The fun police have been patrolling overtime lately, telling us that the average (bored) office worker is wasting two hours and twenty minutes per day online, sending emails and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter. This apparently wastes tens of millions of Euros for employers every year. We all know people who work in those lame offices where they are constantly blocked from visiting any interesting or fun sites. And I’ve heard some sordid whispers about workers who have NO internet access at all!
Having lived the last few years of my life completely oblivious to Twitter, I was introduced to the wonders of the social networking tool when I started working here at RevaHealth (BTW, you can follow me here, Phil here and Caelen here). While I was rather underwhelmed with it to begin with, I soon realised how addictive Twitter can become. The only problem is, when you’re using Twitter as at work, you run the risk of being fired by those inconvenient boss type people. Here are my top 5
tips for making the most of your time on Twitter, and letting your boss think that what you are doing constitutes work.
- If the place you work for has a website, list the URL on your profile and upload the company logo as your background. Then you can convince your boss that more and more people will visit the site and learn all about your fascinating company.
- Embrace the 140 character limit. It is pretty useful as it help you focus in on exactly what it is that you want to say. Twitter forces you to reduce longwinded paragraphs into short, succinct
sentences. You can then tell your boss that Twitter is making you into a better writer. - Twitter helps you make new friends. You can use stuff like search.twitter.com and Nearbytweets.com to find out what people are tweeting about. I especially like Twitter search. It’s very easy to use, which is great for someone like me who is rather limited technically! If you have a topic you want to hear people’s views on, just bash it in and scroll down through the search results. Nearbytweets.com lets you see what people in your area are tweeting about. Once you’ve built up a lovely big coterie of followers you can tell your boss that you are using Twitter to improve your interpersonal and communication skills!
- Get used to using all the various apps associated with Twitter, like Tweetdeck, Tweetstats,Twitterfeed, Twitterrific, and the rest. Then you can show your boss how proficient you are at using them and how they are improving your IT skills. Don’t over-do it though, or
you’ll find yourself suddenly the IT expert of the office- fixing theprinter and replacing the paper in the fax machine. - Use Twitter like Google. If your boss has a question, try asking your fellow Tweeters, rather than heading straight over to the “Big G”. Think about it, Tweeters love to talk about themselves, so mining their experiences and knowledge could prove really
useful. This means that you’ll be able to provide your boss with a very detailed answer to his question lickity-split and be his personal hero for a least a few more hours.
And remember, if all else fails, and your boss sees through the whole thing, you can use Twitter to find a new job! Just don't copy this dude.
