As someone of no importance whatsoever, I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to get comfortable with Twitter. This advice is mostly for those who are unfamiliar or just starting out with the service, but if you’re already one of the Twitterati I’d love to get your thoughts and feedback, as well as some help spreading the word.

I’ve been using Twitter for a little over a year now (@dgoings), but it’s only recently that more of my friends have started Tweeting, and every new real-life buddy who I get to follow fills me with the glee of a child slowly adding pieces of a cherished card collection. I would love to get more of my IRL acquaintances on Twitter, which got me thinking about how to best introduce people to the service without scaring them away – especially the technologically challenged.

Why am I so keen to get more buddies connected to the Twittosphere? I’m certainly not relishing the day when every second-cousin and estranged aunt-by-marriage is following me on Twitter (cough*Facebook*cough), but for those people who I do want to stay connected to, Twitter provides a truly new and important means of communication. This is because it is mostly passive. Before Twitter, I had to initiate communication with someone I wanted to connect with. “Oh, I should call Bobbo, we haven’t talked in a while,” or “I should really email Spamela, see what she’s up to.” Now, I just throw something out into the void, and Bobbo and Spamela can keep track, and do the same.

So, on to the tips. I won’t go into the basics of using Twitter – these are more guidelines for how to make use of the service so that it’s meaningful but also doesn’t take over your life.

Five Tips for Enjoying Twitter

1. You don’t have to read every tweet of everyone you follow.

   Don’t limit yourself in how many people you follow, or waste your time, trying to keep up with every tweet. Twitter is NOT email, and it is NOT text messaging. By nature a lot of stuff on Twitter is “missable.” This is a turn-off for many people, but you can’t view it as a bunch of crap to wade through. Instead, think of it like a sushi bar, with lots of little rolls and sashimi going by on a conveyor belt. You don’t have to eat every piece, just grab one now and then and enjoy.

2. Get a good third party twitter app. The main site is limited.

   Sadly, twitter.com hasn’t even begun to reach its potential. If you have regular access to a computer, make use of one of the many great and improving desktop twitter clients. If you’re on a Mac, I’d suggest Nambu. On Windows, try Tweetdeck. Here’s a great post by @dalison comparing the two. Both of these programs let you filter and create groups out of the tweets from everyone you follow, which ties in with tip #1. Try creating a group called “Don’t Miss” of the people you really care about and then you’ll be sure to always grab that spicy salmon roll you love so much.

3. @ replies and RTs are important. Twitter is at its best when it’s a conversation.

   I said above that Twitter is passive, but what makes it so neat is that it can easily become an active conversation. Reply to people and pass things along, and they’ll return the favor. Don’t sit at the sushi bar eating in silence. If you let the guy next to you know how good the spicy salmon is, RTing is how the people at the end of the bar find out and also get to try it.

4. Make an effort to find new people to follow.

   Once you’ve got your desktop client and you’re comfortable reading Twitter selectively, following more people can only lead to better things. Checking the #Followfriday tag each week is a great way to find new Tweeps to follow. Try making a group called “New Follows” to update weekly. Each Friday you can add a couple of new faces and unfollow those that haven’t lead to anything interesting.

5. Tell your friends!

If you’re introverted, or you just don’t care about what your friends are doing, then you should have stopped reading this post a long time ago. Otherwise, start spreading the news! Twitter is free, it’s simple, and it adds a new dimension to your social sphere. If you don’t like sushi, here’s another analogy you can use to explain the concept to people and get them to try it out:

Imagine you’re at a party. It’s a very lively party, with everyone talking about all sorts of things. You find some people at the party that you really like listening to and you sort of follow them around. There’s also some people who are really captivated by what you have to say and they sort of follow you around the place. You also drop in on other conversations from time to time. Sometimes you overhear a great joke and you walk to another room and pass it along. Sometimes you get into a discussion with a couple people over a specific subject. At the end of the night, you’ve talked to a ton of people and learned a lot of new things, you’ve made a couple of new friends and you’ve caught up with old ones. In the morning you won’t remember most of what was said, and a lot of it was probably worth forgetting anyway, but you still had a great time and made a few memories.

Twitter is this party, plus you don’t have to get dressed up, there’s no cover charge, you can leave and come back whenever you want, it isn’t confined to one space but spread all over the world, everyone is invited, and it never ends.