The Tao of Twitter: A Review

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!