More Twitter tales from media people, this time from Sky.com’s Maz Nadjm.

* What did you think about the concept when you first heard about Twitter?

I was not sure about the idea, however I’m always interested in strange concepts. 

* Do you recall your first tweet?

I can’t remember, however I don’t think it was hello world 

 * How did you use Twitter to begin with?

I guess at the beginning there were more personal thoughts and actions rather than communicating with others

* How has your use of Twitter changed?

I have started a consumer review video blog called mazi.tv. Twitter has allowed me to find content, presenters and volunteers helping me. I am more interactive on the site. Responding, sending direct messages etc. 

* What do you want from Twitter?

To continue with providing me the same level of service. 

* Have you attended a tweetup?

Yes. As many as I can really, however having a small child limits my involvement.  

* Have you evangelised Twitter? If so, any success?

I haven’t programmed anything. However I do promote it at work and to friends. 

* Do you have any self-imposed policies regarding your use of Twitter?

I’m pretty polite when it comes to following back. I also don’t like to get involved in political and religious discussions  

* How do you see your use of Twitter developing this year?

If the service continues to provide excellent service, then I’m sure I will be using it. 

[+] Maz Nadjm is responsible for Sky Portal’s social media strategy and implementation. He is also the founder of www.mazi.tv, a weekly tech show which reviews UK and European start ups. 

The third in a series of Q&A interviews with media people using Twitter - Matt Ball explains how he makes the most of the platform.

* What did you think about the concept when you first heard about Twitter?

I was sitting next to @jemimakiss at the Association of Online Publishers awards dinner 2007. She was tweeting the award winners as they were announced. I was intrigued and decided to find out more.

 * Do you recall your first tweet?

At the time I was blogging about Strictly Come Dancing series five 2007 (http://strictlycomeblogging.spaces.live.com) for the MSN Entertainment channel so my first tweet was about who I thought was going to leave the show that week.

 * How did you use Twitter to begin with?

A mixture of what I was thinking about plus some links to the best stuff on MSN UK. I would look at our homepage (http://uk.msn.com) every morning and tweet the things that appealed to me most.

 * How has your use of Twitter changed?

I now get a feed to post the top three items on MSN rather than do the same thing manually. My blog posts are also done as feeds though I could just as easily use the Twitter add-in for Windows Live Writer. I’ve changed my bio and generally tweet about the subjects listed in it. I also use my twitter page to update my Facebook status.

 * Have you attended a tweetup?

I’ll be attending the London Twestival on February 12

 * Have you evangelised Twitter? If so, any success?

I decided that we would use Twitter as a way to connect users to MSN UK content and to the MSN UK editorial team. So now you can get two things from us on Twitter:

 Firstly, you can get updates from MSN UK channels such as http://twitter.com/msnents , http://twitter.com/msnstyle , http://twitter.com/msnmoney  , http://twitter.com/msnuknews , http://twitter.com/msncars , http://twitter.com/msntravel , http://twitter.com/msnenvironment , http://twitter.com/msntech , http://twitter.com/msnhome .

These are pages displaying latest headlines in the same way that media sites such as the BBC (http://twitter.com/bbcnews) and CNN (http://twitter.com/cnn) use Twitter. You could say that it’s not social media in the sense that you probably won’t get a conversation from pages fed by twitterfeed but users know what they’re signing up to when they follow these pages.

Secondly, you can follow some of the MSN UK editors and join in the conversation. We don’t require our editors to be on Twitter; we support those who want to use it. Here are some of them:

http://twitter.com/msntechjane

http://twitter.com/msntechnik

http://twitter.com/msnstylemonica

http://twitter.com/winlivematt

Some of the MSN UK portal team senior staff are also on twitter:

http://twitter.com/peterbale

http://twitter.com/peterbel

http://twitter.com/ktking

* Do you have any self-imposed policies regarding your use of Twitter (follow backs, etc)

I don’t tend to follow people if their bio tells me little or nothing.

 * How do you see your use of Twitter developing this year?

I might refine the range of subjects I tweet about.

As for our MSN UK channel pages, we’ll most likely redesign the backgrounds to follow the model http://twitter.com/msnstyle  is using as we think that works the best.

