Now you’re on Twitter and tweeting like the pros, but how do you develop a following. This involves a little reaching out. Granted people will find you without you having to go find them, but finding them first speeds up the process.
The first thing I tell anyone to do that is looking for more followers is to follow some local twitterers. You would be suprised how many people are using Twitter in your area. Following local people is great because it gives you something to talk about and connects you to a local channel of communicatio0n you never knew existed.
How can I find local people on Twitter?
The answer lies in a website called TwitterLocal.
First thing you are going to do is put in your zip code. You can enter a zip code or a City/State combo however I would reccomend the zipcode to keep things simple.
TwitterLocal will then provide you with three different links; “View the latest tweets right now”, “RSS” or and “XML feed”. For the purposes of finding people and friending them we are going to click on “View the latest tweets right now”.
On the left handside you will see a list of the “Top Tweeters Here”. You should proceed to check out each local twitter profile and friend them if you are satisified with their profile. I prefer an “open in new tab” strategy for mass friending.
This is something you need only do once and maybe check to see if there is anyone new every once and awhile. I chose to friend everyone within a permiter of my office as well as my home. Connecting with your local section of Twitterville is an important step in “plugging in”. So if you’re in the Amesbury area why not send us a tweet and we’ll do lunch.
This post is part of the Magicomm series “Printer Tweet Tips“. To keep up to date on other posts in this series, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog feed.
Comments
Rick,
I downloaded TwitterLocal and started to install it, but I got a message saying that it would access my hard drive and the internet and pose a security threat.
Your thoughts?
Gail
Hi Gail,
TwitterLocal used to be a free web based service. Since it’s recent changes we’ve been using alternative methods for finding and monitoring local tweets.
I’ve collected my thoughts in a new blog post – http://www.jonbishop.org/2009/02/getting-local-with-twitter/