How to Become a Super Tweeter in Just 15 Minutes a Day with iGoogle

Do you want to become a Super Tweeter that everyone is dying to follow? Who doesn't? The good news is that it's really easy. Here's the formula: find stuff that people don't have time to on their own, link to it, talk about it and engage in interesting relevant conversations around it. That's all there is to it and this is a snap using iGoogle.

First, if you don't have an iGoogle page. Go sign up here. Then add a tab for Twitter and bolt on these four Google Gadgets to your page: Google Mini Search, Google News, Google Reader (assuming you're a Reader user) and TwitterGadget. If you click on the "edit this tab" link in the sidebar you can reformat the page so it's two columns. 

If you look at the above screenshot you will see what my page looks like. The left-hand side is where I graze for content. The right side is where I share. I have customized my gadgets so that they cover topics that both my followers and I are interested in.

Now here's where this gets fun. 

All you need to do is use the left to find stuff and the right to share and comment on it. The mini search widget lets you search the web for related links. The Google News and Google Reader let you track topics. And the a-mazin' TwitterGadget is for searching for Twitter topics (type a word and it ctrl-q to search for it on Twitter), tracking the people you follow and for re-tweeting. You can even drag links from the left into the right, as I did in the screenshot above.

That's all there is to it. Do this for 15 minutes a day around a topic that people are passionate about and you will be on your way.

Comments

[Harsh Agrawal]

Great tip..I will follow the strategy for a while and will let u know about the progress.http://twitter.com/denharsh

[Holly Jahangiri]

This is great - thanks for the tips!

[James McGregor]

Very well written article. thanks for the tips. These are well worth while. If you throw in tweetlater you have even more power.

[David Criswell]

Steve, I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about iGoogle but I definitely learned several new things from this post. Thanks so much!

[tracey]

Just stopping buy to say how much i love your blog, and all the handy tips!!! So great.

Set up my i-Google today.

Thanks.

[JustinSMV]

I actually like this simple tip. Anything to get you more organized and efficient is always great in my book. I never use Igoogle as much and this might make be start using it more.

[BarbaraKB]

"Super Tweeter?" Really? Not sure about this post's "title" from you, Steve. Also, seems a bit too one-sided: I like seeing many dimensions to a tweeter ie. personality and interests outside of just "one" topic. Again, it's a certain way to tweet (and one that I know you have embraced although I miss the more personal Steve Rubel from the early Twitter days) but not one that **most** folks will embrace, IMHO. Peace to your day!

[KarlJ]

Good Stuff! Simple and efficient. Adds a whole new dimension to Google as well as Twitter. Always interesting to see how others are using it. Thanks!

[Stan Dubin]

Thanks, Steve! At first this sounded a bit corny and I liked my yahoo home page more than the igoogle page I set up. But, this was death-defyingly simple and, well, very effective.

I just read BarbaraKB's comment prior to adding mine, and I'd like to say your advice here comes across as being very multi-dimensional! Find lots of helpful information for a variety folks who don't have time to find such...and provide it.

Great recipe for a super tweeter!

[Steve Rubel]

Thanks, Stan. But I always can learn!

[Joel]

Weightlosscoach, I think I know what you mean. I was wondering the same thing and my problem was that I had the settings set for a 3 column width. If you still haven't solved it, go to My Account at the top of your iGoogle page, then find the settings for iGoogle and you should be able to choose a two column view.

[Steve Rubel]

By the way, Kent Newsome has an awesome follow-up post -http://www.newsome.org/2009/04/how-to-turn-igoogle-into-content.shtml

[Stan Dubin]

Most gracious, Steve!

[Grant]

I am probably the person who spent the longest time on this blog entry since I was adding "google news" and 'google reader". still learning using Google reader though. Thanks!

[Ronald]

Steve

Great Tips and advice. I have a Yahoo page,what are your thoughts of it compared to IGgoogle?

ThanksRonald

[Jay]

If people wanted to read Google News, they'd just read Google News.

[Lynn (www.mamasays.us)]

Steve, once again you've given me an assignment! Thank you for the terrific ideas. Keep them coming.

[lisa]

that sounds so easy to do and a great time saver

ThanksLisa

[Emily]

Thanks, Steve!

[Roxann Henze]

Hi Steve:

I use ada on my MAC desktop to follow tweets. How is this different than what you are doing?

RoxannHenze Communications

[Steve Rubel]

Ada?

[Lynzie]

Thanks, great tips!!

Couldn't get it to drag and drop using IE, but works great with Firefox and Safari.

♥ Lynzie ♥

[Jonathan Nelson]

Great tips Steve.

[Nielle]

That's awesome! I had no idea iGoogle had a twitter gadget. Thanks!