Twitter

1. 61

   johnb0127posted 15 years ago

   I have heard a lot about the website twitter and wanted to make an account to help generate traffic to my hubs.  Does twitter help with traffic?
   Thanks,
   
   --John

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      Mark2posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Hi John. Twitter has added about 300 people to my list and has increased my sales on verious products that i sell on line. So the answer is yes dont miss out
      
      All the very best
      
      Mark

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2. 65

   darksideposted 15 years ago

   Before you can get any decent traffic, you need a lot of followers, and before you get followers you need to be saying something worthwhile.
   
   Figure out what the worthwhile bit is, and the rest may eventually follow.

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      johnb0127posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Ha, great thanks much

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      Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, that's my problem, Darkside.  I joined up because other Hubbers were joining.  Then I thought, what can I say in such a short space that will interest anyone?  I then kept an eye on what other people were saying, to get some ideas, and decided they were all mind-numbingly boring. 
      
      I'm still struggling to see why people get so obsessed with it. Maybe it's just because it makes them feel important?

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         darksideposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         I signed up around May of 2007 and other than writing an article about how it could be beneficial, I haven't got into the whole 'tweeting' thing.
         
         I think the bulk of the users are relatively new to the internet and have found it to be an addictive novelty.
         
         The only person I've found on there that has anything worthwhile to say and is doing it on a consistent basis is http://twitter.com/themime
         
         

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3. 61

   johnb0127posted 15 years ago

   Yeah your write Melissa.  Theres such a small space in which to paste your hub, but it does give you a backlink which shortens the hub URL.

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4. 0

   Iphigeniaposted 15 years ago

   I f you manage it carefully you can get traffic to your Hubs. For example I have written 4 Hubs about Fibromyalgia - so I searched on Twitter for 'fibromyalgia' and got a load of names who were also interested in / suffereing from this condition. I followed them and they started following back - then I tweeted the relevant Hub URLS (each a few times at different times to catch all time zones) - the Hub URLS I used had a tracker that i have created just for my twitter posts - and i'm gettingtraffic.
   
   I've done the same with all my Hubs - the 2 garlic Hubs (all about garlic and 5 garlic recipes) have brought in visitors from twitter as I see via my URL trackers stats. I do the same with FaceBook - ie: have an URL tracker in my Hub page links that I place on FB - and I'm getting visitors form there.
   
   It takes a bit of work - but once you have the trackers set up and easy to access (I have a word.doc with them all listed - plain Hub URLS, Hub URLS with twitter trackers, Hub URLS with FaceBook tracker and some other (my various sites and blogs)
   
   I also use Tweetdeck to organise all of this. Now I'm just getting into the habit of going onto twitter a few times each day and sending ut some of my Hub URLS with trackers.  Another positive result is that I'm getting more relevant followers on twitter.

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      RKHenryposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I just set up my own twitter account.  Thanks for the information.

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         johnb0127posted 15 years agoin reply to this

         whats ur username - ill follow you.  mine is johnb0127

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5. 80

   Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

   I find Twitter a great way to find out what is going on in publishing (many of the publishers have Twitter accounts), and with authors (many authors have Twitter accounts), getting word out on my writings, and even snagging a free book or two...

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6. 82

   Whitney05posted 15 years ago

   I just set one up but I highly doubt I'll keep it going for long

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7. 56

   guidebabaposted 15 years ago

   I have got 478 Followers on Twitter. I am expecting several thousand of them.

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8. 63

   Julie-Ann Amosposted 15 years ago

   I get good traffic from twitter and a couple of hubs where I have a LOT of twitter followers that track me there to see when I update the hubs.
   
   I've also gotten 4-5 clients off twitter, and get a fantastic amount of new info and stuff that leads to ideas for new work etc.

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      WHoArtNowposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Your a twitter master though Julie, how many followers you got these days? Oh that's right, 1388

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         Julie-Ann Amosposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         About 1900.  My Inbox groans every day!  And all I do is chat about stuff.  Sorry for the delayed reply - preparing for surgery this week so been super busy!

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9. 80

   Janet21posted 15 years ago

   I know there is a very good purpose for Twitter (as evidence by some of the responses here), but honestly, I don't tweet much at all.  I just checked and I have a whopping 17 tweets.   I just don't get the whole idea of it.  I have close to 200 followers and receive daily emails letting me know I have new followers, but 99% I have no idea who they are!  Maybe one day I will figure out how tweeting can help my online activities, but as of yet, nada.

