I had this list of Twitter rules typed, ready to post on my blog. Thought it be a nice follow-up to several other guidelines and columns about the best ways to use Twitter. But then I read this:
“If I don’t like how Jessi is promoting herself on Twitter, then I can UNFOLLOW her. But I think it’s silly for me to tell HER how SHE should be using Twitter so that it’s better for ME.” – Mack Collier.
Mack, you are so right. A quick review of 20-40 tweets and a glance at your profile tells me what I need to know about your Twitter style. If I don’t like how you tweet, I can NOT follow you in the first place. If I don’t want to not or unfollow someone, I can keep them in the TweetDeck All Friends doghouse (or FriendFeed).
Retweet Policy.
Blame Augie Ray for this. On his blog he suggested that thanking for a retweet should be a direct message, not public. I commented that perhaps it was proper etiquette to openly thank for RTs, suggested it may even be offensive not to. He had lots of discussion on this one.
- If you ever thank me for a retweet, you are very welcome.
- If you tweet or retweet my post, Thank You. Very much.
- That typed I may or may not thank you via Twitter for the retweet. Odds are you’ll get a DM. If I had a bunch of RTs I may send out a group TY tweet.
Consider yourself warned. My Twitter Style.
- Less is so much more. I don’t tweet a lot and when I do I’m trying to contribute. Hopefully I will NOT: ask stupid questions, tweet the obvious, or otherwise add to the high percentage of blather.
- I will stick to the topics as advertised: public relations, social media, marketing and design with a few nice relationship-building conversations and occasional asides into Atlanta, wine, LSU, and what I’ll do when I win the lottery. If it’s wrong that I don’t tell you where I’m shopping RIGHT NOW, I don’t want to be right.
- I will read the linked article before I retweet it; I may event take the time to comment, as it’ll make me sexy. (Read it on the Internet, must be true.)
- I will include the source or author when I tweet an article, so you know it’s not mine.
- When I tweet my blog post I will warn you that it is my blog post, so that you can decide to read or ignore it at your leisure. (If I forget, please call me out on it.)
- I will not repeat or retweet myself. Too much.
- And since I am not a chef, restaurateur or semi-pro food critic, I will not tweet what I had for lunch (unless it’s really good). That is all.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Davina,
Thanks for the link to my post! And I agree–we all can have our own Twitter styles and can decide who to follow or not to follow.
That said, I do think the statement “I think it’s silly for me to tell HER how SHE should be using Twitter so that it’s better for ME” misses the point. If you had an entrepreneur friend who was doing marketing that you thought could be harming his or her business, would you simply ignore the marketing and keep your mouth shut? If a friend of yours joined a real world social club and started annoying the other members because s/he didn’t understand the club’s norms, would you ignore it and let him or her go about alienating others?
Since when did it become a crime to give people feedback? In Social Media, we talk about “transparency” a lot, but when a friend annoys us to the point we consider unfollowing, suddenly we should go opaque and silently unfollow rather than sharing our thoughts and engaging in a dialog?
Yes, I think it can be annoying when an individual thinks they know it all and try to tell others what to do. But that doesn’t mean we can’t share feedback. Case in point: My brother is a real estate agent, and he was regularly tweeting two kinds of tweets–personal tweets to friends and professional tweets about the markets he covers. I asked him if he thought his friends cared about real estate and if his real estate clients cared who he wished Good Morning and Good Night. He is now maintaining two Twitter profiles for his two purposes/personas.
That’s just my two cents! Hope I’m not being the bossy sort who tells others what to do on Twitter, but I think a little caring feedback beats a hidden unfollow any day!
Augie- A good social media plan includes listening to constructive criticism, and you’re right, giving feedback should not be a crime.
What I liked about Mack’s line regarding not telling others how to Tweet is the “how it’s better for ME” part. You gave your brother good advice on how/what to tweet, to help HIM and his business not to make it better for yourself.
Thanks for the comments, worth at least a nickel!