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Are you wondering why there are so many people on Twitter?

How in the WORLD are you going to listen to all they have to say?

Well, you don’t have to, you only need to listen to the people who matter to you and weed out the other yahoos out there.  Twitter has a service called Twitter Lists.  This is a way you can  organize the people you follow and put them into little categories.

You can build many different lists of people and even just organize the people you follow by topic, region, profession, groups of friends or family members.  The lists are then shown on your Twitter page and can be viewed by anyone who visits your page, heck they can even start to follow your list.  Another cool feature is that you can see the lists that other people have put you on and follow that list as well.

The lists that I have created include my fellow online business owners, a celebrity list, a Mommy Bloggers list, a local Sacramento list and a list that I appear on called Ask Erin Live which was created by Erin Blaskie.

Creating a Twitter List

• Go to your Twitter Page and select “New List“.  Then you can name your list, create a description and select if you want your list to be public or private.

• After you have your list created you will need to add people to it.  Go to the pages of the people that you want to add to your list and simply click the list button and add that person to your list.

• Once your lists are created you can edit them at anytime by clicking the “View all” link under the Lists section of your profile page.  Once on the list page just select the “Edit” link to rename your list or adjust the privacy settings.  To remove people from the list simply click on their thumbnail photo or the “View all” link under the Following section and you can adjust which list (if any) they appear on.

Things You Can Do With Your Twitter Lists

You can add your Twitter Lists to your blog or website by using either Twitters List widget or the one that I used on my website by Tweet Grid. If you are a HootSuite user you can integrate your Twitter Lists as columns.

More Resources

Here are some more resources you can check out about Twitter Lists and see what these experts have to say

Twitter’s Blog – Posting “There’s a List for That”

Mashable – “10 Ways You Can Use Twitter Lists“  and Twitter Lists Guide

So, how will you use your Twitter Lists?

HootSuite is a tool that you can use to manage your Tweeting habit, for free!

There are several functions you can do with this amazing tool.

• You can manage all of your Twitter profiles in one place.
• Track your Tweeting statistics
• Multi-column layout with customizable tabs
• Create customizable groups of friends, coworkers, celebrities
• Embed a column on another site so you can see the Tweet stream of a specific topic on a blog or website
• Feed your blog (I am currently using Twitterfeed..but will be updating to HootSuite soon)
• Integrate your Ping.fm account so that you can update all of your Social Networks at once with a single Tweet
• Schedule Tweets – This is my personal favorite!
• View user information about other people without going to their profile

You can view demo videos here about how these features work.

I  have a few Twitter Tips up my sleeve and I’d like to share these with you.

Use a colorful background or wear a bright color in your profile photo.

This tip I picked up from Erin Blaskie. She explains that by having a bright profile image your Tweets will ‘pop’ out more within someone’s Tweet Stream, makes sense to me.  Check out her Twitter profile image when you follow her you will see how much her Tweets actually seem to jump out at you.

Join Twitter Directories

There are several Twitter directories you can join and once you do so people can find and follow you based upon common interests.  Some directories to join are:

• We Follow – http://wefollow.com/ – This one is my favorite because it ranks people in differnt categories (they place themselves in the categories) but it is still fun to see who the top Celebrity Tweeters are or the top Social Media people are.
• Twellow - http://www.twellow.com/ – Known as the Twitter Yellow Pages
• Just Tweet It - http://justtweetit.com/ – Find other people who Tweet what you Tweet

Completely fill out your Bio, Upload a picture, Create a Background Image

People are more likely to follow you if you have a completed Bio. Also, be sure to use your real name in your profile so that if someone searches for you, they can find you!  Isn’t that the point of being on the Internet anyway so that people can find you?  Also, you can create your own background instead of the stock Twitter backgrounds.  There are a lot of web designers who will do this for you for a small fee.  My favorite designer is BKB Designs , her name is Katherine Boroksi and she Designed my company logo and she can whip up something for you in a flash.

Tweet  and Retweet

To stay relevant, you need to Tweet what you think!  You will find that you create the most converstation with people if you actually interact with them on Twitter and ReTweet their thoughts as well.  Don’t just ReTweet a celebrity Tweet, actually Tweet things that are of interest to you as that is how you will create a community of like minded followers.

You can also follow me on Twitter at – http://www.twitter.com/dawncullo

Have you ever thought of following a celebrity on Twitter but just not sure if it is really them sending those Tweets?  Well, you are not the only one who has had that thought that cross through their mind.

The good folks over at at Twitter in San Francisco are working on saving us from fake celebrity accounts. The are currently in the process of verifying celebrity accounts to be sure that they are authentic.  They are creating a new Verified Account program in which they will do their homework and find an official person connected to the celebrity who can verify the account.  According to the Twitter Blog they are planning on rolling out the program this summer.

Until then, the best way to be sure you are following a 100% genuine grade A celebrity is to go to their website and see if they have a link to their Twitter account.  Even better some celebrities have publicized their Twitter ID’s on their talk shows or while doing interviews.