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      WHoArtNowposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      How are you getting all those followers??

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         Janet21posted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Honestly, I am not sure.  I have a lot of people following me from Squidoo, so maybe the new followers I am receivng are also from Squidoo and I just don't know who they are?  That could be it.  I don't even return the follow.  I know that is bad, but like I said, I don't get it.   I only login to twitter every few months or so and I only registered over at twitter cause everyone else on Squidoo was doing it.  I didn't want to be left out.
         
         p.s. that is also why I joined facebook.  Again, don't see the point, unless of course you want to catch up with long lost friends.  Me, I like to keep the past in the past. LOL!  But, to promote your online business?  I guess you could say I am social networking challenged.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            You and me both, obviously, Janet!   I also joined Facebook because everyone else was doing it and couldn't think why I bothered until one of my friends moved a long way away - so now I keep up with her baby pictures on Facebook.  But really, the only audience I've ever gotten from Facebook is friends or people who are already on the same sites I am - so from a self-promotion point of view, it seems utterly pointless.

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               Lisa HWposted 15 years agoin reply to this

               Janet, I'm back again.  Thought of something else I've been meaning to ask someone - just out curiosity:   Do you have to put your face on Facebook?        (Or can shy-ish sorts put something like, for example, a picture of the Earth?        (I've occasionally gone to look try to look at famous people's Facebook thing, but it says you have to have an account to see anyone's Facebook page - hence, the question I just asked.)    (For the record, I don't have three eyes or two noses, or anything like that.    )

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                  You don't have to put your face on Facebook.  I use the same photo I use here. 
                  
                  If you decide to join, just be careful to check your privacy settings - the default setting shows your birthday and your email address, which you might like to keep private.

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                     JamaGeneeposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                     I use my avatar from HP everywhere but one site.  Also I *never ever* use my real birthdate on any site that asks for it.  Same month but different day, different year.  (So what if I shaved off 2 years! Not like the Age Police will show up at my door!).

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10. 86

    Marisa Wrightposted 15 years ago

    I wasn't complaining about the lack of space for self-promotion on Twitter, I was just questioning why on earth anyone does it in the first place.  I read a hilarious article in our local paper where the writer likened adults on Twitter to a three-year-old saying "look Daddy, I did a poo".
    
    It does look like Twitter is becoming a major advertising site - I didn't realise publishers had Twitter accounts (presumably to tell us they've published something rather than whether they had a blast at the pub last night.  Or did a poo). 
    
    So maybe I should be using it the same way - but how do you get followers?  Is it just a mutual admiration society like Stumbleupon (you Stumble my stuff, I Stumble yours)?  I can't see the point in getting that kind of traffic.
    
    I think I tend to agree with the writer in my paper.  He reckons that in a few months people will be saying "I used to Twitter.  Does that mean I Twatted?  Or was I just a Twat?"

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       Lifebydesignposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       lol Marisa, I've read a few comments re Twitter but not those ones. Find me on twitter (louiserussell) and follow me. I'll follow you so that will be your first follower. I actually started with three because I found people I knew. Then I looked to see who they were following and followed them- and like the courtesy of responding to a comment on your hub people respond to a follow by following back.
       Some people found me through the people I followed and followed me. But that was only after I started posting tweets. No tweets, no tweeps! Also give a little bio so you can more closely target followers you want. See you there!

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          Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks for the invite Louise but the point I'm trying to make is - why?  What's the point of me following you and you following me?  I quail at the thought of receiving constant "tweets" all day long, telling me the daily goings on of hundreds of other people - especially if I'm only doing so because they promised to accept tweets from me. 
          
          I can see it might get me some traffic but it seems like an awful lot of irritation in return.  I get too many emails already!

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             Lifebydesignposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             I totally agree! But it depends on whether you're looking at it as an 'irritation' or an 'opportunity' for whatever it is that you want. I've decided the potential benefits outweigh. I'm using it to extend my market and to connect with other people and let them know what I'm doing. I was interested for example that Julie has already gotten clients from it.
             I tweet once a day, if that sometimes. You only see the tweets when you log onto twitter so I log in tweet something have a quick scan if anything interesting and log out. Frankly some of them are meaningful and informative and worthwhile. I know a guy who follows 6 people and over 5000 following him. You could get the same recognition. I'm getting a little fussier about who I follow now that I know how it works. But I'm still not using it to its full potential. Still you could make it into something that works for you if you know what that is. (Actually have a think about it because if what it's offering isn't what you wanted then you could come up with a whole new use for it that no-one's forseen and utilize it that way to your benefit. This is how innovations come about!). Anyhow Marisa I recognize your dilemma, please just consider this impartial observations and not me trying to convince you either way. And please let me know when you come up with an innovation - I love creative solutions!

