The Most Important Symbol On Twitter

Whenever a discussion of Twitter comes up, invariably someone says that its purpose is to stay "top of mind." When I dig a little deeper on what people mean by that, they seem to believe that posting a news story every day or retweeting an article is a good way to stay "top of mind" with their followers. Post story > follower sees your face > follower thinks you're great > mission accomplished. Most Twitter feeds look like that.

I'm lukewarm on this theory because I don't think that's what Twitter is for. Or at least, that's not where I think its power lies. Also, because people "follow swap" so much, who knows if anyone even sees your face in their feed. If they're following 5000 people, probably not.

Passive vs. Active. Active is better.

In order to truly reach someone and stay top of mind with them, you must use Twitter as an active tool and not a passive one. In my way of thinking, posting news stories or using hashtags to get attention is passive. You are literally hoping someone crosses your path and takes notice of you. Retweeting is semi-passive. With a retweet, you stroked an ego, but you didn't probe for a response. The best you'll likely get is a quick, "Thanks for the RT," and that's it.

Shift-2 gives you @. Use it.

The active way to use Twitter is to make sure that you're using the @ symbol on at least more than half your tweets. If your tweet isn't directed at somebody, then you are being passive, and you aren't opening up the main possibility that Twitter makes available to you: the chance to connect with someone specific.

Use the @ symbol, start a conversation, and get noticed one person at a time. Revisit them again. Keep talking. It will be more effective than hoping one of the tens of thousands of people using a hashtag will somehow think you're the sole voice of authority in the wilderness.