10 Twitter Etiquette Tips
Far be it for me to assume that I’m the expert on this topic. However, my dear friend Ava requested that I write such a post. For her sake, here goes.
Reply to @ tweets
When someone tweets you directly, reply, when possible. If they are not spamming you, it’s always a good idea to show courtesy and professionalism. You might just make a new friend, who will refer you to others or introduce you to additional colleagues or supporters.
Don’t spam people
If you tweet someone, telling them to visit your site or to buy from you, this is spam. It’s fine to tweet from your own stream, inviting others to visit your site. Like this: “Have you stopped by our site lately? We offer xyz. Hope to see you there soon!” However, do not include a name in those tweets. Like this: “Hey @mommyperks! Visit my site and tell others about me, too! Thanks so much!” (This is spam)
Spammy DM’s
Don’t send spammy Direct Messages to people. It’s annoying to those of us who receive hundreds of them every week. We just ignore them, anyway.
Say thanks
If someone does something nice for you, say thanks. If you don’t like to thank people, individually, thank people in a group. I often see tweeps do this: “Thanks for the RT’s this week!” Then they list ten people in that one tweet, as a group. I, myself, usually thank people individually. It doesn’t matter, though. Either way is fine.
Retweets
If someone retweets you, consider retweeting them, also. I don’t always do this. It just depends on the person’s stream and what they chat about.
Anger
If you’re on twitter simply to spew angry tweets, find a support group instead.
Mix it up
Try to tweet some of your own content, along with retweets. If your entire wall is full of retweets, it will appear to readers that you are not able to come up with your own content, thoughts or inputs.
Follow me back!
Don’t tweet people saying, “I just followed you! Follow me back, please.” Follow people because you want to and hope they follow you back. You can also engage with them, after following: “Hey! It’s great to meet you. I checked out your site and love it. I really enjoyed your post about xyz.” That will put you on their radar in a more polite way.
Nut’n but sales
It’s annoying to everyone around you if you tweet sales all day long. “Buy now!” “10% off!” “Buy one, get one free!” “GET IT NOW!” Add more to the conversation than this. Build value.
Be polite
This should go without saying but let’s say it anyhow. Be kind, thoughtful, polite and respectful of others. Refrain from flaming people or blasting people who disagree with you. Just as you have a right to your opinions, so does the next person. Don’t attempt to force everyone to agree with you; it’s obnoxious. Furthermore, it would annoy you to have someone tweet, “You should think MY way!” You’d likely tell them to bugger off.
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thanks so much for writing this!:) I love twitter and have so much fun and 99 % of folks are awesome and are into learning and sharing.
But every once in a while someone comes along and instead of RTing a tweet or commenting, some folks have been responding simply by sending their links .
So I thought a twitter lesson was in order and you give good lessons(lol)
Some are honest mistakes of folks new to twitter, I am sure I made some of those mistakes when i started ,and I wish I had your article back then. But some are just self centered mistakes;) Thanks again
You’re welcome. Yes – there are certainly people on Twitter who do things like that just to get the tweets out there, to have their name seen or their name Branded, etc. I ignore those people, generally speaking, and reply/engage with the people who want to provide more to the conversation.
Thanks again for grest tips!!
So true and I ignore them too for most part:)
Occasionaly when it gets more frequent I like to tweet out
Twitter etiquette