20 Tips to Keep You from Being a Twit on Twitter.
Urbandictionary.com defines a “twit” as:
The kind of person that makes a
retarded chimp look smart. They often can be found leaving definitions for
their own name or the names of their friends on urbandictionary.com
Joe smith definition:
1: joe smith is the coolest man alive, look at me i wrote my name i am joe
smith
2: joe smith is a twit
I added this definition not because it was ridiculous but because this is
how very many people use
twitter.
In a lot of ways, millions of users have found Twitter as a useful tool.
Take journalists, for instance.
According to media bistro.com “59 percent of journalists worldwide now
use Twitter.” According to a study by
Infographic “46 percent of workers say that their productivity has greatly or
somewhat increased because of social media use in the office, and more than
one-third (37 percent) say that they could do their job better if their organization's
management was more on-board in the use of social tools in the workplace.”
What does all of this mean?
A.
At least half of the world is taking social media and
twitter seriously.
B.
Most users of twitter and other social media are
looking for good content and not just finding out how cute your kids are or what
you had for breakfast. Although the cute
kid thing used sparingly could convince followers that you are a real person
and not a robot tweeting for you.
So the TechnoGranny has poked around, uses twitter herself on six different
accounts and has created a lists of “dos and don’ts” to keep you from being a
twit on twitter.
1.
Fill out your profile – For a variety of reasons,
this might seem like common sense, but a lot of people still don’t
have their whole profile filled out. You would be surprised the “eggheads” as I
call them or just plain “eggs” that show up on twitter because there is no
picture there. Users who have not uploaded a profile image yet. At this time,
these users are affectionately known as "eggs" due to Twitter's
default avatar image depicting an egg on a colorful background. This makes it harder for people to find you
and connect with you. Also, having a filled out profile means more
followers. You will wait until the cows
come home if you expect me to follow you as an “egg.” You are in the same category as a guy who
doesn’t put his picture up on a dating site.
How are you gonna get a date or a follower if people don’t know that you
don’t look like Godzilla or Jack the Ripper?
Also this is a social site. So
put up your picture even it’s a caricature because you are paranoid of your
picture being on the internet. “Get
social, or don’t, simple rule.” If you
don’t get social your twitter account makes you a twit wasting your valuable
time.
Trust me; your picture is out there anyway. Just Google “Pictures of _______, add your
name here,” and you will be surprised at how many pictures there are of you on
the internet. Just attend a gala or have
lunch with a friend. The gala is being
publicized and your friend is probably on Facebook. There are many places where you can submit
your picture and get a caricature or an avatar, some for free, some for a small
fee. Try fiverr.com. Five bucks will get you a really snazzy
caricature created from your picture.
- Here is TechnoGranny’s definition of a
double twit. Check your
environment before you tweet. Don’t ignore the people you’re with
in real life to tweet. Consider how your behavior will be viewed before
you do it. Tweeting from a speaking engagement or event to help publicize
the event is acceptable; tweeting during a private meeting is not. And unless you are tweeting about the
great food at a restaurant at a lunch with your friend and sending a
picture, it’s just plain rude. Also
always ask permission from your friend to add their name.
3.
The rude
tweeter: Be polite on Twitter for
the most part, but no more or less so than you're expected to be in the real
world — just keep in mind that Twitter is a public forum. Also keep in mind how
long that tweet is out there, if you had a negative opinion that may change but
the tweet expressing it will not. In recent months, the world saw this trending
discussion on amazingly poor etiquette manifest itself in a controversy
surrounding the #LetsMakeitAwkward campaign on Twitter. For those of you who
might be scratching your heads, this was a trending topic encouraging young
people to embarrass their peers by reminding them of failed relationships and
ridiculous or embarrassing behavior.
Even Talk Show hosts jumped on the bandwagon. To a baby boomer like me it was like yelling
out across the room in the sixties, “Your mama wears combat boots.” Or in the famed words of a Bill Cosby skit, “You
can’t afford no ice cream because you’re on the welfare.”
If good manners would keep you from saying it in
public or even privately to a person then why would you put it out on twitter
where possibly thousands or millions could see it? Great way to lose a friend, an acquaintance
and to submit yourself to a hailstorm of criticism yourself! So here the same tact is required as a matter
of fact more because it is online and subject to much more scrutiny and
spreading faster.
