Lifestyle

Top Tips for Twitter Beginners

Published

6 years ago

April 29, 2020

Are you just getting started with Twitter or you buy twitter followers cheap? Wondering what to do there? You’re not alone! Every day I get questions and puzzled looks when I mention it. The feeling “I don’t get it” still looms large for many. That’s OK; Twitter has a language and rules all its’ own, and takes time to “get.” I promise, it’s not you….it’s Twitter. Feel better now?

You may wonder: Is Twitter worth my time? How can I benefit from using it?

Here are a couple of reasons my answer is yes: One, It’s the fastest news and information source on the planet. Just follow your favorite local and national news and info sources. Find them by doing a search in the bar at the top of your profile, follow a few, and you’re good to go. I love local traffic alerts from stations that I have set up to text to my phone; this has saved me valuable commute time. Two, Twitter is a great way to get customer service help quickly. Who’s your cel phone provider? Do you shop at big box retailers like Target? The big names are all there. Local companies are getting in on the act; here in Charleston, Piggly Wiggly has a great Twitter presence. The reason companies are so responsive there is because unlike a call or email, your complaint is in a public timeline, meaning everyone can see it. Smart retailers address these quickly. In addition to these services, I like being part of a medium that offers lifesaving info to a worldwide audience during a crisis. During the recent natural disasters in Haiti and Japan, Twitter was a critical first source of vital info during the aftermath and recovery. This fact alone should tell you that, used well, this medium has much more to offer you than the mundane “This is what I’m doing right now” tweets.

Here are my Top Tips for Twitter Beginners:

Start with the right mindset: Think of Twitter as a conversation. Listen first, then respond. Keep tweets short and to the point, and let your personality shine. Ask questions, offer answers. Twitter’s a great back and forth medium; often, the “cocktail party” of social media conversations.

Pick a few topics of interest: Search for them, and follow users whose tweets on those subjects are interesting. How do you determine this? Click on a user name. Their profile will appear to the right of your stream from your home page. If their tweets have personality, variety, are conversational, and have links to good info, follow them. You can also do a search on people you know. In addition to Twitter itself, tools like Twellow are great for this purpose

Upload a picture of yourself to your profile. People want to know who they are talking to; this personalizes that experience for them. Spammers and bots often have no pictures. You don’t want to be confused with one of them. For backgrounds, you can choose one of Twitter’s, or create your own. Both are easily done in the account set-up process under “Settings.”

Know the rules and etiquette: Here are a few of the most important:

(1.) When you see a great tweet, don’t send as yours alone – retweet it (RT) to give proper credit.

(2.) Thank those who RT you.

(3.) Answer people who directly mention you by mentioning them. For example: @lizdeloach how can I check for tweets directed to me? Answer: “@djones click on the word ‘mentions’ just above your timeline.”

(4.) Check into Twitter, and your mentions, once or twice a day, and spread out your tweets. Don’t be a feed clogger!

Hashtags: Understand and use them wisely: They are a way of categorizing and searching for info on any topic, person, place, etc., with the # symbol in front of a word or phrase. Your city probably has a hashtag – ours is #chs. It’s used for tweets with Charleston related info. If I tweet something with a hashtag, it appears in search for that hashtag with all tweets containing the same hashtag. Be sure to use these when relevant, and not just to get a tweet into a certain list. Want to start a hashtag on a topic you like? Tweet a question or info with one, and see who else is talking about the same subject.

These are just a few tips.

I hope they help you create a meaningful and worthwhile experience there. There’s a lot more that I can help with, too. Questions? Leave them in the comment section below and I’ll gladly answer!

Lifestyle

Why Toba Ogunremi Believes High-Performing Teams Start with Belonging, Not Pressure

Published

2 days ago

July 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Most teams don’t fall apart all at once. It happens slowly, missed conversations, quiet disengagement, people doing what’s required but nothing more.

Toba Ogunremi has spent years working inside care environments where that kind of shift is easy to miss until it starts affecting everything. Leading operations at Samorem Care in the UK, he has seen how systems can appear stable on the surface while teams underneath struggle to stay connected to their work.

One experience early in his career changed how he looks at leadership entirely.

He had taken over a team that wasn’t in crisis, but it wasn’t working well either. The people receiving care were safe, but they weren’t thriving. The same was true for the staff. There was no urgency, no energy, just routine.

The usual solution would have been to tighten control by setting new targets, increasing supervision, and creating performance plans. He didn’t do any of that.

“I started with conversations,” he says. “Real ones. Not rushed, not formal.”

One by one, he spoke to each team member. What came out wasn’t frustration with the job itself, but something quieter and harder to spot.

“They weren’t disengaged because they didn’t care,” he explains. “They were disengaged because they felt unseen.”

No one had asked what they thought. No one had taken the time to understand how they were coping. Over time, that absence had turned into distance. That moment stayed with him. It shaped how he leads today.

His approach is simple, but not always easy to apply: people perform better when they feel they belong.

He believes high performance usually comes when people feel like they genuinely belong and know that what they do actually matters.

In healthcare, where pressure is constant and expectations are high, this idea can sound secondary. The focus is often on outcomes, compliance, and efficiency. Toba doesn’t dismiss those things, but he questions what happens when they become the only focus.

Even when all the processes are in place, if the people delivering the care feel disconnected, it eventually reflects in the quality of the work.

At Samorem Care, this thinking shows up in small but consistent ways. Recruitment is not just about experience. It’s about how someone responds to people, how they handle pressure, and how they communicate. Once they are in, the focus shifts to keeping teams stable and supported, rather than constantly rotating staff or reacting only when something goes wrong. He also pays attention to how leaders show up day to day.

According to him, leadership is not just about giving direction; it’s about being present enough to understand what your team actually needs.

That presence matters more in care than in most industries. The work is demanding, often emotional, and not always recognised for what it takes. When teams feel stretched or overlooked, it affects how they interact with the people they support.

For Toba, resilience is less about constant pressure and more about creating a work environment where people can do their jobs well without burning out. In his view, strong teams are not just coping; they are supported enough to stay clear-headed and consistent in their work.

His background outside healthcare still shapes how he leads. Having worked in sales and communications, he understands how important it is to read people and build trust. In healthcare, though, the impact is far more direct, as decisions affect someone’s everyday life, not just an outcome on paper.

That shift makes leadership more personal. Teams need more than instructions; they need stability, clarity, and a sense that they are understood. What defines Toba Ogunremi’s approach is its simplicity. He focuses on being consistent, listening carefully, and addressing issues early rather than reacting late.

In the end, his belief is straightforward: teams perform better not because they are pushed harder, but because they feel valued and part of something that works.