How often do you use Twitter?

I use Twitter far more than I probably should, and for many different reasons. (Also, I have several Twitter accounts, so all of those take some managing!)

When Twitter first started, a friend invited me to use it in the very early stages - so I tried it, but really couldn't see the point, so then I didn't bother for another year or so.

In retrospect, I now know that I'd failed to get anything out of it, because I'd completely misunderstood what Twitter is for: Having a conversation - with other people.

Like most newbies, I'd made the classic mistake of only following celebrities and other famous people - and then, when they didn't reply to any of my attempts to interact, I felt as if I was standing in an empty room, shouting to myself. And becoming more and more aware that no one was listening!

When I came back to Twitter, it was because I had a purpose for what I wanted to do - and then everything became clear, very quickly.

Firstly, as a writer and artist, I wanted to share news, views and opinions with other like-minded people, learn the inside news on the publishing industry, and generally make friends who shared my interests.

So I started following a few "real-life" friends first, then - every time they re-tweeted something interesting that someone else had said - I'd check that person's timeline, and follow them, too, if they seemed to be my "type" of person.

Then I'd strike up a conversation - and, as Lily said in her answer - I'd try not to be a pain in the neck about anything, and to be as amusing as possible while I was doing it.

Before I knew it, I had followers, and they too were interesting, and so were their friends and acquaintances - and so the whole thing grew and grew.

Now Twitter is my first port of call for anything I want to know in a hurry, or to find out about (apart from Blurtit, of course, which is much better for detailed answers).

For example, when my daughter became flood-bound during a very long journey home, I could keep in touch with her, and with the various rail companies involved, and find out exactly what was going on, throughout the whole 12-hour journey.

While she was still stuck on the train, she knew from Twitter why the train was stopped, how late it was likely to be, that she would be allowed to use her pre-booked ticket on another, later connecting train, and had been emailed a complaint form to claim compensation. And all without leaving her seat!

Twitter's also brilliant if you have a complaint, in that no company who cares about its reputation wants to see unresolved complaints about their service made public - so they'll make every effort to deal with a tweeted complaint as soon as possible.

If you listen to some people, they'll try to tell you that there are all kinds of "rules" that go along with using Twitter, but I made mine up as I went along, learning at the same time. 

For example, some people will tell you that it's etiquette to follow anyone who follows you - but I never take any notice of that.

The reason for this is that, if you mindlessly follow everyone who follows you, you'll soon end up following thousands of people, and then you won't actually be able to keep up with all the tweets showing in your timeline, and will be back to not being able to interact with anyone at all.

Also, some people only follow someone else in order to persuade that person to follow back.

They have no interest in adding to the "conversation". So what's the point, unless it plays to your vanity to think that you have thousands of followers (even if they don't have time to read a word you write)?

My pet hate about Twitter is people who use it for "broadcasting", and not for interaction - and writers are often the worst offenders.

If I follow someone, the fastest way that they'll persuade me to unfollow them again is to fill my timeline with tweets saying "Buy my self-published book", or "Listen to the lovely thing my aunt wrote about my book in an Amazon review".

I can put up with a certain amount of that, if the person also takes an interest in me, and talks about other  things that I find genuinely interesting, but if they don't? Then I hit that "unfollow" button as fast as I can.

Twitter also provides an excellent way to refine your communication skills. It's no mean feat to get across exactly what you meant to say - without the possibility of being misunderstood - in 140 characters, and if you manage to do so in an entertaining way too, then that's a real skill, as far as I'm concerned!

I used one of my other Twitter accounts to tweet out events in the life of a character in a novel I was writing, which - combined with a successful blog - not only led to me getting a book deal, but also to me being offered support by a myriad of well-known writers and journalists that I would otherwise never have met.

So, due to that fantastic experience, I intend to keep tweeting for as long as I can. 

Did you know Blurtit has a Twitter account, by the way? If you follow @blurtit, you can have fascinating tweets on a really diverse range of subjects, delivered straight to your timeline!