Oprah is one such celebrity who announced her Twitter ID on air.  She devoted an entire show to Twitter in April 2009.   She tweeted live for the first time on TV with Gayle King by her side and even had Evan Williams co-founders of Twitter on the show with her.  You can be sure that this Twitter account is the real Oprah http://twitter.com/oprah

These accounts have already been verified by the celebrity either through their website or themselves via their own talk show or while on another show.

Gail King – http://twitter.com/kinggayle
Jimmy Fallon – http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon
Ashton Kutcher – http://twitter.com/aplusk
Demi Moore – http://twitter.com/mrskutcher
Ellen Degeneres-  http://twitter.com/TheEllenShow
Shaq – http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ
MC Hammer – http://twitter.com/MCHammer
Anderson Cooper – http://twitter.com/andersoncooper
Sean Diddy Combs – http://www.twitter.com/IamDiddy

Who are the celebrities that you follow?

[tags] Twitter, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Gail King, Jimmy Fallon, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Ellen Degeneres, Shaq, MC Hammer, Anderson Cooper, Sean Diddy Combs, Dawn Cullo, Sunrise Virtual Services [/tags]

I utilize Tweetdeck to manage my daily Tweeting habit. Tweetdeck is a desktop application that organizes your Tweets into columns, allows you to update your Facebook status when sending your Tweets and create custom columns to organize people and topics.

Photo From Tweetdeck

Here are the 5 productive tools that I use with Tweetdeck.

1. Create Custom Columns

Tweetdeck provides columns such as :  All Friends, Replies, Direct Messages, Favorites, TwitScoop and Facebook Friends.  You can pick and choose which columns you want to use or create some of your own. Within the top left toolbar  is a Group Icon and a Search Icon.    The Group feature allows you to create a column of specific people.  The Search feature allows you to search by keyword or topic and then it automatically creates a column based upon that keyword.

2. Update Your Facebook Status

This feature will allow you to update your Facebook status when you send a Tweet.  Tweetdeck allows you to pick only specific Tweets to update to Facebook, not all of your Tweets will show up on Facebook if you don’t want them too. Simply check or uncheck the box next to the Facebook box when sending a Tweet.

3. Filter Your Columns

Each column features a filter button at the bottom of the column.  This can come in handy when you want to see if people are tweeting about a specific keyword or topic. Simply click the Filter icon and type in your keywords.

4. Manage Retweets, Replies & Direct Messages

One of the most productive tools on Tweetdeck is the power to Reply (@) , Retweet (RT) or Direct Message (DM) with two clicks of your mouse.  Simply hover over the photo of the person next to the Tweet you want to take action on and a sub menu will appear.  Once you click the appropriate icon your message will appear in your Tweet window at the top of Tweetdeck and you are one click away from sending off the Tweet.

5. Shorten URL’s.

Just below the Tweet window is a handy tool called Shorten URL.  Simply paste in a long URL and click the ‘shorten’ button and your new link will appear in the Tweet window.  You can also select from 6 different URL Shortening services from the drop down menu.

Those are my top 5 productivity tools that I use on Tweetdeck.  How about you?  What types of tools do you like to use to manage your Tweeting habit?

[tags] Twitter, Tweetdeck, Facebook, Dawn Cullo, Sunrise Virtual Services [/tags]

It is important to add your Twitter URL (or ID) to your Facebook, your Website and your Blog.  This will help your current connections to find your Twitter URL (or ID) and start to follow you on Twitter.

By adding your Twitter URL to your Facebook, Website or Blog page people will then be able to quickly follow you on Twitter by clicking  the link and going to your Twitter profile.   Your Twitter URL is http://www.twitter.com/username or ID  for instance mine is http://www.twitter.com/dawncullo

To Add The URL To Your Facebook

The link can be added to your Contact information under the Info Tab in the Websites section.

1. Click on the INFO tab in your Facebook Profile.

2. Scroll down to the Contact Information section

3. Hover your mouse over the Edit button / pencil area until it appears and then click EDIT.

4. Scroll down to the WEBSITE section

5. Type in your Twitter URL (remember it is http://www.twitter.com/username)

6. Click the blue SAVE CHANGES button.

7. View the link on your profile Home Page under the INFORMATION section.

8. If the new link does not appear, click on the pencil icon to bring up the EDIT menu.  Click the box next to WEBSITE to make that section of your profile visible in the Information section.

To Add The URL To Your Website and Blog

Do a quick Google search for “Twitter Buttons” and you will come up with a laundry list of  designs. My favorite site is Twitter Buttons but there are a lot of new sites popping up all the time so check those out too for a design that fits into your Website or Blog theme.

1. Once you have found the design you like input your Twitter ID in the box at the top of the page and click “GO”

2. The site will automatically generate an HTML code below the design.

3. Select copy code and then paste to it your Website or Blog.

4. You can also past the code in a notepad document and save it for use later.

I found this one on Twit Buttons

If you are unsure how to do then add this to your Website or Blog page this could be a great task to delegate to a Virtual Assistant or a Web Site Editor.

If you have a WordPress Blog site I can help you with this task.  I offer this as part of my Blog Update service.  Send me an email if you are interested in adding your Twitter ID to your blog.  My email is dawn@sunrisevirtualservices or you can Tweet me.

