Book Review: ‘You Are What You Tweet: Harness the Power of Twitter to Create a Happier, Healthier Life’ by Germany Kent

Twitter is a vast social network than can seem like a paradox. It’s constricting — with messages limited to 140 characters or less, but it’s also immense — it has around 288 million monthly users, who light up the Twitter universe with around 500 million tweets per day. While many people swear by it, others are reluctant to join. One reason: it can be a challenge to know how to use it right. How does one create that perfectly intriguing, illuminating online persona within such a tiny profile? What, when, who, and how often should one tweet? What are hashtags, and why do they matter so much?

Regardless of knowing the ins and outs, to not be on Twitter is to miss out on an incredible resource. As business goes mobile, more companies are turning to Twitter to search for employees. Professional organizations hold career-building Twitter chats. Even your own colleagues may be confabbing via tweets. And in terms of personal relationships, Twitter is made for finding friends. Now there’s a book that demystifies this incredible platform: You Are What You Tweet: Harness the Power of Twitter to Create a Happier, Healthier Life, by social media expert Germany Kent. It shows how to best use Twitter, and turn it into a game-changer for your life and career.

Kent’s book is clear and practical, filled with savvy secrets, ah-hah moments and best of all, a step-by-step approach to mastering the Twitter universe.  She explains complicated subjects, like the difference between appearing enthusiastic and spammy. She illustrates how simple differences in a tweet can either capture Twitter’s promotional reach and generate buzz, or alienate it and lose an audience.  She details how to write the perfect profile that supports your goals, whether professional or personal or both, and includes helpful models to work from. There are countless tips and tricks — including how to deal with revealing your location, and how to build your own following by choosing who to follow yourself.

But there’s also an inspiring, motivational dimension to this book, and that’s what makes it stand apart. As Kent writes, we can use Twitter to consolidate our own vision of ourselves, identify our goals, and grow as people. She talks about the infectiousness of positivity; how what we put out into the world is what comes back to us.  Since Twitter is so compressed, she explains, there’s little room for error or vagueness, and any negativity is amplified. And being on Twitter, she says, imposes a refreshing clarity on how we see, and thus present ourselves.

The book is also peppered with helpful questionnaires, lists with self-descriptive words to choose, and plenty of suggested activities. There are also welcome examples of what not to do. The takeaway is that Twitter is far more than a place for gossip or jokes: it’s a way to experience new perspectives and new ideas, to find an online community, and grow your career. It can be a source of support, wisdom, and compassion. It’s just a matter of what you put into it, and Kent shows how to make every single character count.

For more information on You Are What You Tweet and Germany Kent, visit the author’s website.