Dear Jerry,
This third and final blog on Twitter basics covers lists, follow back or not, Twitter Favorites, and some extra Twitter tips. Although specifically written for you as an email, I post it as the information can help others also. Sharing (and to an extent eavesdropping, is a big part of what Social Media is about.
There are several ways to see other people’s tweets, or have your tweets seen.
1. Our Tweets appear in the Timeline of everyone who follows us, and vice versa.
2. Anyone’s tweets can be seen in Search IF they contain the term being searched. This is how we converge to discuss #workofart in real time when it shows. However if you type in any term, even without a # all the tweets that include the term will show up, newest on top.
3 We can follow Twitter Lists of people that we create or that we subscribe to that are created by others.
Twitter Lists
Every Twitter List has a name, which hopefully helps describe it. For example, I have an Art list and you are on it. So are most major museums, galleries, art news sources and some artists. Anyone can follow it, and once they do they can click on any of their followed lists at anytime to check out what the people on that list are saying.
We can place people on our lists, plus read the tweets of Twitter members on others’ lists without needing to follow them.
We can create a list of our favorite Tweeter members, or one of family and friends or important informational sources, so that on hectic days when catching up with our whole Timeline is difficult, we can simply check out the people and sources that are important to us.
Following the lists of others who we enjoy following also serves to introduce us to new members who they place on special lists.
When someone places you or me on a list it increases our reach of influence as now we have more potential to reach people who do not follow us because they follow that list.
Follow Back or Not?
I am known for following back people who follow me, unless they spam me—especially my DMs, or if their Tweets are porno, racist, sexist, or intolerant, etc. [By the way such tweets need to be reported to twitter, and there are Contact links at the bottom of every twitter page. For spam simply follow @spam, which is Twitter's spam cop that will follow you back so you can conveniently send them A DM about any spammer. Spammers are people who incessantly tweet the same message with a link to some product, or send many such links to our DMs.]
One of the reasons I follow back is that it allows me to reach more people to introduce and gain interest for Contemporary Art, and art in general, plus of course introduce Post Conceptual Art, including the branch of UnGraven Image.
Jerry, you are well known and respected as an art critic and now also Reality TV celebrity, so people will follow you who are already your fans and interested in what you have to say. But what if you want to widen your reach and influence?
I enjoyed it on Facebook when you went off-topic and messaged about your new coffee machine. If you had done that on Twitter anyone who searched for “coffee” might have found you, recognized you shared a common interest and followed you. Certainly there are people who are also baseball fans and opera lovers who you can find and follow and be followed by on Twitter who you can introduce to Contemporary Art.
Many Twitter members prefer to ReTweet (RT) the messages of the people who follow them, since a RT is a kind of endorsement. Why would anyone freely endorse someone who did not want to even be in a simple follow back relationship? Especially on Fridays, I actually search out free, family or especially interesting events being held by museums that follow me , and some galleries and RT them as a service to my followers. I have issued an ongoing invitation to museums who follow me to DM me such events that I will RT.
New Media, which means Social Media, is interactive and about relationships. It is a two way model as opposed to the Old Media model of broadcast and print that sends news and information out, without including input, response or debate in the process. This is the new paradigm.
Jerry, on Facebook you have been an example how a critic (or news source) can be influential and engaging via Social Media. I wrote these blogs about Twitter Basics for you in hope that you will bring the same kind of dialogue to Twitter. This is selfish of me as I enjoy the Facebook dialogue with you and your friends, but more importantly one of my goals is to expand the interest Contemporary Art to include more people. Elsewhere I have written and commented that for me, Bravo’s Work of Art is success as it is achieving that (and thanks to you for participating as a judge).
When I first ventured onto Social Media I asked myself what certain specific artists who I admire would do with this outreach and relationship opportunity if they had had it in their day. I consciously continue to consider what Andy Warhol, Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, Leonardo Da Vinci, plus others, would do.
One of the insights this gave me was to utterly be myself and although I am an artist, I have other interests than art, as did the aforementioned artists. Jerry, how might the great art critic in the past have used Social Media?
I naturally seek to follow an eclectic mix of people on Social Media, because I am an information and news junkie. I spend more time reading links I find to information, which certainly includes a art news and information, but ranges into science and technology, business, psychology, the other arts, history and current events, which includes information about Social Media itself. I am forever curious and fascinated by other people and the world, so I spend more time lurking and following information than adding my own messages. Like Warhol, I’m watching quietly from my corner of the room.
When I first became active on Twitter I busily followed so many people, over 1,000 in a little over an hour. I followed the people who the most interesting people I could find, in many fields, including art, were following. Then I sat back and watched my Timeline for three days, which felt a lot like eavesdropping. When one of the people I followed was in a conversation, I followed the people in the conversation. This is a good way to find new and interesting people to follow.
Some of the people who I was following followed me back, which surprised me, especially since I was not tweeting, just avidly watching.
