Interview with Bill Journee - Student and Twitter Geek

Bill, also known as Mr Billiam, is a must follow if you are part of the Melbourne twitter scene. I met him at the second tweetupmellers and have since become good mates. He is funny, friendly and insanely helpful. Thanks so much Bill for providing such detailed answers!

Why are you on twitter and what do you use it for?

I've been on Twitter since May 2008 but only properly started tweeting in December 2008. I originally started using it in Townsville using the iPhone client Twinkle, which is a location aware Twitter client which lets you search for tweets which were made within a certain distance of yourself. At the time, there were a few storm-related power outages in Townsville, and my first social use of Twitter was following these storms and power outages with other people in Townsville on Twinkle. From there, I started to build a network in Townsville that spilled over into Melbourne.

I use Twitter mainly as a conversational platform, but also to get information about things I'm interested in. One of the things I love about Twitter is the fact that you can dip in and out and find out interesting little facts without having to invest much time or effort. It’s a great way to follow what people are interested in and really tap into that source of information and enthusiasm for whatever you’re doing – for business or pleasure there’s always something on offer on Twitter.

Have you learned any tips about networking on twitter?

I think networking on Twitter is all about being yourself. Help people when they need a hand, and if you need help ask a question. If you have something you think is worth sharing, share it; if you find something interesting, RT it.

That stuff all gets said often, but it’s really true. If you’re trying to sell something on Twitter, you’re going to get nowhere by just tweeting “buy this” or “you need my service because...”. As a social medium, Twitter only works if you engage people. Events like tweetupmellers take the personal side of networking to the next level, and make the whole experience online so more worthwhile when you meet the people you’re interacting with online.

How did you get involved in tweetupmellers?

I’d been on Twitter a while, and heard through the tweetvine that one of my favourite people on Twitter, @rebeccamezzino, was going to be coming to Melbourne and that a tweetup was being organised around the date. Tracing that stuff back, I found @sammutimer who created Tweetupmellers and ended up getting in contact and went to the first tweetup as a relative unknown (at that point I think I only had about 200 followers and hadn’t really established myself on Twitter to the same extent as most of the people at the tweetup, but I met lots of great people who I’d either been talking to or knew of through Twitter.

From there, I got really involved in getting the second tweetup out there, and helping Sam organise the behind the scenes stuff. Since then, Sam and I have got together and planned some big things for Tweetupmellers to bring the experience to a whole new level both for personal and business networking.

What things do you and the team have planned for the tweetups?

At the moment, Tweetupmellers is really trying to engage with people and build the community. Twitter’s obviously really helping with that, and we have a great core group that are really helping us get the Tweetupmellers message out.

For the July tweetup we’re adding ustream and a live Twitter feed to the mix, so we can get media in and out of the tweetup quickly. We’re trying to get the tweetup as interactive as possible so people who haven’t come yet can join in, and to help get the message out around Australia and the World.

On the longer term, our plans for the tweetup are based on helping the social function of the tweetups get even better, and offer opportunities for people to connect professionally through tweetups and Tweetupmellers as well, with a variety of stuff at and around the monthly events. We’re also looking at really upping the interaction at tweetups and on the website, and you definitely want to watch this space: http://twu.ms/

You're currently doing your honours year. Do you think think unis could/should try using twitter?

Universities are diverse organisations, and I think accounts for whole universities won’t necessarily match the interests of their students. A few universities have started using Twitter (for example my university, Monash - @MonashUni) but on the whole these accounts are mostly based around tweeting big events or news items which don’t necessarily target many people at the university – they’re effectively RSS feeds of university-wide news.

What I’ve also noticed is a number of individual academics are starting to have a presence on Twitter, and I think this is a much more effective way for universities to engage with social media and really get targeted interest on social networking sites. Personal accounts for academics also personalises the whole thing a bit – you get to see the people behind the academics and for students that’s usually a good thing.

What do you have planned after this year at uni?

I haven't got any set plans yet, but I'm looking at getting into some further research endangered languages and the languages of Australia. The details of how I'll make that happen are still a bit hazy, but I think it's a worthy and important cause the try and retain the cultural diversity of the world's indigenous people and keep the linguistic diversity of the planet in as good a state as possible.

Do you think your experience now with social media will help you with any future opportunities?

I think the potential for the use of the internet and interactive social media has the potential to be very powerful in the field of language endangerment. Some languages become endangered and are difficult to maintain due to the tyranny of distance, and social media is very effective at bridging some of these gaps. Granted, a lot of endangered languages can’t reach this stage because they’re often not written down, but the facility that social media opens both in terms of person to person communication and institutional liaison means that it’s a very powerful way to gather people around a cause and get things happening, whatever they are.

You used to have a business as a web designer. Do you have any tips for people getting a webpage for their business?

I think it’s important to take the time to understand what the function of a website is, and how it fits in with your business. Understanding how a website can and will help your business is important, because if you just get a static page that never updates, for example, your web presence is very limited. Done right, a good web presence can really bring your business to a much bigger audience.

If you’re thinking about getting a website for your business, my biggest tip is to sit down with a web developer and really talk about what you want to achieve, and how you want to get there. You’ll get informed advice about what strategy will be best for your business to get the most out of a web presence, at the least cost to you.

Finally, would you recommend people go to tweetups?

Definitely. If you’re engaged with the Twitter community in your area, a tweetup makes the whole thing more tangible. If you’re not engaged with your local Twitter community yet, tweetups are a great way to get out and meet new people and those relationships will naturally extend through to Twitter anyway.

Everybody at the tweetups I’ve been to have been more than friendly, and very welcome to new tweeters. Don’t forget, Twitter means that the ice is already broken – “So, who are you on Twitter?” – and once the ice is broken it’s easy to go from there!