What Are You Putting In? March 27, 2009
Posted by Chuck Musciano in Networking.Tags: Humility, Networking, Twitter
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In my ongoing effort to convert the entire world to using Twitter, I often get this response:
I tried it for a while, but I didn’t get anything out of it.
Really? I’m so sorry. Tell me, what did you put into it?
Why do so many people come to Twitter with the expectation of getting a huge immediate reward? Do they really expect to create an account and immerse themselves in a flood of useful, pertinent information? Do they really think it could be that easy?
Here’s a novel thought: you get out of Twitter what you put into Twitter. Twitter is about collaborating and sharing, 140 characters at a time. When you come to Twitter, come prepared to share something. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering information. Just something, anything, that someone, somewhere, might want to see.
Did you just finish a project at work? Tweet it. Find a useful resource on the web? Tweet it. Do something nice for your spouse? Tweet it. See a great movie or listen to a great song? Twee—well, you get the idea.
Then, stick with it. It took me months to find and follow a set of people that I found interesting. All the while, I kept tweeting. Twitter is a living, networked version of the Golden Rule: tweet unto others as you would have them tweet unto you.
Here’s a novel approach to getting started with Twitter: expect nothing in return. Engage Twitter with the single goal of providing value and helping every person you can, as best you can, with no expectation of reciprocation. Stick with that approach for a long time. You might be surprised at the results.
If that proves to be a successful approach with Twitter, don’t stop there. You may find that this is a successful approach to your entire life. But don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.
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Chuck… we don’t live in a culture that expects nothing in return… and that’s great news for those of us who live by that very mantra.
You are so right… that’s not a Twitter strategy, it’s a life strategy.
Great post.
Good advice. Like anything social, Twitter tends to give to you in return to what you give to the community.
I struggle with Twitter. I use it on/off. I follow. I have followers. The single most useful thing I have found is to sit down at the beginning of the day with cupa joe in hand and type “Good morning all, today I will…”. To have to summarize a day of work into a single 140 character statement is a wonderful way of prioritizing and focusing.
Good life mantra – you always get a little more than you put in. So if you want more, put in more… Great piece, specially for newbies on Twitter, and in fact any social media service.
Agreed.
@Marc, @Wally, @Manish: You always get what you give. In fact, you usually get more than what you give, but it comes back to you in ways you never expected. Expect nothing: you’ll never be disappointed and sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
@John: This is a great advice for anyone on twitter. If nothing else, you may jog the attention of someone who wants to help, comment, or commiserate. And thus a conversation begins…
Love your twitter version of the Golden Rule (just tweeted it in fact!)
Excellent advice – especially the part about the “expect nothing in return” approach. Do that and you will build relationships with great people – like you for example
In the process you will learn and discover more than you ever imagined.
Great message, Chuck.
For me, Twitter is a whole new world. I’ve always been a “big picture” kind of person and the notion that something I put out there might be useful to someone, or a group of someones, is really satisfying.
And the people I follow are really interesting and diverse. That’s reward in itself