How Graphic Designers Can Manage Twitter Use
Using the Micro Blogging Service to Support and Build Business
Oct 20, 2009
While many Graphic Designers enjoy using Twitter and receive many benefits from being part of the community, there is a danger that an active participation in Twitter can result in valuable working time disappearing into the ether.
Set Objectives
Before embracing Twitter as a resource, it is useful for a Graphic Designer to determine what they want to achieve from participating in Twitter. For instance, is it to find leads, keep up to date with industry information, network with other Designers, or more likely, a mix of all of these.
Determining what the Designer wants to achieve and focusing on this will help to ensure that maximum value is being gained from time using Twitter. One of the challenges is to stick to these objectives and not get swayed by trending topics or by the latest tweet from one of the many celebrity twitterers.
Using Tools to Manage Twitter
There are highly important and useful snippets of information posted on Twitter around the clock, but it can be difficult to separate from the personal chit-chat and sheer rubbish that is also posted.
A twitter user who follows many people and has many followers will soon find that there are simply too many tweets posted a day for them to get the full benefit of the service. There are, however, some free Twitter management tools that can help people manage Twitter and sort through the vast swathes of information that is posted.
One of the most popular free Twitter management tools is TweetDeck. This allows users to set up groups and regular search terms. This is a useful way to manage Twitter tweets, particularly when a Graphic Designer is following people in different areas of design. The search facility means that new tweets that are posted and contain the search term are instantly shown. This saves having to keep rerunning the search.
Twitter Time
One reason why people find Twitter a time suck is because it is constantly buzzing with new content. This is a particular danger for Graphic Designers who work from home as the social aspect of Twitter can become a diversion. One way to handle this is to set up 'Twitter time' and set aside a few minutes several times a day to look at Twitter. This is useful as it helps to provide focus and reduce the opportunity to get diverted.
Twitter can offer many advantages to the Graphic Designer (see Twitter for Graphic Designers for more information and ideas), however in order to make the most of Twitter as a resource, it is important to manage the time invested in Twitter.
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