Twitter is all about joining in a conversation.

It is not effectively used as a megaphone (which, truth be told, is how I used it until I figured it out). It does not work well as a one-way channel to communicate ideas.

Rather, Twitter is ideal for sharing words or articles of wisdom, and for reaching people and communicating with them in a way that is both more casual and more public than an email.

It is an outstanding way to open up a conversation with people who you don’t know personally, but with whom you would like to engage in a dialogue.

Twitter users should strive to follow people who are (1) saying interesting things and (2) providing interesting content. You, in turn, should also try to do these two things, as a goal of the Twitter user is to gain followers. When someone follows you, this is a nod that someone believes what you have to say is interesting and worth listening to. It also provides an opportunity for that follower to share their thoughts with you.

I am interested, and sometimes surprised, to see how well-known people use Twitter. I recently wanted to communicate with some Federal politicians, and found them on Twitter.

I found that one of my Senators, Russ Feingold (@russfeingold) has a large base of followers (9,812 as of this morning) and follows 4,828 people and entities in return. This shows many people find he has interesting things to say, and he in turn is interested in what a large base of people and organizations are talking about.

Russ even is transparent with his tweets – one can quickly tell if he is the actual tweeter or if a staff member does it on his behalf (a tweet has the word “STAFF” at the front of a tweet not actually executed by Russ himself). This is a textbook example of how to effectively allow multiple people to tweet from one account, while maintaining transparency and authenticity.

Kudos, Russ.

I then found my Representative Tammy Baldwin on Twitter (@RepTammyBaldwin). As of this morning, she has a sizable number of followers (including myself!) – 1,163. However, she is only following 16 people or entities in return. SIXTEEN. When I first found Tammy on Twitter, it was ZERO. I’m not sure how much of an improvement this is….she is following some political leaders, some state politicians, and some news organizations.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin is not following a single constituent via Twitter. This makes me feel as if what I say, feel, and want her to hear is simply not important to her. I hope that in reality this is not true.

So please, Twitter users, be aware of the implications and the perceptions that you give by who you follow and how you communicate on Twitter.

And please follow me (@LaurelinMadison). I follow many folks back – if your content is interesting and relevant, I want to hear what you have to say and engage in a conversation.

And that, to me, is the true beauty of Twitter.

Filed under: Branding, General Business, Social Media, Word of Mouth on June 23rd, 2010