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                Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                Yes, that's how I took it and I really appreciate you taking the time to explain it - I think I'm beginning to see the light now.  I think if I was in business, I would see it a bit differently.  However, I'm back to almost full-time work now, so there's only so much self-promotion time I can afford.  I did actually join but did nothing about it - I may think about going back there one day!

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                   Lifebydesignposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                   look forward to seeing you then !

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11. 61

    johnb0127posted 15 years ago

    Ok, well thanks all for advice and comments.
    
    --John

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12. 63

    Lisa HWposted 15 years ago

    Janet21, I just signed up because I thought it's what to do - but then I got there, and thought, Ok, so now what?"  I ended up selecting a lot of newspaper people to follow, and just putting all my own links there.  It looks nice, but I don't really "get it".  It does offer a place to go look at some news stories to click on, so I can at least "get" that much of it. 
    
    Lifebydesign, I took the liberty of "following" you and someone else from HubPages on there.  Originally, I thought people could go and find others (like HubPages people); but it isn't easy.  I thought it was more a matter of "joining some established" group (like HugPages members). 
    
    I'm pretty much horrible at the "social networking thing".  I just don't get what you're supposed to do once you get there.      (Maybe it's my having grown up long before the Internet was around.)

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13. 82

    Whitney05posted 15 years ago

    I've found that when I tweet i'm just talking to myself. And although I haven't been doing it long, I'm happy talking to myself. Ha. I have twitterfeed set up so that when my blogs and hubpages are updated, it tweets that I have a new blog or hub.  But, I don't have many followers so there's really no point. It just makes me feel good that someone MAY actually click on one of he links and check out my hub or blogs. Same with my random posts about what's going on- makes me feel special that maybe someone cares. Haha, Until someone actually does, I'll continue talking to a wall about buying domains and reptiles hatching.
    
    I need more followers, but I am pretty sure that most people who follow other people don't even read their tweets. I mean what's the point in following 600+ people. You know you don't know half of them and you know that you don't care to read all of their tweets. It's kind of like people on myspace having thousands of friends that they don't know.
    
    It doesn't take much effort to tweet from my phone and have twitterfeed automatically tweet updates on my blogs and such, so until I  get bored with it, I've decided to continue it. It's a comfort thing. Ha

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       Abhishek87posted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the twitterfeed thing
       
       You know actually, you would have better chances of traffic from Twitter if there are more people whom you don't know. See, the people you know would already be intimated if you Share your hub or post it on Facebook or etc.....

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          Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          That's my instinctive reaction, too.  What's the point of joining yet another social networking site if I'm just going to be sharing with the same group who are probably already my fans on HubPages or my friends on Facebook?

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    TravelMonkeyposted 15 years ago

    You can easily get followers if your alias is keyword targeted. I set up my account with the name The_Dog and was then flooded with people who had accounts (and most probably blogs) relating to dogs and pets so you could set up specific accounts to capture niche traffic, or develop it however you wish.

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    Whitney05posted 15 years ago

    Travel_Monkey, that's actually a good observation. Mine is goReptiles, and it makes since as most of my followers have reptile related names.

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    guidebabaposted 15 years ago

    i just found THIS VIDEO ON YOUTUBE ABOUT TWITTER

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17. 0

    Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years ago

    If you think of tweets as a mini-blog and choose your keywords appropriately, they do end up in Google search results. If you've also included a link for people to follow, it will increase hubpages traffic.
    
    I think of it as blogging haiku.

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    Lissieposted 15 years ago

    I think twitter is marginally less annoying than facebook - facebook I never could reliably get my blog RSS to show on my front page!
    The most useful thing I have found on twitter is http://twitwall.com/view/?who=lissie45 where you are not restricted to <140 characters and can actually get do-follow anchored backlinks to your sites. Its also kinda like a blog of blogs for those of us who have a lot of blogs...
    
    I started with just following people in my niche that were actually interesting - travel. Now I am getting about 20 new followers a day - most seem to be marketing wannabes some with thousands of followers :-) I don't generally follow back, one in 20 has some interesting tweets  -but its rare!
    
