Tuesday, March 24, 2009

5 Times To Use Twitter While Your Manager's Talking - Without Losing Your Job...

By now, you're probably on Twitter. Congrads. There is stuff to be learned there, but you have to make some choices. Am I using it for my personal life? Limiting it to just those I can learn from professionally? A mixture? If so, how do I wall that off? What type of tools should I download to get the most from Twitter?

Lots of things to consider. Here's the big one - How much do I Tweet at work? That depends on your workplace culture. If you can't even access Twitter at work, welcome back to the Death Star. Lando Calrissian is probably in the cube next to you. Tell him I said "hey"...

Here's a rule that is easy to remember - don't use twitter when the boss is talking to you or at you. Actually
the rule is "never never never never never never never never never never never Tweet while your boss is talking to you".

Here's my list of times when it's appropriate to tweet in your bosses' presence:

5. When someone's late for a meeting and you want to help- "in da meeting room with Dave G. No DW 2B found".
4. When you need to ask a business question pondered by the boss - "talking 2 Dave G. Who knows when the new Mac is coming out?"
3. To suck up to the boss, but only if you mean what you are saying - "Dave's presenting. Freaking brilliant".
2. To build the brand through visuals - "talking about the non-profit market

1. To let the boss know you got the coaching message - ""In da bathroom, snuck to post with my twitt. We're down to the last days of da fiscal year, tie ball game after 11 months. Dave wants more toughness. I gotta step up."

What are your thoughts?