I expect we’ll do more coverage of events on Twitter. Our Tech&Gadgets editor @msntechjane got a lot of new followers as a result of her coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, for example.

[+] Matt Ball is editor-in-chief of MSN UK, Microsoft’s online consumer portal, a role he has held since 2005. Follow him on Twitter, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

The second in a series of posts on media people making use of Twitter, in which John Welsh shares experiences, lessons and policies.

* What did you think about the concept when you first heard about Twitter?

I just could not get my head around it to be honest. You open that page for the first time and it just does not make sense. It makes me much more sympathetic to people I am training on Twitter.

* Do you recall your first tweet?

I would love to know my first Tweet but I can never get “MyfirstTweet” to work! I signed up about 18 months ago, never got it and forget it instantly. It was only as I launched my blog that Twitter beganto fall into place.

* How did you use Twitter to begin with?

My first community was colleagues at work. It was the first time when we had experienced that living-your-life-in-front-of-others feeling. It broke down barriers. But people began to lose interest pretty rapidly – why tell your colleauges what your train journey home was like?

* How has your use of Twitter changed?

Only last autumn, I began to realise how I could use Twitter to learn from leading social and new media experts AND develop community building skills. So I ruthlessly edited those I followed down to those who offered core information (no comments about their everyday life, thank you). I then blocked anyone who did not have social or new media as a job title. I then made sure all my Tweets were focused on the information requirements of my followers. The more I blocked people, the faster my number of followers grew.

* What do you want from Twitter?

I have just began to realise how to follow my own Twitter feed through Twitter Search. I would like to develop this so that I can help train our marketers and journalists to follow a trail.

* Have you attended a tweetup?

Yes, organised by you George! It was great.

* Have you evangelised Twitter? If so, any success?

Yes, I am really keen that our marketers use it. It is the best way for them

• to understand how they need to ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’,
• what time it takes to develop a community and
• what etiquette is necessary to make it work.

If they can master Twitter they can do anything else.

 * Do you have any self-imposed policies regarding your use of Twitter?

• Thank people as much as possible through DM, particuarly for reTweeting
• ReTweet as much as possible (I never do enough)
• Never hesitate to block someone if they are not appropriate
• Never look at the total number of followers (I want the right five hundred, not the wrong five thousand)
• Never follow more than 50 because I could not take in all that people are telling me

* How do you see your use of Twitter developing this year?

I just cannot imagine. This time last year I had no blog and my Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn profiles were all stagnant. A year later I learn from one what to do from the other. So I guess, the next year will be more of the same – learning, absorbing, transfering skills.

[+] John Welsh is digital director of UBM Live, one of the London-based offices of a global B2B exhibition and magazine company. Follow him on Twitter or his blog by RSS.

The first in a series of posts on media people making use of Twitter – Louise Bolotin answers a bunch of questions about her own tweets and twitterings.

And I’ll save you the bother of counting: yes, each answer is 140 characters or less.

* What did you think about the concept when you first heard about Twitter?
I thought it was pointless, tbh. That was 19 months ago. The penny dropped around a year later.

* Do you recall your first tweet?
No, but it was probably something like “ok, just testing this”.

* How did you use Twitter to begin with?
Mainly to talk to other journalists, swap links and track news, as well as network and gossip.

* How has your use of Twitter changed?
It hasn’t really. I probably tweet slightly more personal stuff now, especially in the evening after a glass of wine but I still use it mainly as a work tool

* What do you want from Twitter?
An adoring public! Just joking. I do seem to have picked up a very mixed bag of followers though

* Have you attended a tweetup?
I’ll be attending the Manchester Twestival on 3/2 which I’m very excited about. I also moved house recently and have made new friends locally through tweeting

* Have you evangelised Twitter? If so, any success?
Yes and yes. I’m probably a Twitter bore now. Some people just go “oh”, others say “wow, that sounds amazing”. They either get it or not

* Do you have any self-imposed policies regarding your use of Twitter?
I block lurkers who don’t tweet at all or protect their updates. I report spammers and I only follow back people who look interesting

* How do you see your use of Twitter developing this year?
I need to figure out a way to follow more people without it cutting into my work time. And I’d like to break or share more emerging stories

[+] Louise Bolotin is a freelance journalist, author, blogger (Here’s the Kicker http://louisebolotin.com) and social media junkie.