Nine social media tips for summer

1) Remember to charge up your battery the night before if you’re going to be doing a lot of tweeting the next day, or buy an extra battery (remember to charge that one up too).

2) First ever tweet: it’s okay to tweet ‘hi’ or about the weather. Don’t listen to everyone telling you to be interesting – it’s too difficult. You’ll get the hang of it soon anyway. Remember though that your mother, cousin or friend in Australia, might still like to receive the odd letter now and again. It’s nice to get something apart from bills or credit card applications.

3) It’s okay to unfollow me: I’ll get over it. A real friend unfollowing me in real life, now that will take a bit longer to get over…

4) If you’re starting out, give Twitter a chance. Type in something you’re interested in: a film you’re thinking of seeing, a possible holiday destination, a book you want to read (you never know the author might even be on Twitter).

5) Remember to be you, remember to share, remember to help others, and remember to tweet; remember you’ve also got real friends.

6) When the sun is out, remember to tweet from under a shady tree. The screen on some smartphones just doesn’t go well with the sun.

7) I’m trying to remember to use FourSquare, but keep forgetting. It takes about 21 days to learn a habit. Reminder to self: set alarm to go off at 10:31am every day for the next 21 days to use FourSquare.

8 ) Don’t read all the stuff with titles like 37 tips for social media success, 29 tips to becoming a power tweeter, 52 tips to making cash via Twitter… read a real book, it’s much more interesting and a better way to spend a summer evening. Pour yourself a glass or two of something as well.

9) Friday 5.30pm, turn off all access to social media, mobile phones, computers. There is a real life to go back to somewhere out there…

Note to self: Remember to charge up battery Sunday night.