If you’re struggling with how to leverage Twitter for yourself or your business, I encourage you to download a complimentary copy of the new ebook Embracing Twitter.

I am honored to say I shared my insights into using Twitter for customer service, with 30 other also donating their tips and insights.

There is no cost to download the ebook, and you don’t even have to share your email address unless you want to get updates.

Go download Embracing Twitter today and find some tips to grow your business and yourself using Twitter.

A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board says you can’t fire people for what they say on Facebook and Twitter, contrary to previous reports where folks have been fired for Facebook and Twitter stupidity.

If you didn’t know, I’m not a lawyer, so please do NOT take this as legal advice. I am not making any claims as to whether you can legally fire people or you can’t fire people for Facebook or Twitter.

I was manager for over 15 years who has had to make many judgment calls on people working for me. I know that most people who are dumb enough to post derogatory and inflammatory things to Facebook and Twitter will generally do enough things at work to get themselves fired WITHOUT having to worry about what they say about Twitter and Facebook.

I firmly believe that policies and procedures are put in place to protect the stupid from themselves…and organizations from the attorneys.

Managers also need a thick skin and if an employee says something stupid, and you have no reason to believe they will make bad decisions in the rest of their work, then you need to LET IT GO!

Questions for you:

If you feel it’s a good idea to vent about their bosses in public places, do you feel vindicated by the results of this case, or are you still going to watch yourself?

If you’re a manager, does this make any difference to you, or will you continue business as usual?

Photo credit for Forrest Gump: http://www.flickr.com/photos/averageman/371622146/in/photostream/

I frequently get asked “What are some good resources for creating a good Twitter strategy. I honestly have never looked for one before, so I thought instead I’d share my strategy for days when I just want to broadcast on Twitter. These days are few and far between for me, but for an organization, I can see that you may want to do this more often. And if nothing else, it’s a good starting point.

NOTE: My strategy is a 10 Tweet per day strategy. Adjust as you wish for your flavor or if you want to tweet more. I wouldn’t recommend scheduling more than 20 per day as that’s TOO MUCH information for most to consume.

First, I encourage you to use HootSuite. It’s a great tool, it’s available from any computer, and it’s super simple to use.

Now let’s schedule some tweets.

Tweets 1-5) Share some good links to articles. If you’ve written a recent article, 1 or 2 can be yours.

Tweet 6) Ask a question that’s in your field of expertise.

Tweet 7) Share an event or something about you/your organization.

Tweet Share an idea about something in your space

Tweets 9-10) Share something your followers said. I’d use the (via @philgerb for this instead of a standard RT, because you don’t want to look like you’re really there.)

Of course, this doesn’t include responding to any questions, but these are things you can schedule once per 50 minutes to share information 10 times per day from 8-5.

And feel free to use/modify the 30 minute Twitter solution for yourself/your organization if you have very limited time.

For more in depth Twitter insights, I encourage you to pre-order my latest book #Twitterworks.

NOTE: This will NOT get you much, if any, response from your followers. If you’re looking to engage with people on Twitter, you cannot SCHEDULE engagement. This is simply a way to broadcast 10 pieces of information with your followers. I’d encourage you to use this in addition to scheduling time to engage with your followers.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bubblefriends/3658969795/

Recently I did a presentation for Social Media Breakfast Milwaukee. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to share my PowerPoint slides as we had no wall to project things on. I promised everyone they’d get the slides, so here they are. If you’re a registered user at http://slideshare.net, you can download them in PDF format. I protect my slides in PDF as I use some images I pay for and you’ll need to pay for them too in order to use them.

Now it’s your turn:

• Are you using Twitter for your brand?
• What are your best tips?
• What questions do you have?

Please leave your questions in the comments below, and I’ll try to answer them, or I’ll have someone smarter than me try to answer them.

Note from Phil: This is a guest post by David Pogue, Author of The World According to Twitter. The book is perfect for flipping through when you need a laugh, or for leaving in the guest room for when friends come over to visit.

What follows is an excerpt from David’s book, and I think you’ll get a laugh or 3 out of it.

Compose the subject line of an email message you really, really don’t want to read

by David Pogue, Author of The World According to Twitter

To my former sexual partners, as required by law — @markowitz

Re: What seems to have been your car — @pumpkinshirt

From: eHarmony. Subject: Your profile has been rejected. — @jadawa

I hate to do this via email . . .  — @SusanEJacobsen

Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fw:Catz! lol — @danblondell

What happened in Vegas did NOT stay in Vegas — @jschechner

Your Dad is Now Following You on Twitter. — @CathleenRitt

From: Your Doctor. Subj: Good news, bad news . . .  — @Baszma

Urgent notice to everyone who was at the hot tub party last Saturday! — @lavasusan

From: AT&T. Subject: Your international roaming charges — @kvijayraghavan

Hi! Remember me? I’m in town!! — @Stefaniya

Error in lab results — @ricksva

From: NIH. Subj: Important new information on link between computer usage and rapid-onset dementia — @maineone

