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Eleanor Turney, ArtsProfessional's resident Tweeter, shares her thoughts on getting the best from Twitter

I love Twitter. I have said so before, both online and to anyone in the Real World who stands still long enough. I currently manage three accounts: @eleanorturney, where I rant about what I'm reading/writing/editing, politics, poetry, theatre and general stuff; @ArtsPro where I strive to maintain ArtsProfessional's reputation for news, comment and analysis on arts news while being approachable and occasionally silly; and I contribute to @ayoungertheatre along with @jakeyoh (Editor) and @loisjeary (Features Ed). So, as you can imagine, I spend a decent portion of any working day on Twitter

And you should too. Twitter is brilliant. Whenever people ask me why I like it, I say the same thing: It lets you join in with conversations that you wouldn't otherwise be part of. What's not to like?

The two most common things I hear against it are, first, the “It's just people talking about what they had for breakfast” argument, and second, the “How can you possibly say anything interesting in 140 characters?” question.

Well. Let's take the first one first: yes, some people do talk about what they have to breakfast or lunch (I must admit I'm sometimes among them – but this is because I find lunch pretty exciting. This says more about me as a person than it does about Twitter as a concept...) but you are not obliged to follow them. In fact, a certain tweeter of my acquaintance has a strict “If you tweet about food you get unfollowed” rule – but he makes a special exception for me because I'm his daughter!

The second complaint, that Twitter is too constricting, seems kind of lazy to me. I find that rather than it being a hinderance, the limit brings out the best in people, cutting down on waffle and prompting people to be witty. If you really have more to say, then blog about it and tweet a link to your blog. And, of course, it's amazing for sharing news, opinions and articles.

It's also a perfect networking tool. As well as being plugged into a personalised stream of content (chat, news, musings, whinges, whatever you want), you are part of whatever networks you want to join. There is very little hierarchy on Twitter – you can follow almost anyone you want (some people protect their tweets so you need their permission to read what they say, but these are not the people likely to be sharing the interesting stuff), ask a question and have a reasonable chance of getting a instant answer, and make contacts and friends.

Right, so now I've hopefully convinced you that Twitter is an essential network for arts professionals (you'd be amazed how many jobs and opportunities get advertised on Twitter alone), here are my top tips for getting started, and some hints about Twitter etiquette.

1) Choose a name people can remember – you want people to be able to reference your fascinating insights in their own tweets and to take you seriously. Help them out by not calling yourself @glittery_chick or @_tim6859326264856758372.

2) Write a (short) biog about who you are, what you do, what you're interested in and what you're likely to be tweeting about. This will help people find you and decide to follow you.

3) Upload a photo. It's only small, and it doesn't have to be a serious portrait, but if you leave the default image (an egg. No, really, it's an egg) people will assume you're a spammer.

4) Follow people you find interesting. Sure, it's fun to follow @stephenfry or @ladygaga, but they're probably not going to have a chat with you. Follow your peers, people you admire for their work, institutions/organisations you frequent...

5) ...and then talk to them. Don't just tweet stuff into the void and shut down; Twitter is about the conversation. Ask questions, join in debates you see in your stream, @ message people if you can answer a question or to agree/disagree with something...

6) ...and then listen to the replies, and keep the conversation going. If someone follows you, check out their bio, and follow them back if you're interested. Say hello (via an @ message not a direct message, as this can be a bit intrusive) and see where the conversation goes.

7) Use the re-tweet function to share stuff that you find interesting, hilarious or comment-worthy with your followers. Try and comment on why you're re-tweeting it, so your followers get your insights too.

8) Use hashtags where possible, to link yourself into a particular debate. These cover everything from huge chats around #artsfunding to live-tweets from conferences (#shifthappens, for example) to really specific tags that friends have made up to amuse each other – we had a #TurneyFacts tag going for a few days.

9) Join in with memes or conventions, partly because they're often funny and partly because they're a great way of making contact with new people. People are always playing games such as #budgetmovies where they try to out-pun each other, and the #FF (Follow Friday) tag allows people to recommend fellow tweeters to each other.

10) Be nice. Don't spam people, don't endlessly re-tweet stuff yet never say anything yourself, try and reply to people who talk to you. And for the love of all that's holy, don't RT your #FFs.
 

Eleanor Turney is Editorial Co-ordinator for ArtsProfessional.

Tw @ArtsPro and @eleanorturney