twitter

Everyone is tweeting nowadays. Your grandma is probably tweeting about the new quilt she made your for Christmas. Your sister is probably tweeting about how bad her date went last night. Celebrities are tweeting cam-phone shots of themselves in the mirror like 16 year old Myspace tweens. Your best friend is tweeting you pictures of cats with pancakes on their heads. Everyone is tweeting nowadays, but are they doing it right? Are they clogging up the internet with more nonsense or are they actually making tweets that are worth following? Here are some tips, dos and don’ts about Tweeting. Don’t overdo it. Keep your tweets to maybe three or four a day, tops. If you want followers, and want to keep followers, keep them wanting more by limiting your output to three or four really good tweets a day. If you are tweeting every hour it is highly unlikely that those tweets are all essential and interesting and most people will take you off their follow list because you are clogging up their Twitter stream. Going along with not overdoing it—keep your tweet to 140 characters or less. There is a reason why they only allow 140 characters—because it forces you to be creative and more clever about how and what you want to say. If you bypass the 140 characters by just breaking up your lengthy message into two or more separate tweets you are defeating the purpose of Twitter and you might as well just cancel your account. If you have something important to say find a way to say it in 140 characters or less or you are not cut out for Twitter. Don’t just use Twitter as a glorified Facebook status update with tweets like, “got a new outdoor dog bed for Tootsie!” or “washing the dishes and watching CSI Miami”, find a way to say something about what you are doing in a clever way. For the latter you could say, “Scrubbing 3-day old grime off silverware and watching David Caruso take off his sunglasses for the 186th time” or something to that effect. Add some of your own unique personality to your tweets so that people keep up with your account and make its existence actually mean something. Responding to celebrity tweets is fine and everything, but just realize that there are going to be thousands of other people tweeting @ responses to Keri Hilson’s question about what hairstyle of hers they like best. Fan interaction is one of the great things about Twitter but make sure if you really want to get noticed in the huge list of responses or questions to celebrities make your tweet unique and personal. Also, don’t use Twitter to stalk your favorite celebrity either, that’s just pathetic. Remember just a few easy tips and you’ll be tweeting like a pro, getting followers, and more importantly, keeping followers. Twitter can be a great creative outlet if it is used right so take advantage of the fun possibilities and networking opportunities that Twitter has to offer. Read the rest of this entry »