

The Unbearable Lightness of Tweeting - ThiTH
http://theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/the-unbearable-lightness-of-tweeting/385484/?single_page=true

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lux
Twitter has always been almost useless as a driver of traffic for me, but it
has been a good medium for connecting with people I wouldn't have otherwise on
the network itself. It simply doesn't bleed into the outside world all that
much.

As a networking tool however, it's been way more effective than Facebook,
LinkedIn, or any of the others I've used, and I fall very much into the
casual/occassional user camp.

~~~
mcdoug
How? And what kind of people? Do you cold-call on reporters through it?
Investors? People in your field? For me Twitter has always been a
disappointment: cumbersome interface and a write-only mode where anything I
say goes unanswered.

~~~
lux
I've used it mainly on project-specific things, for example reaching out to
musicians, indie labels, and festivals about a music-related service. Or
reaching out to other developers/startups.

It helps to follow and get to know them a bit first, too. On Twitter, you can
engaging in mini conversations with just about anyone, and once you're
familiar with someone you can tweet at or DM them without coming off like a
cold-call. Basically, just be yourself and it works wonders.

That said, I still tend to shy away from a lot of online interactions (just
look at my stunted comment history on here for example ;). Yet when I do put
myself out there, I tend to be surprised at the positive response.

