Twitter is quick and easy and more than a little addictive. It’s tempting to post tweets about every little detail, regardless of whether anybody cares. Please don’t.
Like many things online, a little extra effort goes along way on Twitter. And like most social media sites, the key to being a good Twitter user is to provide value through your tweets.
So, here are ten do’s and don’ts for providing more value for your followers and those you follow. (Note: If the only people following you are your close friends and family, then feel free to tweet about whatever you want. But if you have a lot of people following you who don’t know in real life, these guidelines will help you make a better impression.)
Don’t …
- say ‘good morning’, ‘good night’, or ‘I need coffee’ or otherwise provide us with the blow-by-blow mundane details of your life. Everyone’s life has those details, and none of us need to know about them in your life. If you don’t have something to say on Twitter, don’t say anything.
- respond to others with tweets that don’t add to the conversation, such as “me too” or “neat.” Again, the rule here is to figure out how to add value — some insight, more information, a humorous, engaging or interesting tweet. There is one exception to this rule: If something really tragic happens to someone (like a death in the family) and you express your sympathy, support and positive thoughts to someone through Twitter, that’s good. People in difficult situations need encouragement and support, so that’s providing value, even if it’s just as tweet that says “So sorry to hear the sad news. I’m thinking of you.”
- deluge people with tweets every five minutes. We probably don’t need to know that much. There might be a few situations, such as when you’re Twittering a conference panel or something, where this would be OK. But most of the time, concentrate more on quality and less on quantity.
- offer links only to your own blog post but ignore everyone else’s. It’s fine to self-promote with Twitter, provided that’s not the only thing you’re doing and you’re willing to promote others’ work.
- be too clever with instant messaging acronyms. Sure, IM lingo is useful when you’re trying to get a tweet down to 140 characters. But don’t make yourself hard to understand for all those people who don’t know what acronyms like LOL or BFF or OMG mean.
Do …
- point people toward useful and interesting links — other tweets, web sites, blog posts, etc. Make sure you provide enough information to also give people an idea of what they might find at that link and why it’s worth their time.
- converse — respond to others’ questions, give suggestions, point out resources, etc. Twitter is not just a one-way broadcast service; it’s about conversations. So start them and participate in them.
- ask questions. You need answers, other people like to help, so ask questions. When you get answers, don’t forget to say thank you.
- tell people something surprising and interesting about yourself. While mundane details about your life (‘headed home now’) aren’t very interesting, telling people something unusual or interesting or engaging can be. So look for chances to reveal, appropriately, interesting tidbits. Just finished your first triathlon and did the bike portion on a unicycle? That’s worth Twittering.
- break news. Did something newsworthy happen near you? Mention it. Did you just see the first alert of some breaking news event flash across your favorite news web site, or even the TV screen? Twitter it.
I’m sure I’ve broken every one of these guidelines, but I’m trying to improve. What are your best tips for being a better Twitterer? Please leave them in the comments.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
most things agreed upon. But I don’t see any harm in saying good morning and i will keep on doing that.
interesting thoughts. definitely agree with most of them. A “good morning” isn’t bad, but some people give a play-by-play of their days. I don’t get a play-by-play from my wife. And I love her. A lot.
I also tweeted a link to this post to see what other twitterers think. Hey! That means I did a “do.” Yes…
Really great post, but I disagree with the first tweet. Nothing wrong with sharing good vibes or letting people know what’s up. In fact the Twitter instructional video advises that those comments do take place on Twitter. http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter But super duper play by plays are definitely not needed.
I just started following a super-twitterer-type today. Too many tweets for my taste. I’ll give it another day, then I may have to cut him loose for a spell. Interesting thoughts Mark. I think the suggestions are awesome if your goal is to have a well-rounded experience. To give, receive and spark interest. We know though, that the goals are all over the place. There are those who will look at your “Don’t” list, and think: “those are exactly the things I should be doing on twitter!” Go figure, right?
@David Thanks for the retweet!
@Brian @Ula I guess my thought on ‘good morning’ tweets is this: I follow a lot of people (more than 100, and it’s growing everyday), and a lot of people follow me (more than 100, growing everyday). In the gush of tweets I try to absorb everyday, a friendly ‘good morning’ doesn’t mean that much. “Good morning, big day of blogging in front of me for my new project” wouldn’t be so bad. Not trying to be unfriendly here, just acknowledging the fact that there’s a high volume of tweets most people are trying to scan, so trying to keep the value high for those people.