4. The Time of Day Tweeters: 'Good Morning' Tweets Imagine if we all
tweeted "good morning" or "good night" with no updates,
anecdotes, or witticisms. Boring! Now if
you received an epiphany from your creative muse or the Holy Spirit and you
want to share it, fine but a tweet about the sunshine every day can be a bit
mundane. Don’t put your followers back
to sleep with a bland “Good morning twitter followers” or a simpish, “Good
night, I’m out, the old battle axe requires my presence in the bedroom.”
5.
The Drunken
Tweeter. Okay so you drink. Many people do not! Why entertain your other friends who drink
with regaling them of stories of stumbling home at 4 AM at the risk of
alienating your tea-totting friends who know how to have a good time without
alcohol. Now if you are tweeting about
an amazing vintage of wine or grape variety, that’s a different story. please turn off the computer
after having the second drink and for some people after the first. The worst possible scenario is having to
recant an inappropriate or compromising tweet that you posted under the
influence. When this happens your
friends may have fun reminding you to delete these tweets the next day but once
on the internet even deleted they stay “somewhere” in cyberspace to be found
when you least expect them.
If you want to share your wine expertise or a
cocktail recipe, that’s perfectly acceptable.
But please don’t tweet about your drunken escapades. Your boss, your significant other’s family or
your church congregation or your next business client could see it with
embarrassing or even dire consequences.
Also
6. Foursquare Enthusiasts As a marketer I
think this is a great tool for marketing brick and mortar businesses and I am a
fan for that purpose. However I am not a
fan when a post that includes all the information about the Pittsburgh Airport
from your tweet enters my News Feed on Facebook. So please be careful what boxes you check on
your Foursquare Account that may link your check-ins to other social media
especially twitter. Do you think burglars
might like to know you are at Starbuck’s instead of at home or watching a two
hour movie like “Gravity” at the theatre and stopping for drinks afterwards?
7.
Should I follow everyone who follows me?
I like to think of Twitter “follows” the way I approached valentine cards in
grade school; you don’t want to be that one person who gets all the cards but
gives none in return. Why? It isn’t social.
Twitter is a social network; your participation on
social media
requires a certain level of correspondence to maintain a following- to be
heard. Although you can remain aloof on
Twitter this will not help you grow your network or social media presence. The follow only approach on Twitter really
only works for celebrities. (I’m still waiting in vain for
Ellen DeGeneres
to follow me back.) However, my favorite
author, John C. Maxwell is following me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Maxwell
I am the girl who never said no to a guy who asked
me to dance in high school. If a boy got
up enough nerve to walk across the room and ask, I never wanted to embarrass
them and not dance with him. This is why
I believe, unless someone can damage your image, every legitimate user deserves
a follow back.
Things I consider before I agree to follow a
tweeter:
a)
Is their profile complete?
b)
Did they post a respectable photo? I don’t follow eggs or pictures of women with
a caption, “visit my site for more pictures of me.”
c)
Foreign language accounts—I am concerned about what is
being tweeted. If I can’t understand
what appears on my feed I am hesitant to follow. If they seem to be reputable, such as an
author or a well-known speaker, I may bend the rule.
d)
I review some of their tweets. If they use foul
language I never follow them.
A good suggestion, take a few minutes to look over a
follower’s profile. Do they have a profile photo? Is it G rated? Do they have a conventional
sounding bio? If these qualities all
align then I show my “social side” and follow back.
Twitter lists can help you stay
organized and be beneficial to your self-promotion. If you are concerned about
the volume of tweets on your account consider dividing your list of followers
by category.
I
used to just “list” people and never follow back. As some of my accounts surpassed 1,000
followers this became too time consuming. Here is an example of the lists I generated to
help keep me focused. This is from my
@technogrannysho account:
When a follower pulls up your name they have the option to follow your lists.
The lists are indelibly listed on Twitter
as your list. Additionally, this is also
a great way to compliment someone. When
you agree to follow another tweeters list, an account of how many followers they
have and how many times they are listed will appear.
From another of my business accounts @pospittsburgh
8.
Using Twitter
for business. If you intend to
link
your products or posts on a personal
blog
you will need to find a balance between the number of tweets that promote you
and the number of tweets that provide value. You may think of this balance as a
ratio. For example, every single link you post to Twitter you will need to send
out at least five tweets that inform, engage, and conjure conversation. If
conversation and engagement are your aim you should maintain a human voice to
your Twitter stream at all times.
9
.
