Freelance For Money

3 Cures for Twitter Addiction

Posted on 22. Jun, 2009 by Chris Green in Social Media

Twitter is revolutionizing the way freelancers can market their skills on the Internet. It has proven to be a phenomenal tool for getting your message in front of the right people.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on Twitter, you’ll know that people Tweet about almost anything! Some twit about new blog posts they’ve written, some will share inspirational quotes, others will offer help and support to their contacts, and others will tell you about the cheese and ham toastie they just ate!! As you start following more and more people this all becomes a bit overwhelming. It’s just impossible to interact with everyone, and even if you tried, you’d end up spending every waking hour sat in front of Twitter and get nothing else done.

Believe it or not, this is a real danger. To your health and your business. So if you are starting to feel the addictive nature of Twitter creeping into your life, read on to see how you can deal with your Twitter addiction!

Time is Precious
If you weren’t using Twitter, you wouldn’t you spend all day on your mobile catching up with your friends and telling them what you’re thinking. You may however make a few calls to your closest family and friends though, and you should do the same with Twitter. I like to schedule a little bit of time each day that I can get onto twitter and interact with the people I need to. When time is up, time is up.

Use Twitter, Don’t Let Twitter Use You
There are stacks of tools to be efficient when using Twitter. Most will automate interactions for you so that you can maximize the time slots that you actually logon. Some will forward direct messages to you so that you can spot if something genuinely urgent needs your time and attention. Do a Google search for Twitter Tools, they’re changing all the time.

Set Some Boundaries
Just like a good night out with friends, it’s easy on Twitter to get bogged down simply “chatting” with people. This is not conducive to business, and is not an effective use of your time if your aim is to get more work as a freelancer. Keep this in mind and stick within the boundaries of a business relationship. I’m not saying don’t have fun, it is very important to be yourself online, but just be careful about getting dragged into loads of unnecessary chit chat.

If you’re getting addicted to Twitter, hopefully these three cures will help you to get back on track.

Tags: twitter, twitter addiction