Fresh

Over the last couple years I have been salivating over being able to attend the coveted SXSW Interactive Design Conference. This year I have paved myself a path to get down there and soak in the massive amount of inspiration that gets unleashed in Austin this time of year. I couldn’t be more stoked to take it all in… but how on earth am I planning on taking what I hear and retaining EVERYTHING I need to come away a better designer, thinker and doer?

Do I fill up countless notebooks with quotes and drawings, set up my handy tape recorder so next time I feel like re-living the whole weekend I can just flip a switch? Maybe I can just listen carefully and soak it all in, hoping the inspiration seeps in through my pores.

While I most definitely will have a pad and pencil in front of me, I will also have my iPhone, and where there is an iPhone in the hands of an interactive designer… there is the amazing micro blogging tool called @twitter. Have you heard of it? It is kind of a big deal these days. So much of a big deal that its use has become at times… well, overused. I am here to tell you a few easy steps to keeping your followers happy with your content stream. Remember kids, it is all about well placed, relevant content.

1) Spammin’ Your Barf Accounts
When I log in to my Twitter stream and see tweet after tweet from the same person, my eyes glaze over and I end up skipping 3/4th of what they have written. Not only that but eventually their avatar takes on a visual cue that says it is OK to skip their content, and eventually you ask yourself… why again am I following this person?

People throw up on Twitter all the time. Their content is full of corn or spaghetti, maybe a few chicken chunks or even some soggy Cheerios. Either way, the more content that gets spewed, the harder it is to digest. My suggestion: make yourself a new handle completely dedicated to your constant tweeting. Tweeting about your barf account handle from your regular handle about your plan to keep the spew out of your followers stream will be much appreciated and well received. If your followers want to get your constant content, then they will follow your other handle too. It just makes sense… right?

2) Shaking Their Hand Doesn’t Make Their Content Any Better
SXSW is all about being social. There are a lot of after parties, free food and booze events and yes a lot of hand shaking. You get to know someone there and you obviously dork out with them and grab their Twitter handle. Making new friends is amazing and exactly what this massive social event is all about… but seriously, is Twitter all about how many followers you have? If you hold dear to growing your Twitter followers and would mass follow @Ghandy’s followers to increase your goodwill toward humanity, then I am not sure you care much about your content stream. That is after all what it is all about. Get to know the person you shook hands with, take in what they have to say, who they are, what they have to offer you. Get their handle and check them out… but make sure their online bantering is consistent to what you want to hear.

3) Talking Yourself Out of a TUI
We have all had those late nights out with your closest friends, where one thing leads to another and all of a sudden you are handed two bottom shelf tequila shots. It usually involves karaoke, meaningless banter and maybe new friend or two. If you couldn’t tell this post in not about drinking, it is about tweeting. And when you drink… you better be prepared to own up to all your tweets. When we drink, some of us get happy and ride a wave of bliss, or become goofy with the friends we are with. Others get angry at the world or depressed at their lives, and this my friends is where good content turns bad. I would say a depressing tweet is worse than a drunk dial. The passive aggressive nature and complete helplessness your followers will feel is not what Twitter is for. So, when you are throwing back that 5th shot of Makers don’t tell the world you can’t feel your face, or ask for advice on how to approach a woman across the room. Ask the people you are with, disconnect yourself from the Twitterverse every once and a while and utilize the physical relationship of the people around you. Tweeting under the influence gives your followers a window into your world. Waking up the next morning with 10 replies asking if you are OK is guaranteed to lose you some followers.

So, what are my steps for healthy tweeting in Austin? I have my barf account set up and ready to go. I plan on shaking many hands and getting to know many new and interesting people. And while I will be having my fair share of drinks I will be tactful when I blast what kind of shot I just had. @waterproof for me, @waterproofbarf for all things SXSW.

Now, for all of you who are cruising down to SXSW there are a few ways to optimize your content flow. Many of you crazy tweeters probably utilize some sort of organization tool for your followers. A couple top rated ones to keep in mind are Tweetdeck, Twitterrific or maybe even Power Twitter. And for the mobile devices you could pop into Tweetie, Ubertwitter or maybe even Twidroid. I am interested to see what all of you use, or if there are better ones out there than the ones I have mentioned.

Be safe. I don’t want to see any soggy Cheerios all over my stream. I guarantee you won’t from me.

(disgusting vomiting Twitter bird illustration by Jill.)