Wow, it’s crazy to think how long it’s been since I’ve written a decent post. Well a lot has been going on with work so I’ve been swamped with no time to scratch my head and reveal my gems of wisdom to y’all. It’s not a slow day today, but I’m burnt out and I need an outlet, so I figure blogging may help (especially before I have to head home and enter the grind of kids, cooking, and the likes).

First off, I’ve been twittering regularly now. I hesitated to start a few months back, but have been inspired to take it on. I wanted to share with you a few things I noticed:

1. Boy are people “clique-ish” on twitter! Wow, I mean, knowing the SEO, SMO, SEM communities, I’ve realized they’re extremely clique-ish, but on twitter it’s even worse! Don’t get me wrong, there are a few really great people that respond and follow you if you follow them, etc. but the majority really can care less if you follow and comment on anything that has to do with them. Do they have too many followers? Possibly. Is that a reason to continually ignore someone who is trying to establish a connection? Not really.

2. Follow at your own risk: don’t expect a hello: Errr…I’m guilty of this too actually, so I’m a bit embarrassed to mention it. I like to follow those who follow me, but do I introduce myself to everyone who decides to become a follower? Not really. Maybe I should, and I’ve actually really appreciated people who welcomed me to their following.

3. Apparently there’s a “twitter code of law,” that everyone has to follow: So I’m twittering along when I hear a comment from a co-worker: “oh that’s against the twitter code of ethics. You’re completely breaking twitter etiquette.” HUH? Are you serious? Who made up the rules of twitter etiquette? Well, if you have more clout on twitter, you can apparently establish all these rules, and people will blindly follow. Nice, eh? If I don’t follow these rules, I guess people start unfollowing me. It’s pretty funny. But some twitter rules, especially for ecommerce companies, can impact their marketing strategies, so it may not be such a bad idea to look into it.

4. Twitter is not for ads! Okay, I’m naive apparently, because everyone who follows me, I follow back without really checking their activity. BAD IDEA as Liz Strauss pointed out! You need to ensure that anyone you follow is reputable by the number of “followers” and the number of “updates” they have. I guess people wouldn’t really want to follow me since I’m still a week into this and trying to build up my repertoire . What happened as a result of my naiveté? I get bombarded by ads and meaningless tweets!

5. It’s frickin’ time consuming: The reason behind twitter is to network and really expand you reach to people you otherwise may have never connected to. Well, I mentioned earlier that the communities and friends on twitter are already so clique-ish, so in order to break through, make progress, and establish yourself, you have to dedicate a whole lot of time (that honestly I don’t really have). Is it worth it? Many swear by twitter, I have yet to “believe.” Just limit your twitter times and have a process when it comes to SMO and how much time you believe you need to dedicate to it in general.

I have a few other ideas, but I’ll share my findings when I have more “meaningful” results after this experience. Happy Holidays! oh and btw, follow me on twitter @ashukairy