Thank You notes on Twitter. Here
are two ways to give thanks to those who’ve taken the time to share your tweet
(and thus give you additional exposure). The quickest way to give thanks is
“favorite” their retweet of your message. The favorite function is typically indicated
with a star icon (either underneath or to the right of a particular tweet).
Thank people for retweets and other forms of information. Let
others know you appreciate their mentions and other information.
· Retweet
(Twitter’s function or RT): This is used when reposting, word for word, from someone
else’s feed. Twitter has a built in
function that allows the original poster to maintain credit so you won’t have
to worry about attribution. However, like many users, you want to put your own
spin on the tweet. If you rewrite it, do not use the RT indicator. Most people
will assume it is word for word from the previous poster.
10.
#Dont
#Overuse #Hashtags #In #Your #Tweets #It #Looks #Ridiculous #Stick #To #Three
#Or #Fewer #TwitterEtiquette Need
we say more? No? Good, ‘cuz we're out of space.
11.
Don't just
tweet headlines and links.
It might be easy to tweet the headline of a relevant article with its link, but
if you want to add value to your message you should provide your followers a
purpose. Offer your take on the article
or extract an interesting quote. This
will encourage others to research and explore the material you find informative.
12.
Understand
the difference between Replying vs. DMing. Some things are meant
for the public sphere and others simply for private. To help you decide when it’s
best to reply to someone or direct message them, stop and think, “Is this
something I want other people to know? Would
the person I am replying to be OK with me messaging them publicly?” This
requires little more than common sense. If someone direct messages you, don’t @
them publicly, direct message them back.
13.
Unless you
want an ongoing argument to blemish your twitter rep, don't be
controversial. Criticizing something is OK if you know what you're
talking about. Beware; criticizing an individual can open doors
that you don't necessarily want to walk through on social media. Try to keep
positive. With this approach you'll
never have a problem. Negativity spawns pessimism and disapproval. This is not
a productive way to build your personal brand.
14. Don’t just yell buy, buy. Don't
be "That Girl" her show was canceled over forty years ago. Keep your promotional tweets down to one for
every other type of message posted or your followers will say, ‘bye-bye’.
15. Use less than 140 characters.
While a tweet can contain up to 140 characters, leave room at the end of your
tweet for your followers to add their comments. As a rule of thumb, I try to leave
ten or more characters blank. This lets your
followers know you welcome their feedback.
16. Be careful of just "auto
following" This idea stems from striving to keep
the humanness front and center as your social media communication method. If you review new followers regularly it takes
a few seconds. You may find interesting
people you want to contact. Automation
tools will lead you toward following bots or worse yet internet porno queens
whose tweets will then appear on your news feed.
17. If you don't want it repeated,
don't tweet it. Social media is not as
anonymous as some might think. Who is your audience? What impression are
you trying to convey to your followers? Will
‘f- bombs’ further your cause?
18. Be careful of your spelling. You are on Twitter for
a purpose, most likely to promote a brand; yours or someone else’s. Don’t give your followers the opportunity to
question your authority due to habitual spelling errors. This is just plain unprofessional.
19. Remember Twitter is a History Book
Called Social Media. How
you choose to project yourself on social media, not just to your followers but
the world, leaves a shadow; your digital shadow, sometimes referred to as a
digital footprint. If you post it, it is
available for the masses to see and form lasting impressions of you. A delete isn’t permanent. Good ways to gauge
your tweets, if you would be embarrassed for your grandmother to read it, don’t
post it.
20. The Old
Saying "Telegraph, Telephone, Tell a Woman, now Tell Twitter.
After the fact you can delete all
you want, somewhere it stays archived once it is on line. If you don't want it repeated or if you don't
want called to account for it, then don't put it on any social media,
especially not twitter. It's too easy to hit those crazy arrows that mean
"retweet" and count on the negative things to go viral.
Techno Granny Show Hosted By:
Joanne Quinn-Smith is the Creative Energy Officer of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and an expert on Web 2.0 Branding, 2009 National SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year, Author "Folly of Marketing Plan in Your Head, 101 Compelling Reasons to Write One." Available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHKVJOGThis blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information:© Joanne Quinn-Smith, Techno Granny Show™ 2007-2015 All rights reserved.Dreamweaver Marketing Associates | (412) 444-5197Listen at: http://tinyurl.com/TechnoGrannyShow OR on its unique radio channel at: http://tinyurl.com/pospittlivemagAdditional blog posts at: http://technogrannyshow.com