    Like Julie-Ann I think its very useful if you are looking for what is "hot" in your interest area or contacts if you have a real world industry.
    Marisa - you could be the twitter queen of belly dance gossip and news in Australia?

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    imadorkposted 15 years ago

    I am so sick of hearing the words twitter and tweet!

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    Lisa HWposted 15 years ago

    Marisa, I was glad to see your posts because I've been feeling like I'm the only one in the world who doesn't get it when it comes to Twitter.  I signed up not long ago, because it's everywhere you go online now.   All the sites have away to send something to Twitter.
    
    Months ago I was invited to join and started to, but when I saw how they "suck out" all your e.mail contacts I was kind of horrified.  Recently, I figured out I could try joining but use an e.mail account that has no contacts.
    
    I just don't think I'm Twitter material.  There's nothing I'm doing that anyone would be interested in, and if I'm doing something big and interesting, everyone I know in real life will know about it anyway.
    
    I tried following sites like writing sites, but you can read their blogs by just going to the sites.  I signed up to follow things like ABC Nightline and anchors working for network news, but if I'm not watching Nightline I don't care about what else is going on.  I realized, too, I don't care what people like George Stephanopoulos and Jon Donvan "Tweet" about.  Then, too, people say that celebrities have ghost writers on there anyway, so what's the point....
    
    Then I tried finding writers to follow, but - really - don't we all know that the only reason one person follows another is to get the other person to follow them?     And it all just seems kind of phony.
    
    I ended up looking for a bunch of writing people, a bunch of news people, and a bunch of writing sites - all of which I would have thought I was interested in, but when I see that there's nothing on there but those few words and links - who has time to look beyond the "What I'm doing" line (and what does that tell anyone)?
    
    Then, too, even when you do click you end up at someone's site and don't really know what you're supposed to be looking for.    Then, too, I really don't get it when people say, "the community is great".  I don't see the community in a few words and then clicking on sites and not knowing what to do when you get there.  It's a whole little world that I don't think some people (maybe over a certain age and the non-promoting inclined) just don't get.
    
    So, it's kind of good to hear other people not be big fans of Twitter.  Since I've signed up I keep popping back every once in a while but then I just "get mean" because I don't know what I'm supposed to do once I'm there.  Actually, there is nothing I can see to do, because I have nothing worth saying in a few words, and then just ran into a few superficial comments from people.  I know my problem is that I don't get it and/or that I'm just not "the Twitter type", but it kind of irks me that everyone else so often seems to think it's a great thing. I just think it's kind of stupid and will probably close the account. 
    
    There... I feel better now to finally "speak the truth".     (or at least the truth as I, in my "Twitter ignorance", see it).

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       my-success-guruposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Wow what do you mean "suck out" all your e-mail contacts? What exactly do you mean and how can they legally do this???

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    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    Wow what do you mean "suck out" all your e-mail contacts? What exactly do you mean and how can they legally do this???
    
    Thats probably a reference to the ability to use ones email contacts to find users you already know.
    
    Since that is completely voluntary and is a standard and very convenient feature in every major social networking platform, the poster just is a little confused and didnt read the fine print.
    
    I dont see how people can actually like twitter, but I do take advantage of it to shamelessly promote whatever project i am working on and the occasional interesting page I find to keep my twitter feed fresh
    
    Here is a fun link that shows the top 100 most followed profiles on twitter
    
    http://twittercounter.com/pages/100
    
    
    www.twitter.com/sunforged

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    Lisa HWposted 15 years ago

    sunforged, there's no doubt that I'm plenty confused when it comes to a lot about Twitter; but I'm not confused about "sucking out" the e.mail contacts.
    
    The first time I signed up I gave my usual e.mail address.  During the sign up process (and before finishing) I got a Twitter page that showed all my e.mail contacts on that page.  There is, of course, the chance that that Twitter page may have also given the user the chance to select "yes" or "no" with regard to having that list (or part of it) contacted when something went on in Twitter; but I was so shocked to see all my contacts show up on the Twitter page I didn't stay around to look more into it.  I don't just have friends in that e.mail contact lists.  I have people like employment agencies, potential employers, lawyers, and other business contacts (that I don't want to send any "Twitter-announcements" to).   If I recall correctly, the process involved my innocently including my e.mail address (as with most sign-ups online), only to discover that my contacts showed up - quick as a bunny - on the Twitter page.
    
