My name is Sara Rosso, a digital strategist living in Milan, and I’m using Twitter with the profile @rosso. If you’re thinking about following me, at the end of this page I tell you a little bit about why I use Twitter.

But first, a little about who I am:

• an American living in Italy since 2003
• a digital strategist working full-time on strategy and interaction design for maisonthe.com
• an MBA (Managing Innovation & Technology, Leading People & Organizations) and MIS undergraduate
• a blogger and social-media lover: I blog about technical how-tos and information for growing a business at When I Have Time, I have a food, recipe and travel blog at Ms. Adventures in Italy
• an organizer for the Girl Geek Dinners Milano, a blogger about tech topics in Italian at Girl Geek Dinners Italia and sometimes interviewer for Intruders.tv Italy.

more in-depth information about me here.

Note, this is MY usage of Twitter. You may have a different scope, and that’s totally fine!

I DO:

• …use Twitter as a way for me to keep up with friends and blog friends “off the blog”
• …try to keep my activity on Twitter interesting and useful, and I tweet on average 1-3 times a day. I often Tweet or re-Tweet (RT) interesting links
• …welcome new people to follow, but unless you’ve got a nifty personalized profile like mine, your basic profile gives me very little information about who you are! Email me and let me know or send me a @rosso Tweet
• …try to send Direct Messages (DM’s) when I feel an @ reply isn’t useful or beneficial to many
• …use RT @username (re-Tweet) when I Tweet other people’s links or ideas

I DON’T:

• …use Twitter as a place to only post new blog posts/RSS feeds or follow those that do – I’d rather follow your RSS feed!
• …thank new followers/FollowFriday/Retweets with a Tweet. I am very thankful, but I’m not going to Tweet it. Let’s share some other information instead!
• …follow those Tweeting more than 5-10 times a day. I think we should be a little selective what we Tweet: it’s not chat…it’s Twitter. And I can’t keep up!
• …follow everyone that follows me. Sorry! I want to get to know you first!

What is Twitter?

I recommend this video “Twitter in Plain English” that explains what Twitter to someone not familiar with it.

My own definition is simple: You have something to say / share and you do it in 140 characters or less. It is a great way to share useful links, to comment on a recent happening, or just say something that doesn’t have a place on your blog or website. I actually consider it one of the most important virtual places I’m a part of.