I hope your attention span is short today. This is about your Twitter presence. All the sentences will be under 140 characters, Twitter style.
We have all heard about “elevator speeches.” This is the speech you have ready about yourself for brief, chance encounters in places like elevators. Get in, talk, get out. The goal is to say something short and memorable.
Twitter bios are the elevator pitches of 2010. Your bio is what people learn about you after they look to see where those smart Tweets are coming from.
But many people fail to take advantage of their Twitter bios. They leave them blank, say nothing useful or repeat their name or link, which are elsewhere in the profile.
Unlike Twitter messages, which are limited to 140 characters, your bio can be a whole 160. Knock yourself out. Write your bio in Word, which will count the spaces for you. Then, paste it into your Twitter account using the settings option.
Don’t squander opportunity.
Here are the Twitter bios of various media figures. Of course, many of them are not looking for jobs, and some of them have really cool jobs.
Hardly even need bios
George Stephanopoulos: Good Morning America Anchor and ABC News Chief Political Correspondent
David Gregory: Host of NBC’s Meet the Press
John Dickerson: Political correspondent Slate magazine/Analyst CBS News
Scott Simon: Host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday
Jack Gray: Producer/Writer for Anderson Cooper 360
Anderson Cooper: A behind-the-scenes look at “Anderson Cooper 360°” written by Anderson Cooper and the show’s correspondents and producers. Watch AC360° M-F at 10 p.m. ET.
Wolf Blitzer: Wolf Blitzer is the anchor of CNN’s The Situation Room. Blitzer also serves as the network’s lead political anchor.
Katie Couric: Anchor of the CBS Evening News.
Nicholas Kristof: New York Times columnist, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Arianna Huffington: Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post
Personality
David Kaplan: I write about online media for PaidContent.org; tell me everything.
Mallory Colliflower: Florida Gator. Social girl. Journo. Indie-music lover. Traveler. Web surfer. Geek. Daughter, sister, aunt. South Fla native.
Ezra Klein: Blogger for the Washington Post, columnist for Newsweek. Eater of food. Hater of filibuster. Lover of charts.
Cokie Roberts: Senior news analyst for NPR; Commentator for ABC; Proud mother of two and grandmother of six.
Kelley L. Carter: Kelley L. Carter is an entertainment reporter/Pop culture virtuoso. So they say.
Noun users
Jeff Jarvis: blogger and j-school prof
Michelle Malkin: American. Conservative. Mom. Wife. Blogger.
Roxana Saberi: Writer, reporter, freelance journalist, humanitarian
Mitch Albom: Author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician
Chrys Wu: Journalist. Strategist. Maker. Cook.
Promotional
Matt Drudge: Welcome to the Drudge Report on Twitter. Get Tweets on the latest Drudge Headlines.
Markos Moulitsas: Founder of Daily Kos, author of the forthcoming book: American Taliban: How Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists to the Radical Right
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Miami Herald columnist. Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary 2004. Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to ‘Fatherhood’ a bestseller.
Greg Mitchell: Former ed. ‘Editor and Publisher,’ now blogging for The Nation and @MediaFixBlog. Author of 9 books. Longtime editor at ‘Crawdaddy.’
Christiane Amanpour: I’m thrilled to be joining the incredible team at ABC News. Being asked to anchor ‘This Week’ is a tremendous and rare honor.
Philosophical
Ann Curry: Journalism is an act of faith in the future.
Ana Marie Cox: There is no such thing as adventure. There’s no such thing as romance. There’s only trouble and desire.
Ethical
Lydia Polgreen: South Asia correspondent for the NYT and omnivore. Links are not endorsements.
Micki Maynard: Micheline Maynard, NY Times Senior Business Correspondent, specializing in consumer issues. RTs are not endorsements.
Going for nearly all 160 characters
Jay Rosen: I teach journalism at NYU, direct the Studio 20 program there, critique the press and try to grok new media. I don’t do lifecasting but mindcasting on Twitter.
Career questions? E-mail Joe for an answer.
COMING WEDNESDAY: Join me and Poynter’s Colleen Eddy for a live chat, “How can mentors help in your career?” at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday.
