Twitter is a fast paced, easy way to connect with friends, followers, brands and like minded people. I think it is often the scariest social media platform to start. It is very different than other platforms. You may be wondering why you should be on Twitter. Here's what you need to know:

Twitter Pros:

• Easy way to have quick conversations and meet new people.
• Great way to network with bloggers and brands.
• Fun way to share information (but don't flood everyone with your own links).
• Having twitter followers shows brands and advertisers you are someone they should pay attention to.
• Great way to learn new things. You'll find wonderful tutorials, blogs, websites and news. If you're on twitter when a major even happens you'll know before the news anchors. 

Twitter Cons:

• It takes time to figure out.
• It is fast paced and often seems like you're missing so much.
• It can feel like everyone is just trying to sell their own product/blog (but this is definitely not always the case).
• It takes time. It's hard to be on every social media platform.

Decided to take the leap? Here's a few tips to get you started in the crazy twitter world:

• Each user has a username that begins with the @ symbol. If you sign up to be @MissMuffett then anyone who puts "@missmuffett" in their tweet is linking to you. And you'll be able to know they're talking about you.
• Starting a tweet with an @twitterhandle (put a real twitter name there) will be tweeting directly to that person. HOWEVER, anyone who follows both you and @twitterhandle will have the tweet in their feed. This is not private.
• RT means retweet. If you like something you can retweet it to your followers. It is common to respond to a question by retweeting and putting your answer before the RT. For example, if I tweet "How are you today?" and you want to respond you can retweet like this "I'm feeling stupendous RT @thetraintocrazy How are you today?" Most twitter clients/apps allow easy retweeting. Incidentally, MT means modified tweet.
• You can tweet right from twitter.com or download a twitter app like hootsuite (which I use). It allows you to manage your tweets, schedule tweets, etc. Very useful.
• Hashtags (#) have two uses. 

1. Use a hashtag to include your tweet with other like tweets. When tweeting about sewing you might want to include #sewing at the end of your tweet so anyone searching #sewing can see your tweet
2. Use a hashtag to make a funny runon sentence. It's common to see someone tweet something like, "I spilled ketchup all over my shirt. #ididntlikethatoneanyway"

Everyone has their own pros & cons of twitter. It isn't for everyone, by any means. It takes time and, let's face it, we're all in short supply of that. If you're serious about growing your blog as a business though, I recommend you join. Stop by on Mondays for Social Media Friends to find new people to follow and get more followers yourself!

Are you on Twitter? I'd love to know why or why not. Anything to add here?