Honey, you saved those tax papers from 1978, right? — @pumpkinshirt

From: Yale Office of Admissions. File Size: 2K — @perryan

We need to talk. Call me. — @_not_THAT_guy

From: Your Petsitter. Subject: Before you open the door when you get home . . .  — @brianwolven

From: Your Publisher. Subject: Ha, good one! Could you send the real chapter now, please? — @Lookshelves

Your GM common stock — @scottmarkarian

Did you mean to hit Reply to All? — @Maggie_Dwyer

From: Your eldest kid. Subject: How do you get chocolate sauce out of the sofa? — @aymroos

The above is an excerpt from the book The World According to Twitter by David Pogue. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Copyright © 2009 David Pogue, author of The World According to Twitter

Author Bio: David Pogue, author of The World According to Twitter, is the weekly tech columnist for the New York Times, an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, and contributor of funny, weekly tech videos for CNBC. He’s the author or co-author of 50 books, including 6 in the For Dummies line and 25 in the Missing Manual series, which he created. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

Join Pogue’s world at his website: www.davidpogue.com; at Twitter: @pogue; or at his blog: www.nytimes.com/pogue.

A few weeks back I had a great presentation all about Twitter shared with me from the amazingly talented Meryl Evans. I had meant to share it with you back when I first heard about it.

This presentation is called “A Twitter Mystery” and it’s an outstanding overview of all things Twitter. If you’re still trying to sell to your boss (or yourself) that Twitter really is a valuable tool for building business and relationships, this is a presentation you’ll want to pay attention to.

What do you think?

Did you learn anything new?

What’s your best Twitter tip for someone who doesn’t yet understand the power of the tool?

Humorous little video about why Twitter doesn’t matter. Though I disagree with the premise, it’s certainly possible someone might think this is what Twitter is all about.

4:28 you’ll never get back in your life though

RSS and e-mail readers: click here to see the video.

What do you think? Is this what Twitter is to you or does Twitter have meaning?

Follow me on Twitter to learn how I use it to share information, to connect to people, and to learn lots of new stuff.

Welcome to all that attended my presentation at Social Media University Milwaukee last week. Due to popular demand, and because many of you wanted to attend the session but could not, I’m sharing my slides with you now.

The goal of this presentation was to show people they could use Twitter in just 30 minutes a day and still make it a useful part of their arsenal. It is not meant to be a soup-to-nuts Twitter overview that takes you deep into the land of Twitter.

If you’d like me to share my 30 minute Twitter solution with your organization, please contact me today!

How would you make it more useful?
]]> http://www.philgerbyshak.com/30-minute-twitter-solution-presentation/feed/ 3 http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-questions-ask-phil-anything/ http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-questions-ask-phil-anything/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:07:00 +0000 Phil Gerbyshak http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-questions-ask-phil-anything/

I’m getting back to one of the most popular topics in my world lately, and that’s Twitter.

What would you like to know about Twitter?

Is there some terminology you don’t understand?

Are you curious about which applications you can use to extend it?

Wondering how to figure out who to follow and who not to?

What else would you like to know about Twitter?

Please leave your questions in the comments. I promise to group them all up and find the answers for you soon.

Question Mark courtesy of Marco Bellucci

]]> http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-questions-ask-phil-anything/feed/ 3 http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-in-plain-english/ http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-in-plain-english/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:28:00 +0000 Phil Gerbyshak http://www.philgerbyshak.com/twitter-in-plain-english/

When folks ask me how to explain Twitter to them, I invariably share some variation of this story:

Think of Twitter as a cocktail party with 100 people in the room, with 100 separate conversations.

You might be interested in what 10 folks have to say, so you listen to what those 10 people have to say.

If you think the people who you’re talking might be interested in what someone else is saying, you share what you heard, giving the person who said it credit.

You’ve learned what you can with the people you’re talking to, so you change conversations to someone else, then someone else, and eventually, you hear conversations from 30 people in the room. Those 30 people are listening to the other 70 people in the room, and occasionally they share what someone else says, so you listen to a new person.

Sometimes someone took a picture and they pass you their camera or cell phone so you can see the picture.

Before you go, you agree you’ll keep in touch. When you get home, you can listen in on their conversations. When they say something of interest, you can engage in the conversation, just like you were right there. Because you connected with them before, you can share interesting stories, pictures, and conversations with those people that found you interesting. You may also talk about something other people are interested in, so they might listen to you too.

If you want to whisper in someone’s ear, you can do so, and they can whisper back, or you can just listen.

Though the box at the top of the Twitter homepage says “What are you doing?” think of it instead as “What are you interested in talking about?” or “What am I paying attention to?”

That’s Twitter in plain English.

Any questions?

Is this helpful? How would you explain Twitter in plain English to someone who was interested in learning more?

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