    At the time, I thought, "Whether or not I can choose to send anything from Twitter to these people, the fact is they now have my whole contacts list somewhere in their system."  I didn't like that idea.  I didn't like, either, that they got the whole list with my doing nothing but giving my e.mail address.  Maybe if I'd followed through with the process I would have discovered a way to de-select (in my case, most) of my contacts, but I just didn't like that my contacts showed up just by giving my e.mail address.  I'm assuming that my trying to sign up may have essentially given "permission" for Twitter to get those from my e.mail, but that's not the point.  Maybe I shouldn't have used the term, "suck out", because that implies removing the information from my e.mail.  It, of course, did not do that.  It just copied the contacts.
    
    When, months later, I decided to give Twitter another try I at least knew not to give an e.mail address that had contacts in it.  Of course, just last evening I went and deleted my whole Twitter account (because, as I said above, I've discovered that I'm not "Twitter material").  For anyone's information who may be wondering, the e.mail account I used that first time I began signing up was a Yahoo account, if that makes any difference.  (Maybe Yahoo has a "special thing" with Twitter - I don't know.)

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       sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I dont question that it was done in a smooth way, but in order for it to access your email, you also must have put in your password!...I guess i was just trying to point out that every sign up form for social networks now includes this option. Just to be sure I signed up and made a new twittter account for one of my niches....the second option is "see if your friends are on twitter" and then asks for email and password.
       
       once again, i dont contest that it is smoothly intwined, but it is an optional step, and it is very common.
       
       i dont like twitter either, i see it as a marketing list, all my followers just get hit with links to my articles and pages all day, not sure why they would voluntarily do that! without knowing more about my content first.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Well actually, you are just a bit, but that's not surprising - I almost made the same mistake. 
       
       When I was asked to enter my email address and password, I assumed they wanted it so they could send me stuff - so I gaily typed in my email addie and my Twitter password. That didn't work, so then I stopped to read it properly.  It was then I realised I was being given the option to let them access my email and retrieve my contacts.
       
       If my Twitter password had been the same as my email password, the resulting list of my contacts would have come as a big surprise! 
       
       It wouldn't have been a huge shock, though, because several other sites do the same (Facebook, for one).  You can deselect all the ones you don't want contacted.

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          Lisa HWposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          That's what happened, I think.  I think (even though "they" say not to do this) I may have used the same password at the time.  I have a few e.mail accounts, and not all of them are accounts I care much about being "top secret".  There's a good chance that's what I did.  Thanks.  Come to think of it, when I signed months later, and used a contact-less e.mail account, the passwords were different, so the page just moved on without any big surprises.

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    Stacie Lposted 15 years ago

    It's enough work to think of and research new articles every day and now finding one social network after another to promote....give me a break!
    it feels like a full time job just promoting .
    
    When I signed up for stumble upon,then digg,then Mixx,then face book,technoroti(sp?)blogger,blog burner, and now I'm being urged to sign up for twitter on all my writing sites. really,is this a game for these networks?
    I feel like a lab rat running from cheese to cheese.
    
    just venting today.

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    Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

    Because Twitter is the one getting the most press and attention right now so why not jump on it and publicize your articles before it becomes yesterdays news?
    
    I don't follow people with the hope they will follow me, I follow people who I am interested in. I first started following people I knew, then people I met here, now I follow people who I found through others. When people follow me I don't follow them back unless I am interested in what they have to say. That means that people must twit more than ads but actually share a bit of themselves. But, I would also not follow someone who tweeted their every move of the day. My favourite twitters are those who actually teach me something and introduce me to something more.
    
    I'm tired of people belittling Twitter, feeling they are too superior and intelligent to "fall for it". I think they are missing out on something that could add a lot to their lives.

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       Lisa HWposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       UW, I don't really think people are necessarily "belittling" Twitter.  I just think some don't get it, and some aren't interested.  I don't "get", and I'm not interested in, basketball either; but not having interest and belittling are two different things.  As with anything, some people really enjoy something and others don't. 
       
       I know - in a world that seems to really love Twitter - that I'm really kind of glad to see that I'm not the only one who doesn't like it.   

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    Stacie Lposted 15 years ago

    I have to laugh ;you sound like you're speaking a whole new language.
    "Follow me" is going to become a new cliche'
    
    Thanks for your reply uw
    

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    Louidam1posted 15 years ago

    I do not get much traffic with Twitter and that is because I only have 51 followers.  The more followers you have, the more traffic you will build.  Good luck!

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