Grown Up Thinking

Twitter is a very ADD-friendly service, but in your haste to tweet (or re-tweet) it’s important to follow some general rules to ensure you’re making the most of the site’s social functionality:

1. Always contextualize your links – If you’re tweeting a link, make sure to call out why someone should view it. Don’t just tweet a URL. Your tweet should prepare your followers as to what they’re going to view, so if it’s questionable content, how about a little NSFW or CAUTION?

2. NEVER tweet broken links – Always make sure the link you’re including in your tweet goes where you want it to go. There’s nothing worse than a non sequitur or bad link. Remember, when re-tweeting sometimes the character limit cuts off the URL if it’s at the end. Try front-loading your tweets with the link and having the contextualizing CTA copy afterward. Or,  shorten the tweet to accommodate the link.

3. Add value in an RT – Let your followers know why you’re re-tweeting something. Give an “I agree” or “so true!”…even a “LOL” if you’re so inclined. There’s no written rule on how to add your two cents when re-tweeting–I like to use [ ] brackets to indicate my own thoughts on the referenced tweet.

4. Give propers – Once in a while, show a valued tweeter some love by re-tweeting them or tweeting a follow recommendation. Additionally, you should always cite your sources–so if you see an interesting link come through,  make sure you give the originator credit if you tweet it.

5. Have fun – Twitter has numerous business related advantages, but ultimately it’s a way to broadcast your voice out into the world. Your tweets should give your followers a little dose of personality and delight from time to time. Don’t take it so seriously–it’s only Twitter after all!

Tags: best practices, rules, social media, Twitter

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 4:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.