I’ve been thinking about the Swedish twittersphere as the number of Swedes on Twitter has really taken off in the last month. Up until then most micro-blogging Swedes, it seemed, were on Jaiku. Now everyone is on Twitter, from dodgy pop stars, to politicians and even national newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
#svpt = Huh?
One initative to make it easier to follow Swedes/posts in Swedish has been the emergence of the hashtag #svpt. Swedish tweeple append this to any post they want the Swedish community to find. Initially there were only a few #svpt posts per day but over the last two weeks it’s become a major undertaking keeping up in TweetDeck (a great little application that makes managing a Twitter account much easier).
Sites like Svpt.nu –Svenska på Twitter– have also sprung up to help Swedish tweeple keep up to date, listing the most recent #svpt posts.
Although a lot of Swedes are understandably tweeting in Swedish, many write solely in English or mix languages. The international aspect of this is interesting. Twitter is a clear way in which the Net is encouraging Swedes to write in English and make new, international connections. But mixing languages can be a problem as you’re likely to alienate non-Scandinavian speaking followers. Still, if you keep it to a minimum you probably won’t run into too many unfollows.
What about business?
There are lots of businesses beginning to “get” Twitter. In Sweden I’m already seeing travel companies and hotels tweet special offers.
If you run a business, you might want to take a look at Twitter. It’s an excellent way of networking and extending your reach and having different kinds of conversations with people. Personally, I’ve been able to make new contacts in Sweden and the Stockholm-region by Tweeting and landed a couple of freelance jobs.
I don’t ever Tweet “hire me”. I just talk about my dogs, the book I’m translating, the articles I’ve written or the SEO copy I’ve handled for clients and somehow people find their way here.
Thinking internationally?
If you’re thinking about getting on Twitter to reach an international audience, it’s probably advisable to keep those Tweets på svenska to a minimum. Why not set-up two company accounts: one for Swedish and one for English. That way, you won’t run the risk of alienating either audience just on the basis of the language you Tweet in.
Be professional
Many American early adopters, and especially those working in the field of social media like, say, Chris Brogan (website | twitter), have customized Twitter backgrounds that give their identities a professional feel. I’ve yet to see this level of professionalism amongst Swedish Tweeple but no doubt it’s coming.
Although I’m actively following several Swedes on Twitter, a lot of the #svpt posts are about Twitter itself –just as many talked about blogging when blogging took off.
On the other hand, there isn’t as much spammy self-promotion and hammering of “read my latest blog post” as I’m seeing from some quarters.
Follow me on Twitter: @jonbuscall
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