What is Twitter?
Twitter allows you to broadcast messages to a lot of people with a few twist:

1. Your message cannot exceed 140 characters at a time.
2. Only the people who follow you can receive your message.

It may seem backward compared to email where you can send very long messages with videos and/or pictures.  But Twitter’s short format is its strength. Its constraint encourages people to talk informally and share information quickly. Unlike email, there is no subject and recipients in Twitter – 2 less things to think about.

Using email, you have to know someone’s email address before you can send a message. If that someone knows you, he may read your email but if not, your email can be tagged as spam. Even if you have the other person’s email, she may still not be interested in any of your messages.  In Twitter, the relationship is reversed.  If you want to receive messages from a person, you need to ‘Follow’ that person.  Thus, you choose whom to listen to and you decide who to avoid.

What can you use Twitter for?
Just like many social networking technology, sharing information is the primary usage of Twitter.  Some use it to keep in touch with friends, others for business, and some like US President Obama used it a lot during his campaign. Here is a sample of how people are using Twitter.

• Announce products and interact with customers.
• Post project status updates.
• Promote your self.
• Read news.
• Make new friends.

How to get started
It’s FREE. Go to the Twitter website and create an account. Your Twitter  username is your unique identify so I suggest using something that you want to be associated with. Some choose their real name, or business name while others use some fancy nicknames.  I prefer to use my real name, e.g. gregmoreno because that’s what I would like to be known in case I get popular. Once you have an account, you can start following other people.  Here’s how:

• Find friends who are in Twitter.  On the upper right corner of your Twitter page, there’s the link ‘Find People’.  Simply follow the instructions and you’ll be following a lot of people in no time.
• Visit other Twitter accounts. For example, follow the link   http://twitter.com/gregmoreno . Below my picture, there’s a button ‘Follow’.  Click it and you are now following me.

When you’re done, click ‘Home’ and from there you will see the messages from the people you are following.  At the right side of each message, you will see an arrow. If you can’t see it, move your mouse over a message and the arrow icon should appear.  The arrow icon is like the ‘Reply’ button in your email.  Click it and say “Hi, I am a Twitter newbie :)”.

Once you get the hang of it,  update your profile so when someone visits your Twitter page, they can have an idea of who you are. You can upload a picture,  describe yourself, or add link to your blog.

If you like to know more about Twitter,  you can read the following:

• 18 Super Useful Ways to Use Twitter
• 101 Everday Uses of Twitter

And if you are looking for famous people in Twitter, here are some of them:

• US President Obama
• Britney Spears
• Lance Armstrong
• Shaquille O’Neal
• Richard Branson
• Greg Moreno

OK, I confess.  I shouldn’t be in that list :)

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Here are 10 tips on how to become an expert from Keith Ferrazzi:

1. Get out in front and analyze the trends and opportunities on the cutting edge.
2. Ask seemingly stupid questions. (If you ask questions that are like no other, you get results that are unlike any the world has seen.)
3. Know yourself and your talents. (Highlight your strengths so that your weakness matter less.)
4. Always learn.
5. Stay healthy.
6. Expose yourself to unusual experiences. (Different experiences give rise to different tools.)
7. Don’t get discouraged.
8. Know the new technology.
9. Develop a niche.
10. Follow the money. (All great ideas are meaningless in business until someone pays for it.)

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Now that you’ve realized the importance of having the right people around you, how can you get started building your network?

Ask
If you need help, ask for help. If on your way home you see a small bookshelf on the sidewalk and  wonder if it is being thrown away, ask the owner if you can take it.  If you are looking for a mentor,  get a list of successful businessmen in your community and ask them if they can review your business plan.

Share your passion
Make a list of things you are passionate about and use Google to find out the people who share your passion.  Share with them a book you’ve read, or a video in YouTube that would interest them.  If they ask for help, maybe in their blogs or in forums, offer yourself.  Remember, passion is contagious.

Friendship is created out of the quality of time spent between two people, not the quantity… It’s what you do that matters, not how often you meet.

Seek out other people
It is tempting to stick with people we already know. After all, they watch the same movies as we do, play the same games, etc. etc. If you want to enlarge your network, you need to go out and meet other people. There are many ways to meet other people. You can join Meetup and start attending meetings that you like. You can also get involve in community projects.

Take names
Magazines release a list of influential people in their industry at least once a year. The cover page usually has the letters “Top 50″ or “Power 50″ in big fonts so you will never miss them. Compile a list of journalists, industry analysts, bloggers, CEOs you want to meet someday. I know we all want to meet Paris Hilton. We also know it’s a long shot. So for now, keep a list of people you want to meet someday and call them your ‘Aspirations’. For the rest, start reaching out to them. Most them are already using Twitter, blog, and Facebook accounts.  With technology these days, it is inexcusable not to have an idea of what they are doing.

Never, ever, disappear
Always make sure that people can still remember you.  People are just an email and phone call away. If they don’t answer your email or take your call, don’t be downtrodden. Most likely, they are just busy. Broadcast to your network regularly by sharing a good article or a project you are working on right now. If someone offers you a job you can’t take, forward it to your network.

Connect your circle with someone else’s
One sure way to enlarge your network is to connect with someone else’s network. You can co-host an event or share names.

Be indispensable

Indispensability comes from being a switchboard, parceling out as much information, contacts, and goodwill to as many people – in as many different worlds – as possible.

Be interesting
Nobody wants to be around a boring person. OK, maybe some do. But if you want to have a large personal network, you must be someone worth talking to. Even better, someone worth talking about. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, “Would I spend an hour eating lunch with this person?”.  Try to be honest, please.

Just do it
Don’t be afraid of the risks. If a prospect mentor turns you down, find another one. If people don’t answer your emails, email them again and again. A simple search in Google would give you thousands of thousands of prospects. Don’t be afraid you won’t find people that share the same interests as yours because that will never happen. Everyone is connected.

Ultimately, everyone has to ask himself how they’re going to fail. We all do. The choice isn’t between success and failure; it’s between choosing risk and striving for greatness, or risking nothing and being certain of mediocrity.

—
Photo courtesy of s.o.f.t

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Powerty, I realized, wasn’t only a lack of financial resources; it was isolation from the kind of people that could help you make more of yourself.

Yes, it is important that you have the right skill and attitude but they mean little if you think you can do it by yourself. You need the help of others. That’s why Keith Ferrazzi’s first advice is to seek out the most successful people around you and ask for their help and guidance.  You can start with the CEO or President of your company.

Real networking is about finding ways to make other people more successful. It is about working hard to give more than you get.

Connecting – a constant process of giving and receiving – of asking for and offering help. By putting people in contact with one another, by giving your time and expertise and sharing them freely, the pie gets bigger for everyone.

The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.

Your personal network can give you the security you need, whether is about your career or your business. If you are an employee right now but have plans of becoming a free agent someday, start building your network today – before you actually need it. Start finding your future clients and get to know them as real friends, not potential customers.

—
Photo courtesy of Thiago Lopes

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