Publicizing a private conversation on a wall post. Add an avatar and a bio at the minimum. Using your Twitter feed as a chat room for conversations that are exclusive in nature and not as a broadcast medium. As a friend recently said to me, “I’m tired of my Twitter feed being a [private] conversation between person X, person Y, and person Z.&# The emphasis here is on "chat rooms" that exclude other individuals in conversations that do not provide value. and having a real conversation first. Many call this spam. Abusing group invites. At all. MORE >>

I, too, find that Twitter has been incredibly powerful for me to connect with real life colleagues, readers of Techipedia, family, and everyone in between. Start conversing with the people you want to have follow you, and do it consistently. had it for my NY METS buddies as we tend to have conversations that are lengthy which interferes with my twitter stream for biz but it was still me. You only need to use it when you want to have lengthier conversations. Do you or any of your readers know how to do this? I’m also something of a Twitter purist. Sports! MORE >>

Your avatar picture shouldn’t be a logo. Unless you’re a fictional character, more often than not, your avatar should be you. It feels creepy friending a four year old kid (avatar). Social Media Etiquette: Conversation. Links do matter to Google and to the people you care about. If you’re reading in Google Reader, sharing is as simple as “[SHIFT] S&# and that goes to everyone who reads your shared items. I receive a lot of questions about various points of etiquette with regards to social media. No matter what. Just leave. MORE >>

In order to participate in the conversations, either reactively or pro-actively, you need to know they are happening. Pro active engagement takes a little more time as you need to first identify the conversations, then qualify them. Make sure you open up   Disqus and  Gravatar accounts for blog comments – Gravatar stands for Globally Recognized Avatar, so that your brand is being represented uniformly across the social media universe. Use a good blog searching tool like Technorati or Google Blog Search to find industry specific blogs. What is the difference? MORE >>

Search Google for a blog’s author to see where they’re participating. Google Reader (if you’re a Gmail user, it’s an easy transition) Outlook 2007 (if you’re already on Outlook 2007, it’s an easy transition) Bloglines (another popular web-based RSS reader) With RSS, you’ll stay updated whenever the blogs have new content. Participate In The Conversation Now that you’re beginning to see what’s out there, it’s time to add your $.02 If you want to build relationships, leave more thorough comments that don’t just agree/disagree but add value to the conversation. MORE >>