If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know I am an enthusiastic Twitter user. I have previously written about why, so I won’t repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that I believe Twitter offers an unparalleled opportunity for brand-building, social networking, and customer engagement.
But at what cost? you may be thinking.
Obviously, the service itself is free. I don’t know how much longer the folks at Twitter can sustain this business model. Eventually, they will have to monetize it or the service will go away. But in the meantime, it costs you or your business nothing.
The learning curve itself is also inexpensive. You can get get the hang of it in less than 30 minutes. In fact, I wrote The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter as a 20-minute introduction, because I got tired of repeating the basics to new users.
But what about the time it takes to Twitter? Ah, yes, “the time.”
This is the standard objection from people who haven’t actually tried the service. “How do you find the time to Twitter?” they ask. In my experience, it takes me less than 30 minutes a day.
Here’s how the math works out. I am a pretty active Twitterer. I average about 13 tweets a day. Most tweets take me 15–30 seconds each. (Yes, I have timed them.) Don’t forget, you only have 140 characters. It can’t take much time. Nevertheless, let’s be conservative and assume that it takes me 30 seconds for each tweet.
Thirteen times 30 is 6.5 minutes. I probably spend another 15 minutes a day scanning other people’s tweets and responding to direct messages or replies. Even then, I am doing this during “down time”—early in the morning as I am reading, in between meetings or projects during the day, or in the evening as a way of relaxing. All total, that’s just over 20 minutes.
In my opinion, that’s not a big investment of time, especially for the benefits I receive. But that’s the subject of another post.
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I completely agree Michael. The time spent is not much, and the return is three or four fold the investment in knowledge and engagement. I know where I work its a slow process, one person at a time.
I LOVE Twitter! I doubt I spend more than 20 minutes a day on it and it's spread out. I check out PeopleBrowsr about every hour to see if there's anything happening. I love the little snippets of info I get there. And it's a great networking tool. Other authors have asked me what is the benefit and it's hard to explain. It really fosters a community feel and connectedness. I also love the way it automatically posts to Facebook. That's one of the biggest benefits to authors because it allows my readers to respond to a quickly jotted tweet, and I can enter into dialogue with them and build more of that community.
It's a great tool, and I'm thankful you told us about it, Mike!
Mike,
I have been following your "tweets" on twitter for some time, and you seem to be a casual twitter user and it sounds like you get a lot out of it. But not everybody will be able to build a twitter following like you have with so much ease. You started with existing web content, and an important position that make it that much easier for you to use twitter only 30 minutes per day. My point is, you kind of had a head start.
For people that are building a brand from scratch, or have relatively little online content, a twitter following can take hours per day to develop. I have been using twitter for the last three weeks to build my brand and I probably spend 12-15 hours per week on it.
It has been worth every minute, but it has been quite time consuming. I agree with your post, that you CAN spend just 15-30 minutes per day on twitter, but that won't work for most people to build a brand.
Just my thoughts on the subject,
Adrian
That may be true, Adrian. However, I have friends who have several hundredfollowers and no other online presence. I think most of all it takespatience. Even though I now have nearly 6,000 followers, that didn't happenover night. It has taken 10 months. However, for whatever reason, once Ibroke the 2,000 follower threshold, the list seemed to grow exponentially.I think the key thing is patience. The other important thing is to reallytry and add value in your tweets by linking to interesting articles orre-tweeting interesting tweets.
This is a HUGE issue in my world. Mostly because I'm a coach and have to work pretty hard to help most of my clients stay on the "intentional – singular focus" side of the road. I love Twitter. And could not agree with you more. I do think each individual that uses twitter has a responsibility to make sure they have a plan, they have some boundaries set as well. Twitter could creep up as one of those multitasking type things that makes us less effective so it's definately good to keep a pulse on that.
In reflection, personally, the thing I have to watch out for is the desire to compete with the @rick_smith's who seem to do nothing but tweet, eat and sleep. If I find myself wondering how so and so can send so many tweets, I have to remind myself that either a, they have way more time than me, or b, they've got a more intentional plan and system that supports it.
As a coach, I want to not only do this myself but help my clients live in B. Have a plan a system, the tools and go to work!
@jasondtaylor
Tweet on!!
I spend a little less time than you per day but to me it's just like anything else… you get out what you put in. I objected to Twitter at first, thinking it was a time bandit. Then I gave it a try and quickly realized the opportunities to connect that it can bring. Now I INVEST time into Twitter because I see the RETURN it brings by way of contacts, collaboration, etc. I've already made several business deals from people I have met on Twitter, not to mention some great new friends.
http://www.twitter.com/DanielDecker
It seems that people who are perceived to be of influence and/or run/start large organizations and/or great products get followers very quickly.