Although, I will admit, sometimes it is interesting to see people say ‘good morning’ and ‘good night’ in all the different time zones around the world. Helps remind me that we live in a big world, even if we’re all connected online.
It’s just my opinion. What do you think? Where’s the line between being friendly and just adding more noise to the conversation?
Another don’t could be:
Don’t decide your organization (non-profit, government, business) should join twitter but then never provide updates. I started following my state’s government twitter and after a month of no tweets I am about to cut it because there is no point. Twitter is the new blog, everyone thinks they need one. I enjoy businesses who are trying to connect with their public, they just need to make sure they have something to say.
Always post your Twitter handle in your blog post about Twitter… where’s yours, Mark? I would suggest in your Twitter link in the first sentence. Here’s mine:
http://twitter.com/BarbaraKB
BTW, I have broken all these rules. Why? I’ve been @ Twitter since March 2007. I have learned friendships and contacts there are far more important than what folks think about what I tweet. Perhaps that’s why I am still there..!
Thanks for letting me post here, Mark. Peace!
@BarbaraKB — Oh, that’s a good one.
My Twitter ID is over on the left side of the blog — that’s what the TwitterCounter chicklet links to. But it’s not obvious. I’m on Twitter at MarkTzk.
Thanks for your comments. My main point is that I think the quality of your friendships and contacts on Twitter (especially if they are only or primarily on Twitter) is going to be closely related to how you contribute to the Twitter stream.
I’m not trying to be dogmatic about this, just trying to suggest some ways to think about what’s worth Twittering.
Excellent set of don’t and do’s which will make for an enhanced Twitter experience for us all. It can be a challenge writing something meaningful in just 140 characters but it does hone your summary skills!
Thanks for the post - Jason
Excellent tips. Thanks to Dr Mani for Twittering your post.
http://twitter.com/drmani
Would like to add, don’t go mad with @replies… unless they’re useful to others who follow you.
Neil
http://twitter.com/NeilShearing/
Nice collection of tweet guidelines. Just found you and am following now. Your tweet history looks like you are doing a pretty good job of staying helpful and on point as you suggest above. Thanks.
@Neil Thanks for sharing where you found the link. That’s a great point about not going crazy with @replies.
I generally tweet only when I see some interesting resource or breaking news (good reminder Mark) or when I embark on an interesting project (to share the news with my friends and followers).
Also I reply when I have some useful information to share about a previous tweet by someone.
I have used Twitter to alert some people about a problem with their site at times. If I fid it may be embarrssing for them, I use DM, else if it may be useful to otehrs also, I post a public tweet.
Arun Agrawal
http://www.twitter.com/ebizindia
What’s great about twitter is that it isn’t what you are recommending. You clearly wish to use twitter as a vector for marketing, fine. Others want to use it to simply share what they are thinking, which includes ‘Good Morning’, and “me too!”, which is the SOCIAL nature of SOCIAL NETWORKING.
Although I realize that you are not trying to be dogmatic, I think you may be revealing that you don’t really grok SOCIAL NETWORKING. Your definition of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” turns twitter into a bland collection of homogenous generic news and info snippets…..which has zero appeal in the long term, and is already largely available on Digg and De.Lic.io.us.
You basically seem to be wanting to get your subscribers to modify their tweets so that you don’t have to read what you call ‘noise’. The ‘noise’, my friend, is the point. Social relationships are not SUPPOSED to scale.
When people try to scale social relationships, they quit being social relationships, and become completely artificial and superficial….like the ’sincere’ smile of the highschool beauty queen who has 1000 friends, or the hearty handshake of a politician at a rally, or the generic tweets of an online marketing ‘expert’ who posts generic links to information already available to those who know how to effectively use Google.
@Twitterer Well, you’re right that I wasn’t trying to be dogmatic.
And your point is valid — for some. If you want to use Twitter to maintain close relationships to a small number of people, go for it. And you’re right, in that case you don’t need these do’s and don’ts.
However, the reality is that many Twitter users are following a lot of people, and many Twitter users would like to have a lot of people follow them (and do). It’s not necessarily about close personal relationships, but it is networking, and it is social. And for that kind of scaled social networking the quality and value of your communications does make a difference.
This post, about why I’m “promiscuous online,” is related to this idea of scaling social networks, by the way.
Does that have “zero appeal in the long term?” Only time will tell, I guess. But people seem to like it on Digg and del.icio.us.
But I do appreciate your comment. The way you approach things is different, but it’s still a perfectly fine way of using tools like Twitter. So more power to you and your relationships.