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Twitter 201

Below is an example of a Twitter 201 workshop agenda created for a government agency. The class was taught to management and staff. Keep in mind, all classes are customized according to the needs and interests of the client.

Twitter Accounts and Users

Management:

Target Audience

• Workshop is intended for entry level social networkers. Attendees will have minimal experience with any social network. Most likely have a LinkedIn account but rarely use it. Some have Facebook accounts but those who do use Facebook do so socially, not professionally. Very few use or understand Twitter.

Guidelines

Two days before I was to drive to DC for the inauguration craziness, I backed out of my garage with a car door open.  Bent the door back.  It looked REALLY bad.  What did I immediately do?  Who did I turn to?  My online network.  I knew SOMEBODY or rather SOMEBODIES would be online to help me figure out this problem.  Lots of folks jumped in with support, both logistical and emotional.  The end of the story?  I got 3 positive recommendations for one Rife's Autobody.  I took it there thinking I would be leaving it there.  But this amazing dude shifted the door so it would latch and bent the top of the frame so I wouldn't have a huge gap.  Freakin Fabulous!  My car was now safe to drive. 

Social networking is not just a marketing tool for me.  My online network is my support network.  Themore I interact with folks online, the more they know me and trust me.  And yes, the more they know me and trust me, the more likely they are to recommend my professional services.  

Brian Lockrey of Assist Data Recovery shot a video of me discussing online and offline networking with a group of my tweeps (friends on Twitter).  The video should have been edited, but well, in all honesty imovie was giving me fits and I'm about to leave for DC for my inauguration adventure!  So, if you are strapped for time, just watch the first 4-5 miutes.  You'll get the idea.

My friend Anne is working with the World Economic Forum as a Fellow and
asked me how my Facebook updates differ from my Twitter updates. She
also mentioned being unsure of her purpose for using Twitter. Below is
my response:

I would guess your purpose has something to do with making the world a better place.  Share your experiences, share resources you find and appreciate, share you.   You will deepen your current relationships and build new ones.

I suggest you split your time between Twitter and Facebook.  You will have a few folks on Facebook who are also on Twitter but my guess is they are mostly different populations.  Keep pushing your Tweets to Facebook but recognize that they are different folks.  This means there will be some times that you only post to Facebook or items you only post to Twitter.  If a tweet goes to Facebook that you want to remove, just delete it.  Also remember that you can do more than post status updates to Facebook.  This includes:
- the option to post Links (in which a graphic from the url is posted also),
- the option to post Notes (as I should do with this response!) and
- the option to post video (in which a graphic of the video is posted also.

Anne's response - "Thanks for your thoughts on Twitter. I hadn't thought about the dual purposes before...pushing information, knowledge and questions out, as opposed to more 'what am i doing now' pieces."

My friend Annei is living in Geneva, Switzerland for a few years on a stint as a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum. Through the Fellowship, she work full-times for the Forum examining technology issues impacting different regions of the world.  She is especially interested in discovering how IT is impacting government and the NGO sector outside of the US, how we can apply lessons across sectors to improve the access to and practical uses of technology, and what makes cross-sectoral partnerships really work.  All that is coupled with leadership training and academic coursework in economics, international relations and other fun topics. Outside of work, Anne is learning french, visiting as many countries as possible, and discovering the many types of vin chaud.

Sounds cool, doesn't it?  Want to help her make the world a better place?  Follow Anne.

Participants will learn how to make even greater use of networking
tools to promote their organization, business, project or self. 
Participants will discover applications within LinkedIn and Facebook
while also learning the value of Plaxo and Twitter.  Prerequisite 101
or prior use of LinkedIn and Facebook. 

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