Wow, just got a print copy of The Twitter Book
by Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly) and Sarah Milstein (@SarahM, user number 21 of Twitter). Thanks go to Andy Oram, @praxagora, for referring me to it after he read a draft of my upcoming book.
The layout, form factor, full-bleed color page numbers, and color screenshots and photos (Twitpics) throughout the interior are just wonderful. This design combination makes it an excellent hand-held object, worthy of being print-based! I’ll keep this one out in my living room. But I’m kind of nerdy that way. 🙂
It has important and useful information about Twitter (www.twitter.com) and why it’s so powerful. Just thumbing through it I found two things I didn’t know about Twitter (and I’ve been on Twitter as @annegentle since early 2007.) One is, it really is a big deal that Twitter removed the setting that allowed you to customize which @username replies you saw and your followers saw. There used to be three settings in the Settings>Notices tab (page , now there are none. But Twitter reversed the original policy decision, and Read Write Web gives a graphical explanation (it’s strange enough that it needs explanation.)
The second informative tip is that for the most part, people tweet the most on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And most people, if they don’t see your tweet in the first five minutes of you posting it, won’t see it at all. I bet that the more uptake we have desktop grouping helpers like TweetDeck, the longer that tweet click-through duration will last. But even with better grouping so that you don’t miss tweets from people you really want to read, as more and more people join Twitter, it’s harder and harder to ensure you get the information you want. So you might want to think about using TweetLater to post a slightly re-worded micropost at another time.
I have to admit, I do like Chris Brogan’s idea of using the hashtag #getoffmylawn for celebrities who use Twitter in an annoying way. But better yet, have more and more people read The Twitter Book to get better and better at their Twitter use and micropost writing.
And finally, words to live by, in Chapter 3 “Hold Great Conversations.” On Twitter or any other community and communication site, it’s not about you! The best part is about contributing to the community – make a positive impact. “…the more value you create for the community, the more value it will create for you.”