Mike, I agree that active twittering takes less than 30 minutes a day. I've been twittering for a while, and probably average less than 20 minutes a day.
Adrian, I can see how it would take more time than that, IF, you are trying to build your twitter following by following lots of other users, hoping for the return follow (otherwise known as twitter spam).
twitter isn't a quick fix. You can't cheat your way to a strong, loyal following. If you want more followers (and I'm not convinced this is always the best goal), then provide more value to your existing followers. As Mike points out, patience is the key.
A good indicator of how valuable your tweets are is how often they are retweeted (RT). I use http://www.PeopleBrowsr.com (a client of mine) to keep track of this sort of information and manage my inbound tweetflow.
Another legitimate exception to the 30 minute average would be my friend Frank Eliason (@comcastcares). However, Frank's team is using twitter to provide customer service to a huge customer base. Once you are providing customer service to millions of customers using twitter (a great idea, by the way), you may need a little more that 30 minutes a day.
Mike, I agree that active twittering takes less than 30 minutes a day. I've been twittering for a while, and probably average less than 20 minutes a day.
Adrian, I can see how it would take more time than that, IF, you are trying to build your twitter following by following lots of other users, hoping for the return follow (otherwise known as twitter spam).
twitter isn't a quick fix. You can't cheat your way to a strong, loyal following. If you want more followers (and I'm not convinced this is always the best goal), then provide more value to your existing followers. As Mike points out, patience is the key.
A good indicator of how valuable your tweets are is how often they are retweeted (RT). I use http://www.PeopleBrowsr.com (a client of mine) to keep track of this sort of information and manage my inbound tweetflow.
Another legitimate exception to the 30 minute average would be my friend Frank Eliason (@comcastcares). However, Frank's team is using twitter to provide customer service to a huge customer base. Once you are providing customer service to millions of customers using twitter (a great idea, by the way), you may need a little more that 30 minutes a day.
http://www.twitter.com/jdale
Mike, I agree that active twittering takes less than 30 minutes a day. I've been twittering for a while, and probably average less than 20 minutes a day.
Adrian, I can see how it would take more time than that, IF you are trying to build your twitter following by following lots of other users, hoping for the return follow (otherwise known as twitter spam).
twitter isn't a quick fix. You can't cheat your way to a strong, loyal following. If you want more followers (and I'm not convinced this is always the best goal), then provide more value to your existing followers. As Mike points out, patience is the key.
A good indicator of how valuable your tweets are is how often they are retweeted (RT). I use http://www.PeopleBrowsr.com (a client of mine) to keep track of this sort of information and manage my inbound tweetflow.
Another legitimate exception to the 30 minute average would be my friend Frank Eliason (@comcastcares). However, Frank's team is using twitter to provide customer service to a huge customer base. Once you are providing customer service to millions of customers using twitter (a great idea, by the way), you may need a little more that 30 minutes a day.
http://www.twitter.com/jdale
On average, I’d say I spend one hour per day in the Twitter world. I’m not a frequent tweeter, maybe 6x per day, but am an avid reader. Since I mostly work from home, Twitter, via tweetdeck, helps me stay connected to and interactive in the outside world. I find myself less bored with everyday tasks because there’s frequently a welcome little distraction popping up on my screen. I don’t keep tweetdeck running all the time. Probably turn it on 5-6x per day. I respond to DM’s, click on interesting news headlines, RT great links, read quick book reviews, immediately pray for prayer requests, and in general, interact as much or as little as I have time for. Twitter has rocked my world in a good way. So far it has proven to be a great investment of my time. The conversation is re-shaping my relationships and definitely stimulating my creativity, thereby having a revolutionary impact on the way I work and do business!
Twitter has been a great tool for both keeping up with friends, making new ones as well as developing new business. Even if I were to spend an hour a day on Twitter, it would be well worth the investment. My tweets are rebroadcasted on my blog, Facebook, Orkut, and Plaxo so my social footprint is quite large.
hmmmm, I tweet about 15-20 times in a day and I doubt that I spend more than a minute on it at a time.
I'm still learning Twitter, so I spend an hour a day reading everyone else's tweets. Maybe post mine 1x or 2x a week.
