Twit, Tweet, Twat: A Twitter Tutorial.

Last month I got a text from my Beaufriend that read: I still can't believe how much you were on the forefront of Twitter!!! It's TOTALLY the hottest thing around right now!

This morning I received an email from another friend that said: I need a Twitter lesson!

So instead of just a reply here's an explanation in a reply all format.

Follow: It's more fun/useful/worthwhile when there's more to read. I found people to follow by clicking around. If you hover your mouse on the little image boxes their name comes up, if you click on them you go to a new page with a whole new group of people to check out as potential followers. I'd say the people I follow fall into categories of advertising professionals, social media gurus and mommy bloggers. There's also a nice mix of brands and things I'm passionate about like The New York Times, Whole Foods and the Austin City Limits Festival.

Follow Back: Check out the people who are following you and follow them. A few weeks ago, there was a bit of Twitter Fun that started by Lindsey at Suburban Turmoil. I was playing along and having a grand time. Later I read this blog post about the event. There's no mention of @amidoingokay's tweets. It took me a few minutes to unfold my wadded up undies, but then it hit me - Lindsey doesn't follow me, so she had NO IDEA I was playing along.Yes, there is a fair amount of spam already on Twitter even in it's infancy and apparently their are slews of subgroups like life coaches, religious zealots and the like. Steer clear. There's no need to follow everyone, just don't miss out.

90% of my Twitter time is via my phone: When I have a few minutes, I check my email, my facebook and twitter on my phone. Rarely do I sign on to Twitter from my laptop. I use Twitterific and I like the functionality that lets me see what people are saying 'nearby' and also what the #(hashtags) or trending topics are. These are the most popular, most mentioned subjects people are tweeting about.

It is what it is: and it's all under 140 characters. Try not to make more of it than it is, it's just typing out loud to a select audience. Sort of. I like people who link to interesting news stories, viral videos and the like. Often I star these stories so that I can go back and read them later (often with good intentions on the road to hell). I like hearing about how famous writers are telling tales via twitter. I like the idea of the gourmet food carts that tweet their locations. Or Shaq is handing out tickets via twitter. Demi and Ashton get on my nerves a bit. I don't follow Diddy. Or John Meyer. I recently started following Joel McHale from The Soup. Advertising is still trying to figure out how to use twitter and I think twitter is still trying to figure out how to make a profit. I struggle with not tweeting every single thing my kids do, because I seriously don't want to offend everyone with their greatness. And I'm a professional. And we all know how advertising embraces those women with children types.

Instant Gratification: when I felt a great bump in the night, I immediately went to twitter for confirmation on an earthquake. I find out about plane crashes, reality show finals, NBA championships even Dooce's new baby all on Twitter. It's the first stop on my information superhighway (do people still say that?) then I go to blogs, books, newspapers for more.

Please follow me on Twitter @amidoingokay and if you have any questions leave them in the comments.