It’s Thursday, so I feel the need to blog about something that starts with “T”.

I probably should be blogging about something that starts with “Th”, but that limits me greatly, and I don’t really have the know how to write a solid post entitled “The Thursday Theremin”.

(Although seriously, that thing is pretty awesome. Just sayin’)

So, how about Twitter? I mean, after all, there are a lot of people navigating the waters of social media, and I did take the time to talk about Google+.

Why not talk Tweets?

I should preempt this with the warning that I have no plans of making this a regular thing.  Nor will I have a Facebook Friday. And a MySpace Monday? Please. I wouldn’t have had one of those if it was 10 years ago. Ick.

But Twitter is the choice of businesses and celebs alike. And I have to admit, as neither of those things, I still find it pretty useful. Of all the social media platforms out there I’ve found Twitter the most useful for expanding my network.

When I first started using it, quite some time ago, I didn’t see the appeal right away. After all, for a verbose person like myself, why not use Facebook where I can say what I want and not be limited to 140 characters?

Twitter is great when you know how to use it. If you plan on using it, the first thing I recommend is using an app like TweetDeck. (Check out posts like this one on how to get the most out of TD – this blogger has more than one post on the topic, so look feel free to browse when you get there.)

The piece that I was missing at the beginning that made a world of difference for me?

Hashtags.

When you are on Twitter, you’ll notice users doing things like this:

I wrote a post about #bacon. Check it out. {link} #baconlovers #ameating #pigsaremagical

If you are wondering what the deal is with all those # (hashtags), these tags enable Tweeps (Twitter People) to follow certain topics. If I love bacon, I might have a column in Tweetdeck where I follow #bacon. Or, I might be a part of a group that discusses the virtues of every porcine piece at #pigsaremagical. If you tweet a message using those tags, anyone following the tag will see it, even if they don’t follow you.

If what you tweeted using those tags is of particular interest to those watching the tags, they might even take the leap and start following you personally.

Cool, right?

Well, before you start adding every tag imaginable to your post, some caveats.

One of the things I enjoy about Twitter is how public it is. If I want to follow the swoonworthy @NathanFillion, I can. He doesn’t have to accept me as friend, I just follow him. If I am especially fortunate, someone I adore and follow might follow me back (thanks, Craig Bierko). Same idea tends to go with tags. You can use tags as you see fit. No one is stopping you from following or using a given hashtag.

BUT, some tags are used more like a specific group chat than a social hangout. Know your tags before you use them. If a tag is used primarily for chatting and you attempt to use it to spread a link to your blog or a cause you want to promote, you could unintentionally upset the users of the tag.

This goes for retweeting, too. Pay attention to the tags on a tweet. If you aren’t familiar with them, either get familiar or take them off. It may seem silly, but some tags have rules, and it doesn’t behoove you to upset the regulars.

For your own benefit and those you are retweeting, spread the link love around to different tags. Whether you are promoting your own blog post, or the post of a fellow blogger, if everyone tweets the same link to the same tag in the same span of 30 minutes, guess what? The same people see the link. Over and over. A few times is emphasis. More than that is annoying. Don’t keep retweeting with the same hashtag.

What if you really adore someone’s link, but aren’t familiar with very many tags? Favorite the tweet to save it for later.  Keeping it in your favorites makes it easy to return to it and broadcast another time.  A different time of day, or a different day entirely will bring a new audience to your fellow bloggers link. You’ll be doing them a favor, and keeping one tweet from cluttering up a particular tag. Once you’ve retweeted, you can always unfavorite (or keep it there if you really love it).

Of course, hashtags don’t have to just be about networkingt. Sometimes, they can just be for fun. Some are used for games, like #replacebooktitleswithbacon. If I tweet “Gone with the Bacon” followed by that tag, anyone playing along can see my contribution.

You can also use them on a smaller scale to add humor to your tweets. There are varying opinions on that, but being that I am one of those people that use them that way, I say go for it. Others might enjoy the tag enough to start using it themselves.

Like #tweetjack. (The act of jumping in on a conversation between two people)

And now, I’m off. All this talk of bacon and hash has me craving some breakfast.

Just getting started and need a quick shot of the basics?  Check out this post.  

Want to know more about making your Twitter life easier? Have questions? Leave them in the comments, or send me a Tweet at @amberwest. I don’t guarantee I have the answers, but I will at least attempt to be entertaining.