Rule #1: Be nice. Or not. But anything you say can and will be held against you.

Posting on a social network like twitter or facebook is akin to chatting at a party or in a café. Be aware that others can hear what you’re saying. That’s the point of a social network. Act accordingly.

Assume others can and will repeat what they hear. To anyone. If you’re participating in a discussion with people in your professional field, behave as you would at an office cocktail party. Don’t say anything about someone else or a company that you wouldn’t say to their face. Example of twitter disaster by an ad agency, about 2 weeks ago.

Never assume that your conversation is completely private. There are occasional security breaches/errors on any network, so this rule also applies to anything you type/add, even with full privacy settings on.

That said, if you’re friendly, helpful and responsive, you have nothing to fear. Enjoy your new contacts.

Not sure where to begin?

1. Read Wikipedia’s page on twitter to understand the big picture.

2. Read this excellent article on how to enter the Twitter-verse. Decide on your strategy.

3. Sign up for a free twitter account. Hint: you might want to use an anonymous email address and username to begin. You can always delete it later. But DO set up an additional account using your real name or company name, even if you’re not using it at first. You’ll see why later.

4. Search twitter for friends, celebs, brands, news services that you’d like to Follow. Add them to your profile.

That’s enough to get started.

A quick roundup of the most useful web-based tools for designers and developers, as debated at a NEWDA (New England Web Developers Association) gathering last night:

skype
freeconferencecall.com
basecamp
campfire
harvest
box.net
glance.net
google docs

For vetting potential co-workers and maintaining better (emotional) connection:
Linkedin
facebook
twitter
individual blogs

A video of the evening’s presentation, “Using Web Tools to Build Virtual Teams” will soon be available on the NEWDA site as presented by Jonathon Follett, of Hot Knife Design, an insightful contributor to A List Apart.