Over the last 9 months or so, I have been visiting Mark Schaefer’s blog pretty regularly. You’ve seen his name on a few lists I’ve put together over the last little while. Mostly, that’s because his blog posts are pretty super duper!
So, in my going back and forth with Mark, I found out that he had written a book called The Tao of Twitter (not an affiliate link). Mark, being the generous dude that he is, sent me a copy to review!
Dr. Spock, Mr. Schaefer. Mr. Schaefer, Dr. Spock.
I’m afraid this is my second review this weekend where I will note that I really feel like I wrote the words I was reading. As I had gleaned from Mark’s posts, he and I come from a pretty similar philosophy when it comes to Twitter, and the Tao of Twitter pretty much mushes that all together and puts it in a lovely package.
When you have a baby, you turn to Dr. Spock. When you have a car, you turn to the instruction manual (unless you’re me – then you just use the instruction manual when there’s a problem). When you dive into Twitter, there is not a similar instruction guide. Or at least there didn’t used to be. Knowing what I know of Twitter now, I think having Mark’s Tao of Twitter by your side is as close as you can get to a “new to Twitter” buddy.
Beginning with the three points of the Tao – Attracting Targeted Followers, Providing Meaningful Content, and Offering Authentic Helpfulness, the Tao of Twitter walks you through everything from how to get started on Twitter to the more complex issues of who to follow, what to use for your avatar, and the up and downsides of auto-messaging and auto-tweeting. Everything is treated with an even hand so that if you have done some of the things Mark doesn’t think are good ideas, you don’t feel like jumping out a window.
Mark even provides a 20-minute regimen plan, a lot of which overlaps with some of the ideas I put together (without knowing about this chapter) in my post called 1 month, 40 Twitter Action items. Great minds, right? 🙂
Nobody’s perfect
OK, so there are a couple of little things that bothered me, though they do not detract from the value of the book. Item 1 – there were a few more typos than I like to see in a book. And item 2 – there were a couple of places where stories that had already been recounted were retold as if for the first time. Not huge deals, but things I noticed.
So that’s my review of Mark Schaefer’s Tao of Twitter. I wish it had been around when I was starting on Twitter. If you’re new, take advantage of this great resource!
I came to Twitter to meet and greet people. Striking up conversations and engaging strangers is one of the things I did best when I was photographing 
Sometimes, you sit down to read a book, and instantaneously you think, “Oh man. This person wrote a book that encapsulates everything I’ve been thinking about!”
At the ripe old age of 3 or 4 months (in Twitter time), I decided that I had learned enough to start a chat of my own. Attending #blogchat had opened my mind to everything that was possible on Twitter. I had met tons of great people, I had gotten hooked on other chats, and I was pretty certain that enough people knew me that I’d be able to get my own chat off the ground. I called the chat #twit4biz (I think), and the idea was to talk about how you were using Twitter for business. I thought it was a pretty fertile area of conversation. I was planning on having chats on everything from your “voice” to the avatar choice (your logo or your face?).
Three weeks ago, a conversation happened during #Tweetdiner, the weekly chat that I started with Stan Smith. The conversation focused on what we could do to help Japan. Three weeks later, we have a website, a Facebook page, and a registered Twitter hashtag at #care4Japan, and tomorrow begins a week-long Twitter chat that will hopefully raise awareness and drive donations to the American Red Cross.
Every month this year, I’ve decided to take on a new eating challenge. In January, I (mostly) gave up chocolate. In February, I gave up all microwave food. This past month, I gave up my beloved Pepsi. For April, I’m trying to eat raw, which is proving highly interesting and a bit scary.