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Twitter Crack: Yes, It's Addictive

With the slowing economy, people with a little time on their hands are finding Twitter is a great discovery tool—and a great big addiction.

Marketing consultant Rickey Gold explains, “I spent way too much time exploring and tweeting. I was becoming addicted to Twitter and not focusing on what I needed to do. I got behind on client projects; something I never do and something no business owner should ever do!”

“One of the big hurdles when using Twitter is not to let it invade your life,” said international marketing expert Cindy King.

MarketingProfs' Ann Handley said, “It is a time-sink. It's easy to get sucked into spending too much time on it, because it definitely has an addictive quality.”

Here are some tips to ensure Twitter does not consume you:

• Don't read it all. “You do not have to read every single tweet. Twitter is a stream you dip into for a while, wade around, and then get back on the banks,” suggests social media consultant Connie Reece.
• Invest regular daily chunks of time. Many people allocate preplanned blocks of time to tweet and use tools like TweetLater.com to schedule broadcasts that can post automatically throughout the day.
• Use Twitter during your nonproductive time. Ann Handley explains, “I am often on Twitter while reading news, surfing blog posts, answering quick e-mails, or doing other ‘short attention’ work. I'm also on Twitter in waiting rooms, in traffic, waiting for a lunch date, or when I'm someplace with nothing ...