Twitter Help for Photographers Dipping into Social Media

I have to admit I'm an internet early adopter.  I jump on any new technology, new website, anything that peaks my interest.  Social networks that I've been on have come and gone already, but I've always been a little put off by Twitter.  It seemed so linear and non-visual to me.  Imagine 100 cell phones thrown in the air and trying to read all the text messages on them, why would I want to do that.. 

A number of things have swayed me a little more towards Twitter.  The first, which is probably less ideal for many people, is that I really enjoy Twitter on the iPad.  Some of the reader apps like Flipboard assemble Twitter messages into a magazine style.  Images and links within the Twitter app are built out for you.  

Secondly my better understanding of "#" and "@" tags within a Twitter message has helped increase my followers and visibility on Twitter.  This is turn drives people back to this site.  A hash tag "#" is basically a way to "tag" different interests or topics.   Its a way of categorizing messages by topic.   This is how you see trends in Twitter.  Example:  "I think #photography in #California is awesome!".  Categories or tags created in that posting are photography and California.

The "@" tag is something I was confusing with the "#" tag at first, but the "@" is method to basically send your twitter post to a specific user.  Example "I think @creativeoutleth rocks".  I would receive that message in my stream.

Once I started using these items properly I noticed a bump up in my followers.  Followers mean more eyeballs on your work.

Play around with it and let me know how your doing!