When I finally entered into a conversation, and began to tweet, including links to my blogs and images of my art, some of the people who followed me clicked on the links. Many of these people were not interested in art and were not following me because we shared an interest in art, but because we had a different interest in common they were some of the first people to discover Post Conceptual Art and the branch of UnGraven Image.
Twitter imposes limits on the number of people we can follow, which they do not actually publish. Basically the skivvy is that until we have about 1,914 or so followers we cannot follow more than 2000 people. After we cross that limit we can follow 10% more people than the number of people who follow us, plus about 1, 914. For example is 80,000 follow you can follow 8,000 people who do not follow you back. Since many more people now follow you than you follow this may not seem to concern you, but it absolutely does concern anyone who seeks to expand their influence and reach.
Most Twitter members never break that 1, 914 limit. Having explained the limits and helped people who follow me before, I have learned that people dislike unfollowing other Twitter members, especially if they tweet interesting information, but that they quickly learn they have to pick and chose their sources of information wisely due to the twitter limits. Members who follow back are “free” since they do not effect one’s limits.
Other than limiting the percentage of the people who we can follow back based on our number of followers, and also the number we can follow daily (based on the previous allotment, but no more than 1000), there is no limit to the number of people who we can follow or that can follow us. This means we can potentially reach and interact with as many people as Twitter has members.
There is no reason to ever unfollow anyone who follows us back unless they tweet messages that we find reprehensible or annoying. Lists can be used to sort members who tweet on specific subjects, and those we want to watch closely. My life has been enriched by many of the people I follow back, some of whom I never would have known had I not followed them.
The Talmud asks: “Who is wise?” And, answers: “The person who can learn from anyone.” Plus, it is difficult for me to imagine, Vincent van Gogh unfollowing anyone who followed him and was not offensive to his sensibilities. That last sentence totally settles the matter for me.
Favorites
Twitter gives us a Favorites tab, wherein they suggest we can store our all time favorite tweets. But, we do not have to use it for that.
I use mine as bookmarking tab, where I store tweets I wash to check out in depth at a later time, tweets I am considering RTing and as a place to remind me of people, both followers and non, who I also intend to check out further. For me, this makes it very handy. Nothing in my Favorites tab is actually a favorite of mine.
More Tips
Two experts on Social Media that I cannot recommend everyone follow, who I learned this and other Social Media and other tips from are @ChrisBrogan and @GuyKawasaki . Both will follow you back.
It seems that no more that 10% of our followers are on Twitter to see our tweets at any given moment. Guy Kawasaki says he generally tweets a link three times during the day to the stories in Alltop, his online magazine that aggregates so much great information on almost any subject, including art. Of course, the best way to tweet a link or information again is to ReTweet someone who ReTweeted it!
Twitter now makes suggestions of people who we might wish to follow. I find that some of these suggestions have merit for me but many do not. It is easy to find out about any Twitter member from their profile page. It is impossible to make a mistake as it is very easy to unfollow anyone.
Final Notes
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that offers almost unlimited opportunity to interact with all of its members, and include them in the conversation via the use of hashtaged phrases, such as #workofart, lists, retweets, plus allowing an unlimited number of followers, which differs to Facebook friends that are limited to 5,000. This not only gives others greater exposure to us, but allows us greater opportunity to discover new people and sources of information about anything.
Unlike Facebook’s Fan Pages, Twitter accounts do not need to basically remain within their brand to attract followers, but can add additional interests, interests such as baseball, opera and what brand of cashews is the best, and thus widen one’s connections.
Using a hashtag phrase in a search allows to you easily find members who share your interests, or find information, including breaking news via Twitter. Any event, such as a TV show or game or breaking news can be immediately discussed in real time with anyone and everyone else using that #. This week #sotu (State of The Union ) became a TT (Trending Topic) as Twitter members watched and commented on President Obama’s address in real time.
For convenience here are links to the two prior blogs of Twitter Basics:
Twitter Basics I covers: I.D. name and avatar, basics of account set up, how to tweet, including links, retweets, expanding influence, hashtags, and more.
Twitter Basics II covers: How to follow and unfollow, and just about everything about Direct Messages (DM).
Jerry, your use of Facebook to encourage discussions about art has been one of highlights of my experiences on Social Media. These blogs to you are a sort of thank you, with the hope that you will also bring the discussions to Twitter, too. For a while I had considered blogging much of this information as it seems to me than many of the museums, artists, informational art resources, galleries, etc., on Twiier could benefit from it. So, also thanks for your questions about Twitter, because encouraging you to Tweet motivated me, which I hope is for the common good.
I especially hope you will comment through the next broadcasting of episodes of Bravo’s Work of Art, which some of the contestants did last season. The show introduces and brings Contemporary Art and ideas to many people, which is something I support.
If, you or anyone has more questions, concerns, tips or remarks about Twitter please ask them in the comments below so everyone can see the answers.
[Note: Jerry Saltz is the Art Critic for New York Magazine and also one of the three art judges on Bravo's popular reality show, Work of Art. Here is a link to an archive of his articles at New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/nymag/jerry-saltz/ .
Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art-- A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke. Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]