Six Things I Discovered From My Twitter Experiment

Have you ever read a book that offered a great idea and wondered if it really worked? That’s precisely what I felt after I read Twitter Power by @Joel Comm (here’s the book review). In the book the author outlines a 30-day plan for “dominating Twitter.” So from November 14, 2009 through December 13, 2009 I conducted an experiment. In the process, I discovered these six critical facts about my Twitter use. Has your own Twitter experience revealed similar eye-openers?

1. I did not “dominate” Twitter in 30 days. I doubt one could really “dominate” Twitter in any time period. You might, on the other hand, dominate a market. I did not create @ChrisCarosa with the intention of dominating any market. I really just wanted to talk to people. Still, I am more than happy with my results. My original prediction suggested I’d reap 100 followers from the process (see Great Idea, Great Design, But Will it Fly?). I ended up with more than 200 (and climbing).
2. Getting a “Name” to follow you apparently does have some coattails associated with it. I got a jump in followers when both @joelcomm and @chrisbrogan started following me. But, whether I can keep those followers remains up to me.
3. Having a conversation is more fun than just tweeting – and you can make friends, too.
4. Honesty is the best policy: I’m not interested too much in following people who don’t use a name, don’t list where they’re from (a real place) and (especially) don’t have a real web-site to link to.
5. I don’t like when people unfollow before they answer my DM about how they found be.
6. I’ll usually follow someone I don’t know if they do answer my DM or @ message.