York Times Books, and a lot of book related news services are on Twitter-- lisnews, as well as publishers. It is great if you want to catch current happenings you might have missed in the book industry.

[Wayne Hurlbert]

Many publishers announce new books and specials on Twitter well ahead of anywhere else. As a fast publishing news source, Twitter does very well. Authors, publicists, and publishers are connecting; and gaining reviewers and building blog book tours on Twitter as well.