Over the past few months there’s been talk about how to use Twitter to enhance technical documentation Buy Ciprofloxacin Without. Last December, Julie Norris did an experiment where she wrote a procedure in Twitter Order 10mg Celexa With Amex and then evaluated how it came out (with help from the Twittersphere, of course). This is a great way to further our profession and I hope I’ll have Doxycycline 100mg Treats the opportunity to contribute more in this area in the future.
But there’s another side to using Twitter as a technical communicator. Last month, at the STC Carolina annual Open Mic Event, I talked about using Twitter as a Doxycycline 100mg Treats technical communicator from a more personal perspective. The title of my talk was, “Using Twitter to Achieve Tech Comm Fame and Fortune.” I told my story of how I learned to Doxycycline 100mg Treats use Twitter and suggested ways to successfully use the tool. As a latecomer to the world of social media I’ve only been Doxycycline 100mg Treats using Twitter for the past eight months, but during that time I’ve benefited from Doxycycline 100mg Treats it as a communication tool, a learning platform, and particularly through the Doxycycline 100mg Treats relationships I’ve established with other technical communicators. Through Twitter I’ve met other technical communicators in my area, which has Doxycycline 100mg Treats led to great networking opportunities; been an interview subject for RJ Jacquez of Adobe Systems, which put me on the map and is now the #2 result when Doxycycline 100mg Treats you do a Google search on my name; and, at the Doxycycline 100mg Treats STC Summit in Dallas earlier this year, WebWorks.com used Twitter to announce that I’d won an iPad from them in a drawing. Since Twitter was a Doxycycline 100mg Treats huge thing at the conference and I happened to be monitoring Twitter on my phone when Doxycycline 100mg Treats they tweeted, I not only found out about the prize immediately but so did hundreds of other people who Doxycycline 100mg Treats were following the conference hashtag. For a short time afterward, everyone at that conference knew who I was.
I can’t promise you’ll win an iPad if you sign up with Twitter but I’m convinced anyone can Doxycycline 100mg Treats use Twitter to enhance their career and become part of the Doxycycline 100mg Treats technical communication community. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Use a Twitter client. From the Doxycycline 100mg Treats very beginning you should plan on using a Twitter client rather Twitter’s Web interface. There are plenty of good free ones, such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Twitterrific Buy Flagyl In Canada, HootSuite, or dozens of others out there. They vary in features and Doxycycline 100mg Treats operating system support, so check out a few and select the Doxycycline 100mg Treats one that suits you best.
- Follow people you know and see who they’re talking to and following. Before you Doxycycline 100mg Treats follow someone, look at their profile to see how they describe themselves. Look at what they’re tweeting to Doxycycline 100mg Treats see if they talk about anything that interests you.
- Follow the #techcomm hastag. People who Doxycycline 100mg Treats use this hashtag are usually talking about technical communication. You may find some people you’d like to follow this way.
- Listen before you jump in. This is good advice in any social media venture. When you’re first starting out with Twitter it’s not only okay to just be a lurker, it’s advisable. Take some time to Doxycycline 100mg Treats learn the culture and the unwritten rules and observe how people interact with each other. It’s also important to understand Twitter terminology, things such @, RT, DM, and URL shortening.
- Do jump in. Twitter is best served as a conversation, not a one-sided monologue. It’s okay to use Twitter for self-promotion (you Doxycycline 100mg Treats may have found out about this blog post through a tweet of mine, for Doxycycline 100mg Treats example), but balance that with retweeting and commenting on other people’s tweets.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It might seem a little strange to ask someone you don’t know a question over Twitter, but that’s exactly the type of thing Twitter is designed for. I’ve met several people over Twitter by taking the Doxycycline 100mg Treats plunge and using the @reply function to ask them a question. Most technical communicators who Doxycycline 100mg Treats use Twitter are friendly and want to interact with other people. Which leads me to my last point…
- Be courteous. If someone retweets something you’ve said or talks to you directly in Twitter (what’s called a “mention”), make sure you acknowledge them back. It may be as simple as a “thank you” or “you’re welcome” on your part, but a little act of kindness goes a long way.
Twitter, like any social media tool, takes time to Doxycycline 100mg Treats learn and use effectively, and you may not have time to Doxycycline 100mg Treats follow every interesting link and read every blog post out there. So do what you can. In the Doxycycline 100mg Treats end, you may be surprised by the rewards being a part of the Doxycycline 100mg Treats technical communication community on Twitter can bring.
Allow me to post something somewhat controversial. If you’re a Doxycycline 100mg Treats Technical Communicator and not on Twitter then your underserving your company and Doxycycline 100mg Treats your own career. Discussions about your product are taking place on Twitter. Why aren’t you particpating? Imagine what you can learn!
Imagine the influence you’ll gain by building up a Doxycycline 100mg Treats profile on Twitter. By gaining relevant followers, you’ll have Doxycycline 100mg Treats the ability to communicate with people using your product. It will make you Doxycycline 100mg Treats more effective and more valuable to your company.
