Are people talking (tweeting) about you?

I must admit to being a bit of a twitter lurker (is that an official term?) and only contributing when i think about it or have something reasonably interesting. For some, twitter is a very comfortable transition (those who are generally yappers in real life – like Rick Simmons for example) but others may prefer to take their time. For those of you who prefer to dip the toes, you should readlly try twitter lurking – it’s pretty easy and doesn’t have to be too time consuming, maybe even once-a-day.

The best tool to do so is tweetdeck. This is an application that resides on your desktop (you will need Adobe Air to run it) and can be set up to automatically start when you start your computer. Otherwise, you should schedule a regular time to open it up and check it out. Go ahead and download it and start the install.

Next you’ll want to sign up for a twitter account (try and use a brand that people may be familiar with or your own name so it’s easily recognizable and within the 15 character limit).

Now open up Tweet Deck and login.

Then click on the search icon and type in the name of your company, or your own name or any subject you may be interested in for that matter. You’ll now see an extra column which may be populated with tweets depending on how popular you are. If you get the courage, go ahead and respond to them, otherwise keep on checking back…it may be useful feedback.

If you want to learn a little more about twitter, there are plenty of resources out there. Here’s one example but there are millions of others which a simple google search will reveal.

Feel free to follow us @mydinkum or my own @flemo. I may not talk to you but I will be lurking:)

PaulFleming is co-founder and VP of Interactive Services for Dinkum Interactive. A trained teacher, Paul has worked in a variety of forms of Internet Marketing but with a focus on SEO. Originally from Australia, he now resides in Philadelphia with his wife and 2 ankle-biters.