I made some Twitter buttons with the old and the new birdy thing for you to use on your blog if you want. To use, just copy the code below the icon you would like to use, replacing the text in bold to your actual Twitter username. If it’s not working, you can always right-click save the images, upload to your blog server and use that way. Enjoy!

<a href=”http://www.twitter.com/yourtwitterusername“><img src=”http://sixthandelm.com/wp-content/uploads/twitter-new-250px.jpg”/></a>

<a href=”http://www.twitter.com/yourtwitterusername“><img src=”http://sixthandelm.com/wp-content/uploads/twitter-new-125.jpg”/></a>

<a href=”http://www.twitter.com/yourtwitterusername“><img src=”http://sixthandelm.com/wp-content/uploads/twitter-250px.jpg”/></a>

<a href=”http://www.twitter.com/yourtwitterusername“><img src=”http://sixthandelm.com/wp-content/uploads/twitter-125px.jpg”/></a>

Need a new Twitter background? TwitterPatterns has lots of cute patterns, instructions on how to use and a nice clean design overall. I’m thinking of giving up my trademark brown (like I have a trademark on the the colour brown) for their cute Argyle designs.

Twitter can be a fantastic marketing tool, if you take advantage of it. Otherwise it’s just a good way to tell the whole world that you just brushed your teeth or that the dog ate your cell phone again.

But using Twitter to promote can be a pain if it means making a separate tweet for each Etsy listing and each blog post, especially if you are already promoting by posting to your Flickr groups, your Facebook marketplace, your blog, your Etsy Street Team website, emailing design blogs, spray-painting it on derelict buildings and handing out flyers in Times Square. (Phew!)

There are WordPress plug-ins to make tweets from your blog posts and blog posts from your tweets, but it can only be used on your blog. TwitterFeed is a customizable service that can make automatic tweets when you update any RSS feed you want, including your blog, your flickr account or your Etsy shop. All you need to do is enter the URL of the RSS, customize the frequency and the wording of the tweet and forget it. Each time you list to Etsy or post a new blog post a nice little tweet will be generated for your status. If you are using the Facebook Mobile App, or are using the Twitter App on Facebook, this will also update your Facebook status to promote your latest listing too… easy as pie.

Actually, easier. Pie can be complicated, especially blueberry because you have to watch or those little buggers roll away on you and the filling stains your counter.

So. I joined Twitter. I figured I wasn’t wasting enough time online since I haven’t been fired yet and my husband still knows my name. For the un-initiated, Twitter is essentially the Facebook ‘”status updates” feature and nothing else. It allows me to send little updates (“New items posted to the shop!”) or random musings (“If everything in the universe suddenly doubled in size would you notice?”) or current observations (“There are 50 snails on this stretch of sidewalk”) from the web or my cell and get updates from other people sent to my phone as well, if I want.

I Installed a Plug-in (I’m all about plug-ins this week, aren’t I?) called Twitter Tools that automatically posts an update to Twitter when I write a new blog post and makes a summary blog post each night from my Twitter updates for that day (in case you were wondering what that post was).  You can also use services like Twitterific to update your Twitter, Facebook Status, MSN or Adium Status and Skype Mood all at once.

I swore I wasn’t going to give in and join Twitter, and then I couldn’t remember why I had sworn that. Give in to what? If I don’t like it, I can just stop using it. I know everyone else is doing it too, but that isn’t a reason for me to boycott. I think not doing something because everyone else is is just as silly as doing something because everyone else is. My philosophy for all these viral fads is just do it if you want, and if you don’t want to anymore, stop.

So, if you want to Cyberstalk me, here ya go: (Love to hear from you all)

Blog: www.sixthandelm.com (you already know this one, you’re there now)
Shop: www.sixthandelm.etsy.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/sixthandelm
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=512543545
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sixthandelm
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/sixthandelm
Trunkt Portfolio: www.trunkt.org/client.listing_detail.cfm/id/2592

Phew. Anything else?

I’m sure there are dozens of ways to do this, but this is the one I like best since it involves twitter, which I was already signed up for.  ED: As noted in the comments, you can also update your status by using the Facebook Mobile application (Thanks Shasta!) but I encourage you to try out Twitter and the method below to update both at once, for the reasons I give below. As I said, there are a million ways to do this, but this updates Twitter and Facebook with a single text. I want to see more Etsians on Twitter!!

Step 1: Sign up for Twitter. If you are not familiar with Twitter, it is a micro-blogging platform which is essentially the same as the status update in Facebook and nothing else. There are a lot of great tools, like the WordPress Plug-in Twitter Tools, which automatically updates your twitter when you post a new blog post with the link and can even generate a blog post of your collected status updates for the day if you want. Services like Twitterific (which I have not used) can update your status across many platforms including MSN Messenger and Adium when you update your Twitter.

If you can’t believe you have to sign up for another damn service, you can just sign up once for Twitter, configure it to update your Facebook (as I’ll show you below) and then ignore it forever. Your cell phone updates will update your twitter and you never have to look a it again, though you will be missing out on a potentially powerful marketing tool.

Step 2: Set up your phone on Twitter by clicking “add device” on your home page beside “Device Updates” and follow the instructions.

Step 3: Navigate to http://www.twitter.com/sixthandelm and “follow” me. This, of course, will not help you update your Facebook on your cell phone, but it lets me know you are there and I can follow you and see your updates.

Step 4: Log into Facebook and add the Twitter application: http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/. You’ll notice a link that says: Want Twitter to update your Facebook status? Click here!

Click “yes” and you’re good to go! Just text your updates to the text number twitter gives you when you set up your phone. It is best to start your posts with ” – ” or something else so that your Facebook status makes sense since twitter doesn’t append your message or put “is” in front of it.

(ED NOTE: THE TWITTER FACEBOOK APP IS TEMPORARILY DOWN FOR NEW SET-UPS AND SOME MAY NOT WORK YET, THOUGH MINE ARE DOING FINE)