Feed Your Feed!: 10 Great Twitter Accounts to Follow for DIYers

By Michael Burgin  |  March 7, 2014 | 6:54am
Tech Lists Twitter

Let’s face it: it’s a big, big Twitter-verse out there, filled with all the best and worst humanity has to offer. For many, the little blue bird and the service it represents are just further proof of the perversity of human nature—yes, even when restrained to 140 characters or less, people can be somehow spew novel’s worth of ignorance and pettiness. Yet amidst the cacophony and confusion, there persists plenty to love. Whether you’re a black belt-toting Twitter master, a dabbler in the social media substrate, or a neophyte looking for some feeds to follow, here are a few feeds of note for all the DIYers out there.

1. Kit Stansley – @kitliz
Twitter Bio: I have a small addiction to power tools, sawdust, and irony, which is why you can often find me in the lumber aisle of Lowe’s or on http://DIYdiva.net
Followers: 680
Need for Feed: Stansley’s feed, like most of the entries on this list, is an outgrowth of a blog (DiY Diva). @kitliz can be counted on for a steady (not quite daily), no-frills stream of links to her blog posts (distinctly home- and farm-related), and the projects they cover. Compared to many of the DiY feeds out there, Stansley’s might be low on quantity of info distilled and delivered, but she’s pretty good company to have for the low-key DiYer.

2. DIY Network – @DIYNetwork
Twitter Bio: The Home Improvement How-To Network
Followers: 119K
Need for Feed: A Twit-let for the television channel of the same name (owned by Scripps Networks Interactive), this account can drift a bit much into the pimping of its shows (Vanilla Ice, everyone!), but it’s still a great resource for the at-home DIYer.

3. Cindy Dole – @CindyDole
Twitter Bio: I Host Home Wizards, A Nationally Syndicated Home and Life Improvement Radio Show, with Eric Stromer I’m all about making it fun!
Followers: 9,957
Need for Feed: Like her radio show, Cindy Dole’s feed is more “lifestyle guide” than pure DIY—but then again, what DIYer wouldn’t appreciate tips on design and social graces thrown in during a discussion of more practical projects. (It certainly doesn’t hurt.)

4. How-To Geek Site – @howtogeeksite
Twitter Bio: For Geeks, By Geeks
Followers: 11.2K
Need for Feed: In the Digital Age, DIY has expanded to include less “hands-dirty” work like car repair and home improvement. Though @howtogeeksite could easily be on a list of great feeds for tech support (and may be), it’s also a great source for understanding, adjusting and fixing the flurry of technical glitches and issues that arise in pretty much every home these days.

5. Bob Vila – @BobVila
Twitter Bio: The Official Twitter Account of Bob Vila, America’s Handyman. And the original salt-and-pepper beard.
Followers: 1.1M
Need for Feed: Pretty much the patron saint of DIY since his days as host of This Old House, Vila’s account is no mere stream—it’s a rushing river of DIY projects, advice and ideas.

6. instructables – @instructables
Twitter Bio: Sharing DIY goodness from http://Instructables.com and across the web.
Followers: 43.5K
Need for Feed: The originating website for this account is a gathering place for user-created projects that are in turn rated and commented upon. If that’s your thing, fantastic, but if you’d prefer just a “best of” batch of links and photos, this feed is a great place to start.

7. eHow – @eHow
Twitter Bio: Discover the expert in you.
Followers: 57.4K
Need for Feed: Granted, you may go weeks without the seeing a single tweet of the traditional DIY variety, but they are there, along with a steady diet of beauty and behavioral tips. And who knows, that advice on cutting out cable, online dating or helping your kids adjust to Daylight Savings Time might be just the thing that provides you the extra money, inspiration or sanity to tackle and complete that DIY project!

8. Lifehack – @Lifehack
Twitter Bio: Lifehack is your source for tips to help improve all aspects of your life.
Followers: 46.9K
Need for Feed: This extremely active account provides a source of inspirational, self-improvement-themed links. To that end, it’s even less of a traditional DIY feed than @eHow, but think about it—aren’t each of us just one, lifetime-spanning DIY project?

9. Better Homes & Garden – @BHG
Twitter Bio: Inspiring ideas for home, gardening, food, holidays, and living well. BHG—it’s where life happens.
Followers: 69.6K
Need for Feed: Pinterest and Etsy browsing may have stolen some of its DIY thunder, but the magazine behind this account has been a source of design and DIY ideas since 1922. Twitter allows you to keep track of the good ideas, without all the paper buildup.

10. Craftster – @craftster
Twitter Bio: Craftster.org is the largest online community for indie crafters with over 1,000,000 readers (unique visitors) per month.
Followers: 21.4K
Need for Feed: The Twitter manifestation of this popular website may have substantially fewer followers than the 1,000,000+ monthly uniques staked by its parent, but this tutorial-rich feed on projects large and small (with a marked tendency toward the small—and crafty) provides an endless source and ideas, along with the visual aids to help do them.

There you have it—a drop from an ocean (or at least a sizable lake) of good Twitter feeds for DIYers. How about you, Paste readers … what are some other good suggestions of Twitter feeds of interest for people who love the DIY lifestyle?

 
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