[tags] Twitter, Dawn Cullo, Sunrise Virutal Services [/tags]

Congratulations, you made it on Twitter but now what?  The first thing to do is to find people to follow because if you are Tweeting and no one is listening to you then what is the point, right?

• Click on the FIND PEOPLE link and type in a person’s name, a company name or Twitter ID.

You can also find people by using a keyword search.

• Utilize the search box on your profile and enter keywords such as your target market or keywords associated with your business.
• The search will reveal other people who have used that word in their Tweet or Bio.
• Click on their profile to view their page
• You can elect to follow them by clicking the FOLLOW button.

Here is a good plan of action for finding people to follow, this should keep you busy for a little while.

1. Locate your friends and family
2. Search for business associates
3. Search for your “competition”
   Remember that following your competition is a good thing becuase you can keep an eye on what new products or servcies they may be featuring.
4. Seek out companies
   Following local and national companies can be fun and beneficial to you because you can hear about company news instantly and even take advantage of coupons and discounts only offered to Twitter followers.  You can also send Direct Messages to these companies and get answers quickly from real people without waiting on hold!  Some of my favorite companies to follow are:
   @JetBlue
   @HomeDepot
   @WholeFoods
   @nordstrom
   @hotwire_deals
   @Overstock
   @OReturns (Overstock Returns)
   @rubbermaid
   @Sharpie
   @BestBuy
   There are a zillion more companies to follow just search for your favorite ones in the search box under the Find People link.
5. Follow News Tweets
   No need to wait for the 5 o’clock news or look it up on the web.  Get news updates instantly by following local and national news stations as well as newspapers.  Also, try digging a little deeper to find your local news anchor’s Twitter Page
   @cnnbrk
   @andersoncooper
   @ricksanchezcnn
   @foxnews
   @LaTimes
   @NYTimes

What are some of your favorite people or companies to follow?

[tags] Twitter, Dawn Cullo, Sunrise Virtual Services, JetBlue, HomeDepot, WholeFoods, Nordstroms, Hotwire, Overstock, Rubbermaid, Sharpie, BestBuy, Cnn, Fox News, Anderson Cooper, Rick Sanchez, La Times, NY Times[/tags]

I just started to use this Twitter Tool called TweetStats.

TweetStats will Graph your Twitter Stats including

• Tweets per hour
• Tweets per month
• Tweet timeline
• Reply statistics

Here is a view of my Tweet Cloud, the bigger the word the more I have Tweeted about it.

This is one of the many graphs that are available.  This one illustrates who I have sent an @reply to and how often.

There are a ton of Twitter Tools out there these days, what are the ones you find most useful?

[tags]Twitter, TweetStats, Sunrise Virtual Services, Dawn Cullo[/tags]

I’ve always been the type of gal who likes to take a peek ‘behind the curtain’ so I guess that is why I have always been interesting in the famous folks in our world.  Now that I am using Twitter I am so happy to see that famous folks are on there as well.

It is also great to see companies embracing what Twitter can do for their customer service department and their company image. I am thinking of taking a flight on JetBlue with my daughter and so I sent Jetblue a question and received an answer within minutes, no joke.

I asked the question at 4:57 and received my answer at 5:06 !  I don’t think that I could have gone to their website and got the answer myself that quickly.  They even sent me the link to what programming will be available during my flight.

Another cool reason to be following companies is that they sometimes offer deals to their followers.  For example Jet Blue recently hit the 100,000 mark for Twitter followers and is offering a special to celebrate their new found Twitter fame.

Here is this weeks list of some of the new people / companies that I am following.

Companies

SouthwestAir / Southwest Airlines
hotwire_deals / Hotwire Travel Deals
DunkinDonuts / Dunkin’ Donuts
WholeFoods / Whole Foods Market
JetBlue / JetBlue Airways
traderjoes / Trader Joes
LushLtd / Lush Cosmetics Ltd
ENews / E! News
zappos / Zappos.com CEO -Tony

People

tonyrobbins / Tony Robbins
moonfrye / Soleil Moon Frye
aplusk / Ashton Kutcher
mrskutcher / Demi Moore – more from Demi on qik.com/mrskutcher
mariashriver / Maria Shriver
WilliamShatner / William Shatner
TheEllenShow / The Ellen Show
RyanSeacrest / Ryan Seacrest
Mark_Wahlberg / Mark Wahlberg
MariahHBF / Mariah Carey
THE_REAL_SHAQ / Shaq
MCHammer / Hammer
brodyjenner / Brody Jenner

[tags] Twitter, Jet Blue, Zappos, Southwest Air, Hotwire, Dunkin Donuts, Trader Joes, Lush Cosmetics, E! News, Tony Robbins, Soleil Moon Frye,  Ahston Kutcher, Demi Moore, William Shatner, The Ellen Show, Ryan Seacrest, Mark Wahlberg, Mariah Carey, Shaq, MC Hammer, Brody Jenner, Sunrise Virtual Services, Dawn Cullo[/tags]