silencematters

The most important element on any Twitter profile is the person’s bio, then the URL, which I control-click and open in a new tab. Yes I visit every blog for every follower that has ever followed me. In fact, that is how I find out about so many great blogs.

I find a person’s blog to be the determining factor for a follow, not the number of followers someone has. The bio and the linked website are the 2 elements that are the most relevant rich – maybe the photo as a distant 3rd option – which is why I am surprised to see that the follow notification e-mails still don’t include the profile information.

@xrisfg on Twitter

I am assuming that most people don’t comb through the follow notification e-mails as often as I do, but I am quite convinced that if Twitter would include the user’s profile information in them, they would find that the notification e-mail would be a richer means of following more users.

A number of people have been asking for a good twitter directory of journalists. Now there is one. Muckrack is a basic site that has created a growing directory of journalists organized by media outlet. Don’t get me wrong, this is no Facebook for journalists, but this is a great way to reach out to old colleagues, connect with other newsrooms, and collaborate on breaking news. Be warned, it does require that you commit to using Twitter.

Kenny Hyder has put together a collection of sites/tools that plug into the Twitter API and give you a clearer picture of your twitter-sphere.

If Twitter is like being blind in a candy store, these tools let you know which candy to try.