1. I have gobs of time on my hands

2-5. See #1.

Okay, now that we have THAT out of the way...

None of us have gobs of time. If you are in Real Estate, you are to some degree at least at the beck and call of your clients. If you don't help them buy or sell a house, then the truth of the matter is you will not remain in the business. If you are like most of us, you are juggling family demands, client needs, and the education that an ever-changing market brings.

So where does twitter come in? What is twitter?

Twitter isn't the place in the social media world that most people go so they can meet up with people that they already know. Clint Miller likened it to a cocktail party- you know a few people, but at a good party you are there with a big mix of people for the intention of forming new bonds.

So- #1. I like twitter because I have met new people- smart, funny new people. 

How can this help me with business? 

#2. I have learned a lot from these smart, funny people. Knowledge will help you save time, and become better at what you do.

#3. You can pick up on "triggers" in the conversations of your new friends.

What is a trigger that relates to the sale or purchase of a new house? Divorce, birth, an impending transfer because of work- these are a few triggers that you might see in conversations. Does that mean that when you see that Judy's husband lost his job that you should chime in with, "Judy, that's too bad! If you ever know of anyone who needs to buy or sell real estate, call me!" 

Of course not. Some agents have the word "Realty" or RE right in their name. I know a PhxREGuy, a BeeRealty and a mayaREguru. Everyone knows what they do for a living- every time people see their names they are gently reminded. 

#4. Twitter is open-source so there are a lot of tools associated with it. 

You can check your rank and find out who is near you with TwitterGrader. You can locate people near you with apps like NearbyTweets or TwellowHood - sites like this are golden for a real estate agent who is interested in a 10 mile radius, let's say. And there are a ton more- see this article for a Top 20 list.

And my personal favorite- #5. It's free.

Convinced...or at least ready to give it a try? Go to twitter.com and follow the steps to sign up for an account. Twitter itself is hard to follow and sort unless you have untreated ADHD, which may be another reason that I like it (Hey- is that a squirrel?). But most people download a client to help sort things out- like Seesmic Desktop or TweetDeck. My personal favorite is TwitZap because it has the look and feel of twitter.

You can see a portion of the filters I have on the right side of my screen. TwitZap tells me when I have any activity in any of those columns. I have my own name in there so I can see if anyone is "talking" to me and I can respond back. I have a column for the TwitterQueens so I can jump in when I see a conversation start up about that.

To find friends to follow, you can post a few conversation starters, or you can keep an eye on the general conversation until you see someone say something interesting. Maybe right now you want to go to one of those local links listed above and start there. 

When you want to talk with someone, you type their name with an @ symbol directly in front and touching. Then your comment will be routed to their "stream."

Twitter consists of worlds inside of worlds. If you want to find these worlds, almost like small chatrooms. One of these is the one I mentioned- #twitterqueens. Another is #gno, for Girls Night Out. You can read what has been going on in these by searching the particular abbreviation or hashtag. If you want to answer, you would type your response, followed by the hashtag.

Example:

These two people hashtagged their conversation and I was able to see it and search it through TwitZap.

Wondering how to find out about hashtags? Some are listed in the Hashtag Dictionary, and more are created every day. Start one for your area and keep local twitter traffic coming by adding calendar events.

Can you imagine someone in the area constantly watching this stream for traffic alerts and other pertinent news? What a great way to be established as a local expert- not necessarily by sending out your listings, but by branding yourself as someone informed who cares about the community.