Do you know the rules of Twitter when it comes to etiquette? When the cell phone came into our lives in a big way you might recall having to learn the etiquette around using it such as not talking loudly on your phone in a quiet restaurant! Well believe it or not there are some expectations generally about how to behave when it comes to using Twitter and here we’ll cover off some of the basics. If you’ve broken some of these unspoken rules don’t worry, just take note of them today and put your best Twitter foot forward from here on in.
It’s obvious to most people that spamming on Twitter or anywhere for that matter is just a big no no and trying to follow thousands of users in one day might be a little ‘off’ too. But what about the less obvious?
1. You can apply this first rule to every thing in your life not just on Twitter! Treat others as you expect to be treated yourself. If you don’t want a load of tweets, one after the other after the other from the same person, then don’t do it yourself. If you like to know that someone you sent a tweet to got it and they thanked you for it then remember to do that to others who contact you too. A thank you is always nice to receive no matter who you are.
2. When you post a tweet and see someone else retweet it you will get a little smile on your face and that comes from a feeling of satisfaction that someone thought what you said was worthy of sending out to their followers! So how can you thank others for the tweets you find interesting and useful? Retweet them of course! Oh and thank anyone who retweets any of your messages!
3. If you’ve visited a blog or read through a brilliant Squidoo lens then send out a tweet about it! Just because the owner of the blog or lens might not even have a Twitter account isn’t the point. The point is you’re sharing information with your followers that you found useful.
4. Did you tweet something and it got a lot of retweets? Great! Tempted to tweet it again? Don’t be, it’s just not a good look. Do you want to see the same stuff come up from the people you follow. If you continue to tweet useful tid bits then more and more people will see your tweets and read them.
5. Just like in face to face social and professional situations, it’s fairly common practice not to discuss religion or politics. If you’re in politics as a line of work or in a major way then it would be expected to see tweets about that but otherwise, stay away from these two subject matters or you could find yourself spending time debating issues that the world has not agreed on since the dawn of time and I doubt Twitter is going to break down those walls any time soon.
You will discover the unspoken rules of Twitter etiquette the more you use it. The biggest learning’s come from how you feel about the tweets you see from the people you follow. There will be tweets from people you follow that make you groan and ask yourself the question of why you’re even following them, don’t do what they do! Whose tweets do you ‘look for’ and why? Work that out and do it too!
Like email, tweets can be misunderstood so think before you send out your tweets!
