Twitter is the tool of the moment. 12 months ago if you had asked anyone about twitter they would have though you a bit of a geek - now many people are using it. If you are using Twitter for business purposes, have two accounts - one for personal use and one for business use. Keep the business one 'human' rather than just 'push' type messages. Twitter is a powerful way to hear about the 'hear and now' thoughts on a key topic - not just from people you know or follow you - but from anyone interested in the topic - all in 140 character bite sizes pieces. For Twitter to 'work' for you, below are some 'rules' or netiquette to follow, the key is to develop a style of your own. Don't expect quick results, building trust and relationships takes tenacity and time. 50 tips for using twitter as a learning vehicle: 1) Add value - share interesting or useful info, blogs (others as well as your own) etc 2) Always respond to peoples @ messages 3) Avoid political, religious and other subjects which people will find offencive 4) Big followers - does not mean many listeners - the RTs tell that story 5) Change your BIO regularly 6) Don't expect Twitter to deliver revenue alone, it is only ONE element of the strategy 7) Even an attentive follower won't read all your messages 8) Follow people who are in your field or area of interest 9) Follow the advice of people that have demonstrated competence - not think they know how to... 10) FollowFriday send a message saying why people should follow them 11) Getting followers is not a right its a privilege 12) Give - don't take 13) Have an avatar (picture) of your face or company logo 14) Help promote the dreams of other people, and they may return the favour 15) If someone RT re-Tweets a message - send them a thank you 16) If you are going to auto DM only send a welcome message 17) If you post info of any kind, leave plenty of room for retweeting 18) In marketing messages use appropriate keywords 19) Its not the number of followers but the number of Re-Tweets you get 20) Limit what you automate 21) Make sure your BIO is up to date and human 22) NEVER DM a request to follow you on another social networking site ie FaceBook 23) NEVER DM or tweet a MLM program 24) NEVER DM or tweet a traffic follower program 25) NEVER sign up to any of the Twitter ad services-it undermines your position 26) NEVER tweet when drunk or under the influence 27) Occasionally ask people to RT a post, if you ask every time they wont 28) Only promote your services less than once every 10-20 tweets 29) ONLY use a DM for personal messages or if you must to welcome a follower 30) Open up a bit.ly account for short URLs 31) Please report (@spam) unfollow & Block Twitter Spammers 32) Rerunning tweets occasionally is a good idea 33) Set your wallpaper to promote your message 34) Share thoughts and links from others (RT) 35) Thank people who re-tweet you. Either DM, @ reply, or re-tweet something of theirs 36) Treat followers with respect & courtesy & every now & then thank them 37) Tweet real stuff - highs and lows 38) Tweet regularly - at least 4 times a day 39) Tweet to show you are human 40) Tweet to show you are more than a marketing machine 41) Twitter is not an IM service-keep private discussions short 42) Use a # in front of #keywords - it helps people track useful information 43) Use favourites to save and show brand/product testimonials 44) Use travel time to tweet and read tweets on smartphones 45) Use twitpic or other photo services occasionally 46) Use Twitter to meet up with your new contacts 47) Want more followers? Re-tweet the good stuff you find 48) When you have over 100 friends use Tweetdeck or Seesmic to help you to manage 49) Work on building a relationship-not pushing message to people 50) You don't have to follow everyone, only those of interest Above all have fun and share the learning Mike Morrison is director of RapidBI and an avid user of social media for learning, OD and business use.