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Twitter Tuesday #26–Starting a Twibe

Welcome to the twenty-sixth installment of Twitter Tuesday. In the spirit of Twitter, this blog will be short and sweet and to the point. The tips offered here are all based off my best-selling book We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. If our goal is to build an author platform in the thousands to tens of thousands, then we will have to approach Twitter differently than a faceless corporation or even the regular person who does not possess a goal of becoming a brand. This blog will help you rule the Twitterverse without devolving into a spam bot.

This Week’s Twitter Tip-Start a Twibe

Twitter can make life much easier, especially when it comes to communicating real-time with others, no matter how far away. Going to a conference? Want to start a critique group? Want to have an on-line party to celebrate a book launch? Twitter can help.

Currently, I am teaching an on-line workshop on a Yahoo loop. Those signed up for my class are privy to information I won’t be sharing on my blogs. Yet, in order for those in the class to get the most out of the lessons, they need to talk, form up as a team, and do so in a way that doesn’t leave them buried in e-mails and lost in seemingly endless conversation threads. The solution? A hashtag–#WANA711.

Every member of the class now can communicate, follow each other, subscribe to each other’s blogs….and do this in a way that is easy, efficient, and that doesn’t make us afraid of our e-mail. If others wander onto #WANA711, no problem. More friends. This doesn’t diminish my class, because the meat of the experience is posted in files on the loop. This also gives my class the ability to support each other. The #WANA711 corrals all of their blogs, so they can retweet for their pals and just change the #s. This is called working smarter, not harder ;).

The best way to thrive on social media is to be part of a team and to work together. We don’t need to wait until Nanowrimo to issue a challenge. Create your own with your best writing friends and use the # function to keep in touch, set goals and keep each other accountable.

Want to celebrate your new book? Give it a #. Want to communicate with friends at a conference? Create a special #. Hastags give us the ability to come together, no matter the reason.

Tweet ya later!

20 comments

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  1. Soooooo Kristen. . . you don’t have to sign up for a # use or anything? I always thought you had to register for permission from Twitter. Like there was an official twitter tweet with red font stamp with “Approved” or “Not Approved”. Filed in a database. In triplicate.

    I’m feeling a bit dim-witted.

    1. Nope. Just tell people about it and get them to use it. That’s why I created the #MyWANA page here on this blog. Nah. don’t feel dumb. It took me over a year to get what a # was, LOL.

  2. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing:)

  3. Nice post, Kristen! Hashtags that you have created or are a part of are some of my favorites (i.e. #MyWANA). There are millions on Twitter so pretty much any interest that a person has can find a hashtag following.

  4. Never knew anything about hashtags before, and now I’m addicted to hash-icity. *s* Great way to keep track, too. Now that I’m following so many it can be overwhelming to find the gems.

  5. #HHH (Hugely Helpful Hashtags) – I nominate #MyWana for first place! Thanks KLamb!

  6. This is quite helpful and such a great idea. Thanks for sharing and helping make keeping up with it all easier for us.

  7. Aw yeah. I plan on rockin some hash tags of my own in coming months. Can’t wait.

  8. Thanks Kristen! Those little #’s have been bugging me with my own “huh?” reaction for a long time. Is there a way to avoid duplicate tweets? I use Tweetdeck. The #wana711 (the class) puts the tweets in both my general tweet column plus in the #wana711 column I created on Tweetdeck. I erase the columns daily (it doesn’t remove them from the main sites) twitter, facebook, linkedIn and as I review them, the duplication is time consuming. I also wonder about “lists” so maybe for next Twitter Tuesday?

    1. If you follow people who use the hashtag it shows up in your followers list, but that can get full of people who do not use the hashtag, so having a filter is useful for those of us who follow a diverse group of people.

  9. I love this! thanks so much for doing it and mentioning it! having a hash tag for new releases when they come out is a wonderful idea too 🙂

  10. I love the #MyWANA hashtag. Seems everyone is on board with the “be nice” and “don’t spam” principles, and I’ve met soooo many supportive tweeps. I’ve participated in other hashtags, as well, and it’s a great way to have a focused conversation with several people at once.

    1. I’ve found great timely info with the #MyWANA group — stuff I may have missed in the general twittering. Either because, lots of tweets or I may not be following that person.

  11. Oops. I do have your book on my computer … had it a long time. I guess it is time to read your book, Kristen, & stop with the questions you may have covered in the book!

      • Joanna Aislinn on July 19, 2011 at 10:04 pm
      • Reply

      You WILL get a lot out of reading WANA–now to grow in my blog knowledge a la Kristen!

  12. Just finished reading WANA; so wonderfully informative and a fun NF read too 🙂

    As per #s and Tweetdeck in general, guess I picked up some knowledge by getting in the trenches (and all the Twitter Tues posts), but it was good to confirm what I knew and learn more about Twitter in WANA. BTW Kristen, good thing the social media sites aren’t your kids. Each would be jealous of your special love of Twitter, lol.

    Off to create Twitter backgrounds and FB fan pages! I am empowered 😀

  13. I agree that a Twibe can be a great way to make Twitter more personal, but it can also make the stream get repetitive, or seem somewhat off-putting or cliquey. I know anyone is welcome at all times, but there can be an in or out feeling. Like to be “in” you have to jump on board 100% and it can be easy for the Twibe members to forget to communicate with the people on Twitter outside the Twibe. I feel like I’m speaking another language with all this Twitter speak. 😉

  14. I read about the hashtags in your books, but never realized how widespread the hashtags are used. There are a lot of great Twibes out there! So many choices and opportunities.

  15. I don’t use enough hastags in my posts, nor do I follow enough of them. I’ll have to keep on the lookout for them in the future. Thanks!

  16. Of course, it’d help if people know about your made-up hashtags if you want to start a twibe. 😉

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