My Twitter and Triberr Manifesto. Do you need one too?

 “In the long history of humankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”  Charles Darwin

I am a relatively new Twitter user and I have to say that I LOVE it. No where else on the web can you instantly find like minded folks on topics that concern you, engage in spirited debate and promote the causes and businesses you care about with such ease. The community is very welcoming and even so called internet celebrities are approachable will respond when you interact with them. This past week, I personally tweeted with @Chrisbrogan and @jonathanfields and received return tweets. I asked a technical question about how wordpress worked a few weeks ago and was flooded with good advice.

What I really like about twitter is how forgiving it is. The average person goes on the service for twenty minutes or so, checks to see if they have received any direct tweets and to send out a few of their own. During that time the stream of tweets from the folks they follow comes by and they get the opportunity to click on things of interest.

Does everything I see interest me? Absolutely not. Am I occasionally disappointed with something I click on? Certainly. Does that matter, absolutely not. I’m happy to see the stream go by and if I want to engage on a particular topic I can do a search using the hastag# function.

For those of you not versed in the twitterverse, people can categorize their tweets by topics by adding a hashtag# to the tweet. Some examples of things trending are #MyFavoriteSongsEver, #ThingsPeopleShouldNotDo, #The99, #google+ and #triberr (which I will get to in a minute.) This becomes very useful when folks want to meet and talk about something they have in common. @chrisguillebeau used #WDS during his World Domination Summit and even those of us who couldn’t be there could follow along vicariously reviewing all the twitter comments from that weekend.

If you haven’t yet tried it I highly recommend it. of course if you don’t want to lose countless hours to yet another social net work, perhaps you should stay away!  She says as someone who is definitely NOT staying away herself.

Once a person gets their feet wet on twitter and if they happen to be a blogger too you will inevitably hear about Triberr. Triberr is this interesting and potentially VERY fun free service in with which people can hook up in “tribes” that will re-tweet about each other’s blog posts. If triberr is used correctly I think it has incredible potential to extend the reach of an average blogger but there are some pitfalls. Joining up with a group that includes members you already highly interact with is not a great idea. You are likely already re-tweeting each other’s stuff and in time you will annoy the bejezus out of your common friends when they get a torrent of tweets about the same things.

If not used correctly triberr can really start to feel like spam. I have come to realize that choosing a tribe that fits your twitter personality is vital. If you have chosen to keep your stream filled with ONLY tweets about NASCAR related happenings then joining a random group with folks who tweet about fashion, gardening or other things wouldn’t be the best idea. If on the other hand, you tweet about all sorts of things and enjoy learning about things outside your normal sphere of wandering, joining a group that contains members very different from you can be a lot of fun.

The second group is where I happen to land. I’ve read a lot about folks getting really upset when members of their tribes start blogging about things that are off topic or not necessarily a post that is considered “worthy” of a re-tweet but I can’t really get that upset about one or two tweets that I have no interest in. In fact, I’ve come to think it is VITAL to keep my twitter stream diverse.

I have a growing concern that society is getting increasingly fractured into these little pockets of like minded folks who have no interest in learning about things outside of their general sphere of influence. The internet has made it possible for even the tiniest minorities to find each other. If I love to make strawberry jam I can find dozens, if not hundreds of other strawberry jam fans. I could even ignore other jam flavors because things can be so specialized. This is not healthy. Back in the days before the internet, people were forced to interact with everyone. Even that blackberry jam enthusiast that lived down the street!

All this jam talk aside, I think politics has especially suffered from the “like minded” internet phenomena. Whether you are left or right leaning you can find thousands of others who feel exactly like you. You can participate in all sorts of like minded chat rooms, blog streams, and twitter feeds to the point that you start to believe EVERYONE feels the same as you. Unless we make a point of allowing opposing or at least differing views into our realm of consciousness we will remain stuck and the consensus and democracy our country is famous for could be in real trouble.

This is why I have chosen to keep my twitter stream diverse. I happen to be agnostic but follow folks of all different beliefs, I am very liberal in my personal politics but also follow conservatives. I happen to really like Triberr but lately have made it a point to follow those that don’t. The bottom line for me is to see it all. Over on my blog I can tell you how I feel about things but my Twitter stream is my way of collecting information. The broader my collection net the better and more informed my choices are and the larger my world view.

I understand that some folks consider every tweet they send a personal reflection of “their brand.” I just don’t happen to believe the same.  I consider myself a curator of ideas and I want to expose myself to as much as possible and Twitter and Triberr are tools I love to use to do so.

MY TWITTER MANIFESTO

• Kindness prevails. Strong opinions and debate are welcome in my stream but not if done to disparage another personally. I will unfollow any mean spirited tweeters.
• I like to follow a wide variety of people and topics. If you are looking for @BlissHabits or @EverydayKathy to stay “on topic” or keep a consistent point of view then I am certain to disappoint.
• If you follow me, I will do my best to check out your tweets. If I like what I see I will follow you back.
• I do not automatically follow back. I like to have context for following someone so if you want to increase the chances of me following you, say hello and tell me why you are following me and/or why I should follow you! It really is that simple.
• If you retweet my tweets or otherwise engage with me I am 10 times more likely to follow you back and I will likely retweet your stuff. Twitter is fast paced so I might miss you in the general stream so engage with me and you will find I am friendly and will engage back!
• I follow more people then follow me.
• Everyday I get on Twitter I will ask if I can help you. I really mean it. Looking for a retweet or a shout out? Do let me know, I am happy to help!
• I look for guest bloggers and post ideas via twitter. Those who want to participate should also check out the blog and my Bliss Habits facebook page. Have an idea for me? Tweet @BlissHabits

MY TRIBERR MANIFESTO

• I am all about broadening my and your reach. If we don’t already have 20 or more followers in common I am interested in having you join my “Any Kind of Wonderful Tribe.” If you do join my Any Kind of Wonderful Tribe, please be open to folks blogging on a wide variety of topics.
• As with my Twitter Manifesto, Kindness rules. If your blog spews hatred toward any person or groups of people specifically I will not invite you to be in my tribe. Strong opinions are fine as long as the intention of those opinions is not to hurt others.
• I read somewhere that “no one clicks on the triberr tweets anyway” and am here to raise my hand proudly to say that I do. If the blog headline is interesting to me I click. Period. Certainly an added thumbs up by someone I follow may give a less then stellar post title a chance but if the headline is interesting I click. (I’d also like to say welcome to the 30 or so new blog followers that have joined my “Blog Tribe” because they followed a triberr tweet to me!)
• I plan to experiment more and join more tribes. If you know of any I should be a part of please let me know!