If you were at all like me, your first day in high school consisted of you walking the halls, wide-eyed, trying to get your bearings without upsetting any upperclassmen. It was overwhelming. But eventually a routine becomes placed, a core group of friends is found and the learning begins.

Twitter is a lot like high school. People go to it, for no other reason than they think they should but once it’s given a chance the value is discovered. But you have to work at it. You have to seek out friends, follow them and contribute to the conversations.

Tread lightly though, your reputation is at stake. People will read what you post and if you slip up, it’s likened to tripping in the lunch line at a crowded cafeteria. The good thing is, people have short memories these days, so most embarrassing moments are soon forgotten. But sometimes something so bad happens you have to switch schools.

There’s also a wide range of characters on Twitter. The geeks, the bully, the jocks and the cool kid and the class clown. If you’re careful you can get a steady stream of information that ranges from the completely inane to actually handy. It all depends on which crowd you run with.

New Media, reputation, social media, twitter, value