Attending this year’s SXSW festival in Austin Texas, followed by taking Social Media and Entrepreneurship at Columbia, has inspired me to earnestly discover what technology innovations I should incorporate in my life.

Two innovations have stood out in particular – first, Twitter, which I only started taking seriously the past month or so; the second, an iPad which I hoped might replace my netbook in the long run.

In trying to incorporate these innovations in my life, I’ve recognized five rules that may be helpful for others.

1) Establish use cases.

Every technology has use cases. One needs to figure out the appropriate time and place to use it, and make a commttment to using it. In terms of Twitter, I’ll check my messages when waiting for the elevator or at the deli, but not while eating my breakfast (I’ll catch up on case reading instead).

For the iPad, I committed to use it to respond to those quick easy to answer emails which demanded immediate responses. Longer, more complex notes would still require my netbook

2) Expect a learning curve.

Typing e-mail or notes without a tactile keyboard is clearly a pain. My iPad typing speed and accuracy were initially abysmal, but I did see significant improvements each day of additional use that went by.

Figuring out how to tweet and what codes to use on Twitter also required a learning curve, which I’ve progressed on over time.

3) Practice regularly.

Make a time to practice, make sure you’re practicing every day – even if just a bit. As with any learning, we learn best through repetition.

4) Look for tips, tricks, new add-ons.

Google search and Quora are definitely your friends here. Whatever problem you’re having adopting the technology, someone has definitely had it before. Even if you’re not having a problem , look up tips and tricks to see how to use the technology faster or more effectively.

5) Have fun.

Adopting an innovation should be a fun process. Keep it interesting and not a chore. Luckily, you’re probably not a tech editor who is paid to review every new application or hardware that comes down the pipe.You have the freedom to make the process fun and cool – what can I do with the iPad that I could never have done before? Who’s cool on Twitter to follow?

These tips, while fairly straightforward, might be of help to making the tech adoption process a smoother one.