Wednesday 22 April 2009

Why frugal cooks should be on Twitter!

If you haven't succumbed to the lure of Twitter you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. I followed it for about six months feeling similarly sceptical. It seemed like the ultimate time-waster - more wittering than twittering.

As the headline suggests I've been converted. Not that it isn't a distraction (I admit to spending more time than I should on it) but in my view it's the most significant thing to happen online since people started blogging

Reason no 1 to sign up - it's a great way of getting information quickly and keeping up with what's going on

Reason 2 - there are some great people on it now - funny, perceptive and knowledgeable. It's more fascinating than the best forum with the bonus that you can choose who you interact with - or don't

Reason 3 - it's a good way to let people know what you do and attract visitors to your website or blog

And 4 you can get some really good tips on healthy, inexpensive eating.

If you want to give it a try join and follow me (frugalcook), my publisher (absolute_press) and one of my top students who contributes to the Beyond Baked Beans website (scandilicious). Then you could take a look at who I'm following and follow them too

I predict you'll be hooked!

PS A couple of tips: Don't fail to fill in the bio so people know who you are. And make your tweets (the 140 character mini-posts) public. No point in being on Twitter if you don't.

8 comments:

recipes2share said...

Just read an idea in the Guardian but asking for restaurant reviews. I must be the only person left who still can't get my head around all this. I still can't understand how it would be of any benefit? Please educate me....

Fiona Beckett said...

Well to amplify on the reasons I gave in the post it spreads the word about who you are, what you do and drives traffic to your site. It's a quick and easy way of keeping up with all the foodie chat and it's great to be able to discuss food and cooking with experienced and often well-known cooks from all over the world.
And it's a lot of fun . . .

LCNeill said...

I'm already following you on twitter and have enjoyed your tweets. Like you I thought I would give it a try and see what all the noise was about. I've integrated into my blog, and newsletter communications. It's been fun and interesting. I am aware it can be a huge time suck so I'm trying not to let it consume me. I have things to do you know!

Fiona Beckett said...

Yes, that's the only downside LC - the iron discipline required not to check out your page. It's a bit like being in an open plan office where there's some great gossip you want to listen in to! You have to simply shut it down and get on with earning a living!

recipes2share said...

Hi Fiona, Yes I hear your reasons, but how much do we need these sound bites v time taken to read/listen & respond. I can understand the publicity aspects but still feel a bit cold with the rest. I know the obvious answer is to give it a go. Perhaps this is what i should do...I'll let you know if I figure it out!!:)

Fiona Beckett said...

Don't feel pressured recipes2share. I'm simply setting out what I see as the advantages. Loads of people - including my son and some of my best friends - think otherwise!

James said...

I keep thinking about it, but it's just time. I have just about enough time out of the 24 hours to keep up with blogging so I leave tweeting to the birds in my garden at the moment.

Me, You and Magoo said...

I have just found your blog via twitter! I am looking forward to reading your tweets and your blog, I'm always looking for new recipe ideas and like the ethos behind your site :)

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