Want to be that much closer to Barack Obama or Kevin Rose status on Twitter?

Read supercool entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki’s blog post on how to get more people to follow your tweets on Twitter.

Topping his tip list is the idea of following “smores”:

Tip 1: Follow the “smores.” They are the folks with large number of followers and seem to be the opinion leaders (and perhaps even “heroes”) of Twitter.

Numero tres talks about your all-important visage:

Tip 3: Create an effective avatar. Your avatar is a window into your soul, so you need to create one that doesn’t look like you shot it with a camera phone while you were drunk. In most cases, use a simple, informal straight-up photo of just your face—not you and your dog, car, kids, or surfboard. Increase the exposure to brighter than you think it should be.

Way down at number six is another helpful tip on establishing yourself as an expert:

Tip 6: Establish yourself as a subject expert. One thing is for sure about Twitter: there are some people interested in every subject and every side of every subject. By establishing yourself as a subject expert, you will make yourself interesting to some subset of people.

Now go and give President-elect Obama a run for his money.

- Danny

Dunkin’ Donuts is the latest brand to get its Twitter on, and it seems to have a good game plan. Dunkin’ will provide special offers to fans, but that isn’t the central goal of their presence on Twitter.  Manager of Interactive Marketing David Tryder said, “We hope the primary reward will be opening up the doors to Dunkin’ Donuts and providing a means for fans of the brand to connect and have a dialogue about or with the brand.”  DD may be arriving late to Twitter since Starbucks arrived a little while ago, but if they’re serious about creating meaningful engagement, they will be just fine.  It’s not about the quantity of followers, it’s about the quality of their conversations.  Kudos to Dunkin’ Donuts!

- Cody

PRWeek published a great article on using real-time outlets like Twitter to connect with consumers.  They also shared some interesting tips that would help clients wanting to vocalize in the space.

• Even though Twitter is a low-cost investment, companies must ensure they have the resources to support the effort. This includes frequent updates and the capacity to quickly respond.
• Consumers have become skeptical of companies joining the social media conversation simply as a PR move. To be effective on sites like Twitter, companies should provide value for customers by answering questions about the brand or providing technical information
• Because there is no barrier to entry on Twitter, some companies have been “brandjacked” on Twitter. It’s best to set some branding guidelines so that users can identify the company’s official Twitter feeds.
• For most tech companies, at least a part of their audience will be on social networks like Twitter. But they should be prepared for some users to prefer not to be contacted through social media.

- Cody

PR 20/20 asks if you can really be a “PR power player” in this day and age if you’re not on Twitter. Apparently, not one of the 25 publicists on PRWeek’s Power List have a presence on the microblogging site.

—Alyssa