Twitter - Do's and Don'ts of Twitter Etiquette

By Colleen Dick

Twitter has taken off like gangbusters in 2008. At the end of 2008 the numbers were telling us that 70% of all twitter users had joined in 2008. Some folks prefer to have a few close friends that follow them. Those folks can pretty much do as they please. But if you are interested in building a brand and using Twitter to promote it, here are some observations and best practices. Just keep in mind that old saying from grade school: "What if everyone did that?"

Rules for tweeting:

• Don't tweet more than about 4 or 5 times a day.
• Tweet interesting things.
• Share pictures and links with services like twitpic
• Don't blather on about what you are eating unless you intend to share the recipe
• Don't put private communications the public twitterstream
• Do NOT publically welcome all your new followers. Imagine reading pages of that.
• It is OK to tweet your blog posts, but it turns people off if that's all you do.
• Do not join a "monetize your tweets" service such as Magpie, as it will make people dump you.
• Do not brag about how many followers you have. Everyone can already see that.
• Do not ask for more followers. Boring!
• Retweet others frequently when they have tweeted something good.
• Reply to individuals in public if you think others would be interested.
• Do not tweet things like "Gaaaaaaah". We need context.
• Tweet at least every other day.
• Be happy and positive.
• Be human.

How to treat the people that follow you

• Do not send an auto-direct message thanking each new follower and sending them your pitch. Direct Messages are individual and personal.
• Thank new followers by following back if you haven't yet.
• Do not direct message followers whom you are not following because they can't direct message you back
• Recheck profiles of people you are not following from time to time. Some twits just need a little while to get the hang of it.

How to treat the people you follow

• Do not follow people just to get them to follow you back and then unfollow them.
• Do not do mass follows, or you will be considered a spammer even if you never tweet.
• Follow the followers of people you really like.
• Do not exclusively follow "Rock stars." Follow a few interesting noobs. They'll love you for it.
• Use a third party twitter client such as tweet deck to manage the twits that you follow into groups.
• Don't just read your direct messages and replies. Dip into the stream from time to time.
• Give them some time to follow you back.
• Try to follow about as many people as follow you.

Colleen Dick has lots more free geeky wit and wisdom at Hot Dorkage. If you prefer you can follow Colleen (tixrus) on twitter.

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