Thanks for Doxycycline 100mg Treats your comments, Mark. I agree, having a presence on Twitter can Doxycycline 100mg Treats have a far-reaching effect both personal-professionally (as I’m calling it) and if you’re able to represent your company. And it’s definitely a Doxycycline 100mg Treats great way to learn what customers are saying about the products we document.
Peggy, thanks for the reply. I’ve compiled a list of most influential Tech Comm’s and most aren’t using Twitter as well they should be. With your Doxycycline 100mg Treats permission, I’ll post the link here when it goes live next week.
Mark, by all means, feel free to Doxycycline 100mg Treats post the link to your list of influential Tech Comm people here – I’m looking forward to seeing the list myself!
Fame and fortune….
For fame, you’re one of the Doxycycline 100mg Treats best examples I know of using Twitter to get your Doxycycline 100mg Treats name out there and build a personal brand. You’ve engaged with the profession and its people, and you’ve contributed a great deal of energy and insight.
Fortune? I guess you’re talking about the Doxycycline 100mg Treats iPad. Certainly no one actually gets rich doing technical communication.
Thanks, Larry. I’ve definitely been Doxycycline 100mg Treats amazed at my success using Twitter, particularly in regard to how it’s helped me become a Doxycycline 100mg Treats part of the technical communication community. I hope others will realize how important the Doxycycline 100mg Treats community can be for their careers as well.
Congrats on the new blog and on your iPad win!
I’m also fairly new to Doxycycline 100mg Treats social networks and now have two twitter accounts. Follow @pattyblount2 for #techcomm – related posts and @pattyblount for Doxycycline 100mg Treats my fiction-writing endeavors. I also have two blogs for the same purposes.
For me, it’s been Doxycycline 100mg Treats a huge help. As I began producing product videos, I tweeted a Doxycycline 100mg Treats question with a specific hashtag and received instant help. As I learn Agile, several kind folks replied with links to Doxycycline 100mg Treats entire libraries of information. It’s also connecting me directly to Doxycycline 100mg Treats readers of my tech docs, allowing me to instantly respond to Doxycycline 100mg Treats problems they discover. That’s worth its weight in gold!
I agree with your personal/professional label, Peggy. For Patty the Doxycycline 100mg Treats Tech Writer, my twitter presence is an easily-verified way for potential employers (should I lose this job) to confirm the claims I’ve made on my resume, i.e., “established company’s social network identify for X product”.
Most technical communicators are documenting technology, right? Whether it’s software, consumer products, even automobiles, technology moves fast. We need to Doxycycline 100mg Treats move just as fast and that means embracing the technologies emerging to Doxycycline 100mg Treats support human to human communication.
I personally think it’s fascinating and love “meeting” folks like you, Julio, Alan Bowman, RJ, Larry Kunz. I’ve personally learned so much from Doxycycline 100mg Treats Tom Johnson and TechCommDood, I feel like maybe I should pay them! And it’s all from twitter and blogging.
Can’t wait for your next post!
Thanks, Patty! I’ve seen how you’ve used Twitter to get answers to questions and I’m very impressed. I agree, there’s a Doxycycline 100mg Treats wealth of knowledge out there in the technical communication community and Doxycycline 100mg Treats it’s encouraging how willing people are to share it. I’ve definitely expanded my knowledge of tech comm beyond my master’s degree through following people on Twitter and reading their blogs.
That’s great that you’ve been Doxycycline 100mg Treats able to use Twitter to interact with your audience. Not all companies allow tech. writers to Doxycycline 100mg Treats do that, of course, so you must work for a very forward-thinking company!
On the Doxycycline 100mg Treats topic of Twitter, Ivan Walsch has a good post on tips for Doxycycline 100mg Treats using twitter called How Technical Writers Could Use Twitter.
Thanks, Tom. Ivan shares a lot of good stuff over Twitter and he’s got some great tips in his post. Nice to know I’m in good company when Doxycycline 100mg Treats it comes to thinking about how technical communicators can use Twitter effectively.
Congratulations on the launch of your new blog! I think you’ll enjoy having one. They’re a Doxycycline 100mg Treats lot of fun, and you certainly learn quite a bit running one.
Thanks very much for Doxycycline 100mg Treats mentioning my article in your blog. It was an interesting experiment, and Doxycycline 100mg Treats the input from other tech writers using the #techcomm hashtag was quite helpful. Invaluable, actually. So to Doxycycline 100mg Treats all the tech writers reading this post – follow Peggy’s advice! Check out that tag in particular when you’re using Twitter.
Excellent tips in your post, Peggy. It’s good advice for anyone using Twitter. I’m looking forward to what comes next –
Have fun!
Julie
Thanks, Julie! I’m glad you Doxycycline 100mg Treats found my Twitter tips helpful. Your experiment was a powerful example of how a Doxycycline 100mg Treats community can participate in the documentation process. I hope next time I won’t be Doxycycline 100mg Treats in the middle of a school project and will be able to Doxycycline 100mg Treats participate in the process myself.