Social media is quickly becoming a great way to form community based on your industry or passion. There are lots of different social networking sites out there, but Twitter is quickly becoming my favorite.
What is Twitter?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Twitter, it is a micro-blogging service that allows you to post short, (under 140 characters) instant messages. You can post from your mobile phone, your blog, via email, or using one of the many handy twitter services out there.
It is a cool way to find and network with like minded people. There is a growing community of horse people and professionals twittering already.
You can even see what people all over the world are twittering about right now and translate messages in other languages.
Getting Set Up
All you have to do to sign up is pick a clever user name (or use your own name) and a password and you can literally get started right away.
Plus, there are all kinds of free backgrounds which can be customized to match your own site.
Getting Started
Your first twit is always the hardest, so start with a few simple tweets and then go find yourself some friends (hint – most of the people I follow are horse people). It’s easy to find good conversation…that’s what it’s all about.
Beware, once you get going it can be highly addicting.
Twitter also allows you to protect your updates so they are only viewable via invite. Please remember, that although they are considered “private” they can still be read by twitter staff and will still sit on server computers somewhere.
Protect Yourself
Protected or not, it is a bad idea to post personal information, (like your contact details, calendar or itinerary, and/ or names of people you spend time with), that makes it easier for strangers to track you down (or rob your house while you are out).
I see that all too often on twitter and I hope my fellow horse lovers will protect themselves by saving the personal stuff for phone calls and emails.
Making it Even Easier
So go ahead, get yourself an account and have a look around. Then start making friends. I’ve put together lists of all of the people and professionals I could find.