Book review: 31 Days of Twitter Tips

31 Days of Twitter Tips: Grow Your Online Influence, 12 Minutes at a Time by Becky Robinson is a useful book for those just getting started with Twitter and for those who have been using Twitter for some time. As many readers know, I use Twitter (some would say a lot). That being said, I still learned from reading the book. I particularly like the main theme of the book – why use Twitter? Relationships. Ok, I just saved you some money. Well, there is a lot more to the book than that.One of the things I like most about this book is that it is divided into actions you can complete in 12 minutes a day. Most of us are very busy, but we can generally squeeze in 12 minutes. Each “day” has specific actionable items one can accomplish. One can either skip around with the days or follow them in their prescribed order. Many useful sites and tools are referenced throughout the book. There is a nice appendix on the fundamentals of signing up for Twitter (for those who are just getting started). Another appendix lists how to add people to a list. There is also a glossary of common Twitter terms.

There are some items you may not completely agree with. For example, Becky mentions that she automatically follows back every individual who follows her. I don’t. I like to do a little research (and don’t like the idea of following certain individuals) [who often disappear after being on Twitter for a few days – yes, we all know who I refer to. I call them Twimbos]. However, she does raise a good point (by adding people to lists you can avoid the main stream). You can then follow tweets on specific lists instead of your entire Twitter stream. Of course, I have a lot fewer followers than Becky so I suspect my views may change over time.

She also covers the question as to whether one should have more than one Twitter account. She makes some good insights on this point (if you have the time/ bandwidth). In keeping with the theme, she poses 12 questions you should address before creating another Twitter account.

In addition to daily tips, she includes example stories for some of the tips. These help personalize the book and again reinforce that Twitter is all about relationships.

Overall, I found the book to be very useful. I plan to refer to it and hope to be able to incorporate many of the tips. Yes, I have already incorporated some into my daily routine.

For those interested in why I use Twitter (and thought it appropriate to review this book), I have a few posts which might be of interest:

• Twitter 101
• Intermediate Twitter
• Using Twitter to engage students

As always, I am interested in your comments. Have you read this book? What did you think?

• Next Adobe Edge Reflow – first look
• Previous LESS CSS