Twitter has been fun. I get more from FaceBook personally, but I linked the two, so both can be updated. It's a great tool to get your name out there, meet people, and network. Well worth the time.
Great post!
I work mostly from home and Twitter has rocked my world! Currently I spend approximately 60 minutes per day in the Twitter world. I average 5-6 tweets per day. I spend the rest of the time reading tweets via tweetdeck. I don't keep tweetdeck running all the time. I open it up maybe 1x per hour. I reply to DMs, immediately pray for prayer requests, click through to interesting news articles or blog posts, RT great posts, in general, I interact as much or as little as I have time for. Twitter has proved to be an invaluable connection to the outside world. My creativity and productivity have actually increased as I am challenged by what others are up to. Twitter has opened up an instant window to the world that wasn't previously there for me. I love that Twitter is (mostly) a conversation and not a monologue.
I LOVE Twitter – the profit for me is like opening a window on the world – I see whats happening outside of my small world – where else can you read whats in the mind of busy, successful people. – we all live in world that has walls – it's like peeking over the wall and seeing into a vast world of activity.
To Tweet is fun and entertaining; I can understand that it may help a business. I enjoy it even though do it rarely. My tweet for some of these comments above is "Right now: I am wondering if I am the only reader who has a tighter definition of 'friends' than one who tweets back?"
My definition would include one who watches your back, helps when you have troubles before you ask…old-fashioned things like that that require time and being together. As I see it the rest of the world is made up of friendly acquaintances, acquaintances, people to avoid, and strangers. Perhaps my world view should add to this difinition, tweeters?
Lorraine, as I've entered into the social networking world more fully and intentionally, I've noticed that my circle of friendly acquaintances has increased by at least 200%, maybe more. And of that increase, several people have actually moved from acquaintance to friend. Maybe not best friend, but definitely someone to have coffee with, share a laugh over a DM, a trusted source of solid re-tweets…I've found that with my more reserved personality, it has really helped to get the awkward, "do I hug you or shake your hand and how will I remember your name" phase of meeting someone behind me quicker or has removed it entirely. I love walking into a meeting or even a conference and having someone greet me by my twitter or blog name – it's like there's this instant moment of camaraderie and we can move more quickly into the next step of relationship.
Just read this article about Twitter getting additional funding from venture capitalists. Not sure how much this will affect Twitter, but indicates strong interest in its business model.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader...
You can grow quickly without twitter spamming. That is my point, you need to identify like minded people- and really engage the community at large, and that can't be done in just a few minutes a day.
I love getting a retweet, its like xmas morning, but it takes effort to find engaging articles and post them in a way that people will react to.
That is good to hear, that is has taken 10 months to get to where you are, maybe I am just a little impatient, but I see twitter having the potential to take over my entire life.
I love Twitter too! I use TweetLater to schedule tweets if I'm going to be busy or away from the computer and I know what my day looks like in advance.
I've made friends, had conversations, talked about the smell of new books all because of Twitter. I don't find it time consuming or a burden. More like I get to tell "my friends" about my day. I get to share, let it out, let it down.
I'm a writer. I work at home all day. I don't have co-workers to gather with at the end of the day or before lunch or after a meeting. Twitter let's me share my day.
If you're not updating to Facebook, I highly recommend. I get a lot of conversation going over there from my Tweets.
Thanks for being a Twitter champion, Mike!
Rachel
I also tried Tweeter on your recommendation. I probably have 20-30 followers, but I'm following you and many other influential people. I'm still getting the hang of it, but I do enjoy it. I use Tweetie on my iPhone for updating on the go. I know you tweet often and wanted to ask what you use to tweet? iPhone / Blackberry? I can't imagine you tweeting only from your pc/Mac.
By the way, that "beginner's guide to tweeter" was very helpful.
Thanks!
I use SMS on my iPhone to Tweet. I also use Twittelator to check my replies
and direct messages. On my desktop, I use TweetDeck. I highly recommend that
application, as it allows you to group followers (e.g., family, co-workers,
church friends, etc.). It is indispensible if you follow very many people as
I do.
I use SMS on my iPhone to Tweet. I also use Twittelator to check my replies
and direct messages. On my desktop, I use TweetDeck. I highly recommend that application, as it allows you to group followers (e.g., family, co-workers,
church friends, etc.). It is indispensible if you follow very many people as
I do.
I use SMS on my iPhone to Tweet. I also use Twittelator to check my replies and direct messages. On my desktop, I use TweetDeck. I highly recommend that application, as it allows you to group followers (e.g., family, co-workers,
church friends, etc.). It is indispensible if you follow very many people as
I do.
