almost all of the social medias [pizza not included]
Danyel Smith aka @danamo’s totally subjective, yet likely to be effective, tech-lite, almost purely anecdotal, completely incomplete 1-hour beginners guide to Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram
This was the handout I passed around during a presentation to some of my fellow Knight Fellows at Stanford. These tips are for beginners (and for the newly enthusiastic). We had a great hour. Find me @danamo or TheSmithian or at danamo’s IG, anytime.
1. Your name and your settings. Be clear, or be consistent. Best: be both.
2. Your bio: Why the mystery? Let people know who you are, and make it easy for people to google your twitter page.
3. Your avi. Two schools of thought. Leave it the same, or change it every six weeks or so. I say change it. Give people something to talk about.
4. Follow to unfollow. Follow people that make your feed interesting. Follow people who make your feed funny. Follow institutions related to your beat and your lifestyle. Follow the people who people you find interesting are following. For a month to six weeks follow everyone, even if it makes your feed weird, and your ratio “off.” Then start unfollowing people if they irritate you, are boring, or are not dependable in terms of truthfulness.
5. Respond to every tweet. Respond quickly.
6. On that note: attend to Twitter often. To save time, look only at your “mentions,” or “ats.” Think of a way to respond almost without thinking. A retweet is a response. A retweet with a comment in parens or caps or whatever is your style is a response. I choose a smiley face or a single exclamation point. I choose to comment always in brackets ahead of the other persons tweet.
7. Decide on your plan for RTs/retweets. I choose to RT. People begin to see you as a curator.
8. Checkout Twitter’s “best practices for journalists.” Suggestions include “tweet your beat,” “use hashtags for context,” “share what you’re reading.”
9. Make it a lifestyle. Be yourself. Be truthful. Don’t RT idiots. Have fun with it. If you’re doing it right, you may experience a moment of addiction. It will pass.
1. Your profile/bio. Utilize the spaces that ID you. It’s easier to do this on laptop than on mobile.
2. Try to update at least twice a day. ANYthing is an IG photo. People love found text. Memes get irritating. People love food. Remember: wherever you are, that place is somewhere miles away and amazing to someone else.
3. Camera+ and the clarity filter. Use it. Filters in general: use them.
4. Google “top” “instagram” “hashtags.” Click Search Tools. Note top hashes of the moment, for example: #selfie #Stanford #onthemove #fitness #goodtimes #food #foodporn #Friday #yolo #love #California etc. Use those hashtags.
5. Make up your own hashtags, use them consistently. Find people to follow via hashtags.
6. Often people post their IGs in their twitter bios. Consider it.
Tumblr
- Blog, or aggregate. Make it an ID blog, or a journal. Or a kind of fan site. You could be a “fan” of New Delhi, or of blue sneakers, or of one character on a particular show, or of grammar and usage. For many tumblrs, the more specific the better.
2. Pick a theme, for free. There are many free themes. If you want something more original, you can pay for themes $9 to $49.
3. Follow people. Post content. Reblog content.
Integration
1. Deciding which feeds go through which other feeds.