Twitter Challenge: The One Month Round Up

Posted by Laura Bergells

August 31, 2007

Twitter Roundup August is (almost) over! And so is my one-month summer Twitter Challenge.

Here are the numeric result of my August 2007 Challenge:

Total number of followers: 12
Number of times all my “Twitter Challenge” posts were viewed on my two blogs: 888
Number of visits referred from Twitter: 141
Number of visits from search engines with “Twitter” in the search phrase: 15

So far, it appears that blogging about Twitter yields more visits than actual Tweets — so far! Numbers tend to increase exponentially over time — but even getting a few dozen extra visitors in my first month seems pretty decent.

After all, Twitter is free — and I had no idea what I was doing. And I spent maybe 4 hours noodling around with it and blogging about it. But I earned close to 900 specifically Twitter-related visits: so that seems promising. Seems like any earnest knucklehead can gain a following…
But more importantly I gained three important pieces of knowledge that will guide me as I go forward with using Twitter:

Twitter for Publicity. My time involvement with Twitter is minimal. Going forward, I will merely Tweet a catchy headline and a link that points to new blog content. (That’s my new Twitter plan, anyway.) This activity only takes a few seconds, and can help me reach a new, twittery audience.
The Art of Twitter. I feel confident that Twitter can help me write better, snappier, headlines for my blog content. I will use Twitter as a playground for writing and testing compelling headline approaches. Quick and catchy is my goal — and the Twitter environment supports these writing qualities.

The Zen of Twitter. I confess that I didn’t experience much existential bliss by using Twitter. It didn’t necessarily aid with putting me into the here and now. Rather, it seemed to fragment my focus. Twitter became one more thing on the to-do list — instead of an isle of Zen-like serenity. But maybe I’m not doing it right…

Heck, I remain teachable. I’ll keep Twittering — and maybe evolve a new art form. Who knows? I’ve enjoyed some valuable offline chats with some of my followers. Connecting with folks on a variety of different levels is important: some people like to explore depths, others prefer a light and more superficial approach. Twitter helps me engage with an audience on a variety of levels.

Engaging with people on multiple levels — that’s probably the most important piece of Twitter knowledge I’ve gained this summer, by far.
Happy Labor Day Weekend — the Summer of Social Media is officially over!