I use SMS on my iPhone to Tweet. I also use Twittelator to check my replies and direct messages. On my desktop, I use TweetDeck. I highly recommend that application, as it allows you to group followers (e.g., family, co-workers, church friends, etc.). It is indispensible if you follow very many people as
I do.
Didn't read all the comments, but I found out I spent over 2 days tweeting in the last two years. Like 52 hours or something. Shook me up. Worth it? Not that much. Enjoy your vacay!
I just noticed that the comment I sent from my iPhone DID get posted. I wasn't sure if it ever would (wasn't very clear on my end at all). Right after I sent it this morning, I checked the comment section via my computer and the comment sent from my phone wasn't there. I then proceeded to leave a comment, trying to word it similar to my first one. I think I came pretty close, but it would be fine with me if you deleted one or the other. Thanks! Marina (@berryman)
I played with Twitter when it first started and didn't find value in it.. I've been using it more in the last couple of months and have found huge value. The most important being the resources I've located to pass on to my blog readers that would have taken me hours of surfing, if I ever found them.
I'm fascinated with the way in which unfolding events can be followed and participated in. Most recently for me was the visit by US President Obama to Canada. I was able to follow and participate in the Twitter feed, one of our national papers live blog and the live coverage on TV. The combined information was way more than our news media eventually provided.
I let Tweetdeck scroll at the edge of my screen while I work and occasionally something catches my eye. I find I get a lot out of having it available for the time that I spend on it.
Yes I agree there is more than just the time to actually send tweets. And it depends on what you are intending to do via twitter. If you are planning to have discussions and build brands and engage customers then twitter is now another means of communication and it will be another communication tool. It should be classified in your all around time spent communicating. Alongside meetings, presentations, phone, email, etc..
Then there is social media monitoring (SMM) using various tools or radian6 or sm2 which should be the routine consideration of any organization. So the sanctioned time spent will depend on the role of the person in the company. The ROI for time spent can be pretty high, but there can be many distractions so it needs to be evaluated.
wow. some great comments here!
I probably spend about 15 minutes or so a day twittering. Some days it is longer, others I am hardly on it due to the busyness of the day; however, I do find it relaxing to browse through the tweets at the end of the long day – there is usually some great stuff.
Also, I use twitter when our ministry group goes out on tour as a way of sending quick prayer updates & quick posts about the previous ministry experience.
Yeah….it is a great ROI, but for me, I think the I is too much. This week will be very…different for me and blogging and Twittering. Stay tuned. :)
I usually forget to tweet, so I only do it about once a day, usually when I'm bookmarking an article or site. I haven't seen much benefit yet. Maybe if I did, I'd spend more time on it.
I twitted as I research and write. So most of it flows out of what I’m writing or thinking.
The rest is downtime and since I have an iPhone. It’s east and fun.
I agree! I spend less than 20 minutes doing Twitter updates. I love reading what others are up to. I'm a fan of Colleen's books, so as a reader, it's fun to read her updates and those of other authors I like. As an aspiring writer, it helps me stay connected in the industry as well. Personally, it's a great way to socialize and stay in touch with friends. It IS worth the investment of time, indeed!
i was re-reading this, as i saw it pop up on your (fabulously designed) blog. :-)
for me, the 2 days was still too much, now that i have stepped back and gained some personal insight. or maybe, it wasn't that it was too much, but more that it was (imho) 2 days of blah-blah-blah. 2 days of blah-blah-blah vs. 2 days of insightful and purposeful twitters can look very different.
Where I lose time is reading others' tweets. Two-way communication. It's also too tempting to get off the rug with the kids and tweet "I'm playing with the kids." Uh, no, if I do that, I'd be tweeting to the internet, not playing with the kids.
This is a good post to show small business clients, since one of the biggest fears they have is that social media – Twitter especially – is a huge drain on time.
I think that even though your position and platform are certainly an asset in attracting large numbers more quickly, your blog's outstanding design and the way you integrate and promote Twitter with your blog posts is just as important. And I've seen plenty of CEOs with small followings. You have to post interesting content, and you obviously do.
(@BrickandClick)
While leaving this comment I could have done two twitter posts. Thanks for the reminder Michael.
I found it interesting that some of those who commented here had no easy-to-find twitter account on their website.
I would not spend 30 minutes on twitter a day, maybe 30 minutes a week.
Thats my favorite part of Twitter, it generates instant blog traffic.