Twitter has taken the internet by storm as a means of getting a message across in 140 characters or less, it started micro blogging as it’s known today.
It took me a long time to warm to Twitter and for a long time i failed to see the benefit, i’m still not sure i’m totally sold on it but i have changed my tune somewhat.
For starters the first thing i did was redirect my blog posts from this site to automatically “Tweet” whenever there was something new, that and the odd update here and there has turned into 250 followers that depending on the headline, may or may not click through to this site and convert into a regular reader.
With that in mind i decided to expand things and set up a Twitter account showcasing the headlines of some of the best content other blogs in Japan are producing, enter Japan_Blogs.
Since creation a 36 hrs ago the follow count is currently 108, which has grown pretty quick, mainly to me ‘befriending” a few punters but after that few few hrs it started to build on it’s own. My short term goal is to get 1000 people following Japan_Blogs and hopefully drive some traffic towards the blogs that can capture the attention in the first 140 character limit.
The feeds are pretty much checked every hour and if you have something new it’s added to the Japan_Blogs feed, with the exception of blogs that post multiple posts in a short period of time, those blogs will only get 1 headline every few hours so as to keep a balance and not get too weighted in one direction. Japanese blogs and English blogs welcome, if your site is bilingual i will add both like i did with Danny.
Check out Japan_Blogs now, if the feed to your site isn’t getting picked up and you’re blog is pretty much 100% focussed on Japan related material leave me a comment here and i’ll add it.
Anyone who is currently featured i encourage you to add Japan_Blogs to your own Twitter account and to promote on your site when possible.
Even if you don’t believe there’s any value in Twitter don’t discount the millions of people that are using it every day that may just click through to your site. The 3G iPhone was a turning point for me with Twitter, there’s TONS of others out there in the same boat.
UPDATE: Anyone wishing to promote their Twitter account regardless of their content is encouraged to leave their link in the comments field for any and everyone to follow if they’re interested.
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It takes some time to get used to Twitter, I didn’t like it at first either. It’s pretty slow in the beginning when you don’t have a lot of followers and people to follow. I think that’s why people quit, they should hang in there for a while instead, ’cause when your network gets bigger it’s great!
Great thing you’re doing there by the way! Now I don’t have to check the feeds that often, which is good since I’m subscribed to waaaay too many feeds ^^
http://twitter.com/SANOKAME
I agree. I only read my RSS feeds in the morning, however I visit links from Twitter usually as they are posted. It’s so much more convenient. Thanks Neil for creating the profile.
Added you, thanks for the post on Japan_Blogs
http://twitter.com/chriscorning
now following Japan blogs, thanks.
http://twitter.com/skillster
Hi, I think you befriended me, but hey Twitter is great way to micro blog and get your word out there, but Twitter is still abit prone to breaking down now and again.
added Japan blogs already Neil
also added the guys who commented above.
feel free to follow me as well guys
http://twitter.com/Jamaipanese
I haven’t started using Twitter yet, I guess I should go ahead and give it a go, wouldn’t hurt anything. Anyway, I wouldn’t mind if you added my blog to that list, Neil. Although, I don’t know if it would qualify or not, it’s mainly about Anime, manga, and Japanese things, but I don’t have a whole lot of content from Japan since I don’t live there (yet ;D). Also, would you like to exchange blogroll links? I already added you to mine. :p
Thanks, let me check it out.
Can you add A Rinkya Blog to the page?
Thank you
Laurel
Consider it done.
http://twitter.com/tyronejvauf
enjoying ur informative posts neil
now following japan blogs.
Thanks Tyrone, following you too.
I think I’m following?? It says I am ??
Anyway..I got a link to it on my Blog. That’s a definite
Yep, you are Chris … all good and thanks for linking to it your blog.
I was wondering why I was suddenly showing up Twitter. Apparently the culprit is you.
Thanks for being a good sport from the time I wandered in here in a drunken haze looking for trouble. And thanks for checking out my foolish blog. Take care.
j.
No probs, i’ve also added you to my “Other Japan News” section so hopefully other people get to read the honest insights from J.T.
I had written Twitter off, used it for a bit got 5 followers and only knew 2 of them. I couldn’t see the value in it and just thought it replicated the “What are you doing now” function of Facebook.
Having read this post I’m going to give it another go and it gave me an idea for my business.
There’s big benefits in it Adam …. it’s so easy to flick through a few hundred messages each day and see what appeals to you … especially with tools like the iPhone … during the 3 hrs travel i do each day. Provided you have the followers, which you will have withe the movember website to direct them to “follow us on Twitter for the latest updates” you’ll be able to get a good following.
The facebook function is only 1 direction, whereas Twitter can be interactive.
Now you’re back home i’ll try to catch you on Skype over the weekend for that chat.
I’m not sure how I found this blog but I’m glad I did. I’ve wanted to go to Japan for YEARS. Hopefully soon, I’ll make it a reality. Until then, I’ll read about it. On another note, I signed up for Twitter and never did anything else. I’ve got to figure out how to make by blog posts autofire over to Twitter.
Talk to you soon
T
Glad you found me then. There’s plenty of wordpress plugins that can let you ping Twitter when you’ve got a new post.
Thanks for the add! I am now going to go try and figure out how I follow people…
Thanks!
Laurel
Thats an awesome following on Twitter…great going
Hello, Neil! I’ve tried to get into Twitter but couldn’t find a way to apply it to my blog. You’ve got a great idea with Japan Blogs and I am hoping you can add my nearly 100% Japan-related content blog to your list. I am I Eat My Pigeon: An American Girl in the Sakiio Streets. http://www.ieatmypigeon.wordpress.com. I would appreciate it very much. And thank you for the Twitter inspiration – I will return the favor.
OK, adding it now. I’m very impressed with the results so far and will do a follow up in a short while.
Hello Neil, thanks for following me on Twitter. My blog is 100% Japan related although is not written in English. I’ll try to make it bilingual (Spanish/English). It’s interesting to see how many blogs with Japanese stuff are coming out everyday.
Regards
No problems Alan. I have added your blog to Twitter …. it certainly doesn’t have to be English.
Hi Neil, great job with site. Love the content and all the hard work you’ve put into it. I’m new to Twitter and have recently followed the Japan_Blogs group. So far my blog consists of mainly Japan related content but not 100%.
My Twitter account
http://twitter.com/amerikajin
Thanks!
Hey Mark, have added your site to Japan_Blogs feed, thanks.
Hey Neil, I followed you on Twitter a week or so ago, I enjoy reading about Japan on your blog, having recently returned to Oz from five years there. I’m twittering in English at http://twitter.com/rainbowhill and in Japanese at http://twitter.com/jrfiction.
cheers!
Hey Brett, thanks man … following you now too.
I discovered you when your Japan_Blogs bot followed me. I am fascinated with the idea and I am wondering: just how does your bot operate? Do you go into the account and broadcast by hand or do you use an RSS feed?
Thank you for sharing this information and thank you for Japan_Blogs. I hope to do something similar in a different vein.
I use twitterfeed to send the blogs to Twitter. I have 50 RSS feeds in the list that every time a new post goes live it gets updated.
Will you add my blog to Japan_Blogs? The feed is here: http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/feed
Thanks,
Al
Will do next time i go in there Al.
Howdy Neil – would love to jump in. Thanks, Mark… http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalWorldTokyo
Done. I think i had you originally, it’s just that some feeds drop off time to time for some reason. It’s there now Mark.