by Frances Laing

Created on: July 06, 2009   Last Updated: July 14, 2009

In human terms - Twitter is new. It was launched by Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey as a side project of ODEO a mere three years ago, in 2006. There aren't very many seasoned Twitters out there - to a certain extent we're all still on a learning curve.

Blogging has been around considerable longer than Twitter and it makes sense to most of us that these two forms of social media (blogging and micro blogging) can be combined - so that we can reach a larger and more dedicated audience.

How do you go about promoting your blog with Twitter? The basics in six steps: Create your blog. (This might be a straightforward off-the-shelf blog from Wordpress or Blogger). Open a "Twitter" account for yourself. Look for a "Twitter" widget on your blog Dashboard. Cut and paste the HTML code into your blog template. Don't forget to save it. Start writing your '=:Tweets" and off you go. Simple? Yeah, anyone can do it. Well that's not quite true...

Twitter was intended to cover the time between blog posts. You say what you are doing in 140 characters or less and people who are interested get those updates. If they are really interested they can get updates as text messages on their cell phones too.

As with most things in social media - setting the system up is relatively straightforward, but using it skilfully is a different matter altogether. It's not easy to come up with a steady stream of witty, informative or interesting 'tweets' of 140 characters or less at regular intervals - and it's not easy to keep them coming either. For a blogger who may be struggling with the discipline of writing regular blog posts - it's definitely extra work.

If you're really serious about using Twitter as a marketing, campaigning or fund-raising tool, it may help to plan a regular Twitter slot into your day. And you're going to need some space and time to respond to your 'Twitter" messages too. As with blogging - what you really need to do is to ask yourself what you want from Twitter before you start. And develop a so-called "Twattergy" for yourself. You may even need several Twitter accounts. One for your own social use, one for your business and so on.

Darren Rowse (the author of Pro Blogger) is one of the best bloggers on the planet. Bloggers have lots of transferable skills - it's a safe bet that Darren's suggestions about developing your 'Twitter talents" and ''Promoting Your Blog with Twitter" are rock solid. You can read some of them here.

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