As I was watching the TODAY show this morning I was saddened by one of the topics being discussed on 'Girls on the Grill' which talked about mothers and women in general who are vicious towards each other online because they believe their point of view to be the right {and obviously the only right} opinion, i.e.: working mums v stay at home mums.
Now whilst there will always be people who unfortunately never learnt to understand, invite, include and above all respect other peoples views, I definitely believe that it can be a choice as to whether we allow them to be part of our online social bubble.
Personally my online social bubble is to learn, engage, laugh and share great things, positive things and I feel that by ensuring that the people I follow are positive and love to share great information, articles, fun stories, touching stories, then my online life is something that brings me joy, friendship, conversation and an endless number of learning and knowledge possibilities.
So here are just a few tips on how to create a positive online community for yourself.
1) When searching for people to follow, a bio can tell you a lot....if they are fun, positive, have similar interests like craft, design, whatever it might be and they are there to engage then these are usually the type of people that can add value to your daily read. For example, one that I stayed well away from was a bio that started with - "I hate people who....F this...F that, everyone sucks!" nice huh? needless to say I didn't follow them!
2) Ensure your feed doesn't stay stagnant for too long. Look for new people to follow and unfollow people who don't add value to your feed. Once again, it's hard to really know someone before they start tweeting, so if you find that the same people say the same negative things then maybe it's time to say goodbye! I don't track people who follow me so this isn't something I would take personally, everyone has different needs and some people will fulfill those needs and others won't.
3) A good way to keep your feed fresh can be to take a look at people who you love to follow and see who they follow. I've found some great new Tweeps through looking on my favorite people's Follow list. A lot of the time there may be a common interest or just a common attitude that resonates with you personally.
4) Engage with people!! I've seen a lot of Twitter 'How to's' and as they all say; be part of the conversation, don't just sell, don't just promote your blog; but rather have conversations with people, respond to them about the links they shared or what they tweeted. Understand what is important to the people you follow and if its important to you then don't be shy to say so. The other key point is to be polite, kind and never rude. As my mother taught me, "manners don't cost a cent and are priceless!"
5) If it's possible, meet the people that you tweet to/with/for, I've met some great people through twitter and built friendships that I never would have imagined when I started on Twitter. These fab chicks have contributed to my love of food, wine, books, business and just great conversation and it's been so much fun building a network from online to face to face meetings.
These are just a few tips that I've found have worked well for me and made my online experience one I look forward to everyday!
If you have any other tips, I'd love to hear them!
