Do you follow me?

Tuesdays with Tiffany
By Tiffany Colter

I remember when I was younger [as in during the 80s] the expression "Do you follow me?" was synonymous with "Do you understand?".

With the advent of social networking sights this expression has a whole new meaning.

There has been a recent influx of chatter about twitter [yes, I love that alliteration!!]. It seemed to all explode at once. I heard one person talk about it [Michael Hyatt of Thomas Nelson] in a blog that was not related to Twitter. I decided that since I respect Michael Hyatt on other things, maybe I should check this out.

Within less than 5 days I had literally 10 articles [as well as an entire discussion on the ACFW member loop] on this topic. It seems people are all starting to do this.

After only 2 weeks I guess you'd call me an expert. Laugh. While not that, I have already begun to see a marketing benefit to this program. I'd encourage you to consider the following:

1. I tried it first as a time management/accountability tool. That didn't work after the first day because as soon as I scratched it off of my to-do list I was on to my next project [without letting Twitter know]
2. Then I realized the true value was to point out things of interest to others. This has actually served me well. As I stumble upon articles that interest me I can quickly put out a tweet that says "If you're interested in Regency headdress check out this article..." Since you have about 100 characters or so you can't copy and paste a giant URL. I go to www.tinyurl.com and change it to a short one and post it. It is one more way I can provide information to people who might be able to use it.
3. Trisha Goyer mentioned on her blog about Twitter that she keeps her finger on the pulse of the CBA by following certain people on Twitter. I think that is brilliant.

So what do you think? Twitter, friend or foe? Has anything I said changed your mind? Do you have other ideas of ways to benefit others by using this social network version of flash fiction?

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.