The Everyday Blogger

When You Gain 300..No 2300...Twitter Followers In A Couple Days

Yesterday (Wed Jan. 14), I hadn't gotten to email much until late afternoon, and when I opened up my box, I was greeted with a frickin' truck load of emails from Twitter saying, "Hey so-and-so is now following you." I kept scrolling and scrolling and it was like a village was now following.

My Twitter following jumped by a little over 300 by the end of the day. And yeah, I jizzed in my pants.

I was thrilled and yet thought, "wtf?" Did Britney Twitter about me? Are my Law of Attraction vibes finally kicking in? Is my hummus in a tube giveaway as exciting as the Facebook Whopper freebie? Have my twice daily Twitter water reminders become so famous that word got around like wild fire because so many people made a NY's resolution to drink more water in 2009?

After about 200 emails, I was intrigued like a Scooby mystery, so I just asked my new Tweeties. Turns out, Twitter has a "Suggested Users" page and they put me on it. And by the way, Britney is on the same list.

See here it is.

I was between the New York Times and ESPN; um, a skinny jeans sandwich on mega media bread. And right after ESPN is oh one of the world's most famous bloggers Dooce. I'm one avatar up from the woman who's traffic I so want to have even more than wanting to wear the skinny jeans once again. In fact, I'd rather have her traffic than a night of wanton lust with imaginary husband Gerard Butler. Now that's saying something because well, let's just say it is.

Thank you powers to be at Twitter! This blogger is eternally grateful that you think my tweets have that much value. And there's a mini lesson for those of you who want to build up your Twitter following. Tweet about things that help others, offer value and meaning, and most of all tweet things that can brighten up someone's day :) That's my secret sauce.

And well, let's be honest, it wouldn't hurt if Britney tweeted about you too.

Update: It's now Sat. Jan. 16 at 2:30am PST, and I'm up to 3,510 Followers. That's a 2300+ increase since Wed. afternoon. Wowza! Really, thank you Tweeties!

How Lifestyle Bloggers Can Benefit Using Twitter

You've heard all the rage about Twitter, and even have gone to check it out, but still you scratch your head and wonder what the big deal is all about. More importantly, everyone you know who blogs says it's beneficial but you're having a hard time seeing that.

Let me shed some light for you by sharing what I have gained using Twitter. I'm skinnyjeans, if you'd like to follow. No doubt others will have benefited in ways that I could not have imagined or experienced...yet.

As a lifestyle blogger, here's seven ways Twitter has benefited me:

• Twitter is a great tool to complement your blogging efforts. I have used Twitter to accessorize my blog posts (to use a fashion metaphor) with information that is of value to my readers and pertinent to my blog post but is not meaty enough for it's own blog post.

For example, in 2007, I blogged about losing 25 pounds. Every Wednesday, I did a "Weigh-In Wed" post where I summarized for everyone on what I did for the week related to exercise, food, and emotional work. I only talked about my weight loss stuff on Wednesdays, but I had many readers who wanted to know what I was doing in between on a daily basis. I didn't want to turn my blog into a weight loss journal, so I used Twitter to share what I did for workouts. I was exercising 5 days a week then. I'd tweet something like: "Finished 45 minutes on Elliptical at resistance level 9. Did 15 min. cool down on Treadmill. Feeling excellent!"

• Twitter can help you stay accountable and give you additional support for any goal achieving journey you are on. Back to my weight loss example, tweeting my exercise made me more accountable to stick to my workouts because I had an audience paying attention. Yes, having an audience can add pressure but I chose to look at it, as here are people who are interested in supporting me. The Twitter community is extremely supportive, and it is amazing how quickly you can meet kindred spirits.