Howard Rheingold’s tips on making value out of Twitter

clipped from www.smartmobs.com Tuning and Feeding: My best practices for getting the most out of Twitter by Howard Rheingold I think successful use of Twitter means knowing how to tune the network of people you follow, and how to feed the network of people who follow you. You have to tune who you follow. I mix friends who I know IRL and whose whereabouts and doings interest me, people who are amusing , people who are knowledgeable about a field that interests me , people who regularly produce URLs that prove useful , extraordinary educators When it comes to feeding my network, that comes down to putting out the right mixture of personal tweets , informational tidbits , self promotion , socializing, and answering questions. It’s particularly important to respond to people I also try to be a little entertaining once in a while you have to spend some time tuning and feeding if Twitter is going to be more than an idle amusement to you and your followers (and idle amusement is a perfectly legit use of the medium).