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Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts

May 14th, 2009 · by David Bradley >> 16 Comments

twitter-buttonIf you’re only a follower on Twitter, keeping up with the news, celebs, or interesting tweeps, then ignore this, it really won’t apply to you. But, if you use Twitter because you want to engage with other people, you still want to read the watercooler chat of celebs, everyday people and keep up with the news, but you also want to interact, then listen up:

Five twitter do’s and five twitter don’ts

Do’s

  1. Do make sure you have an interesting bio
  2. Do provide a link to your blog, site, or extended profile
  3. Do change the default avatar once and once only.
  4. Do reply to genuine direct messages
  5. Do follow people back if they interest you

Don’ts

  1. Don’t follow hundreds of new people in one go
  2. Don’t retweet (RT) without giving credit to the original tweep
  3. Don’t follow me if you are following more than 500 tweeps but have zero followers yourself
  4. Don’t RT trending news, unless you have something to add
  5. Don’t ignore a genuine direct message (DM)

If you’ve taken those on board (and why shouldn’t you?) feel free to join me on twitter where I am @sciencebase.

16 responses so far ↓

  • David Bradley // May 14, 2009 at 6:33 am

    Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts: If you’re only a follower on Twitter, keeping up wi.. http://tinyurl.com/pouqzl

  • Arruniel McGondor // May 14, 2009 at 7:17 am

    Also Keep it under 120 char if u want it RTed RT @sciencebase 10 Twitter Do’s & Don’ts http://tinyurl.com/pouqzl

  • sufficiency // May 14, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    I’ve gotten a number of what look like automated DMs thanking me when I follow someone/thing. Haven’t bothered to reply to those!

  • David Bradley // May 14, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    I actually encapsulated these thoughts in a twitter decision flowchart earlier.

  • David Bradley // May 14, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Oh, @arruniel suggests keeping tweets at less than 120 characters to allow others to retweet it easily.

  • David Bradley // May 14, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    That’s fair enough, they usually stand out as automated. Carry on ignoring those.

  • Ari Herzog // May 16, 2009 at 2:13 am

    I partially agree and partially disagree, David. For starters…

    1. An interesting bio to one is uninteresting to another. If your mother could understand and/or like it, keep it.

    2. There is nothing wrong with changing avatars. What if you get a new haircut? What if you change your account from a personal one to a brand or vice versa?

    3. If you don’t reply to a DM, someone will @ you. If you don’t receive the @, the DM was probably not genuine in want of a response.

  • David Bradley // May 16, 2009 at 8:28 am

    @Ari thanks for your thoughts, useful as always. I reply: (1) Yeah, bios are subjective, which is why I used the word “interesting” who’s to say what that is, eh? Best to have something that you think is “interesting” as opposed to nothing at all. (2) No, you’re right, there’s nothing wrong with changing avatars, if you’re fairly well established, but I think they’re a powerful branding tool and if you choose one it’s best to stick with it, at least until you have a decent following across social media. (3) That’s an interesting point. If someone really needs to tell you something, they’ll find a way, if they don’t bother, then you can ask was it worth their trying to say in in the first place.

  • Dan Schawbel // May 16, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    ADVICE: Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts http://snipr.com/i5fgb

  • Belinda Ang // May 16, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    RT @danschawbel: ADVICE: Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts http://snipr.com/i5fgb

  • KarenRussell // May 16, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    RT @danschawbel ADVICE: Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts http://snipr.com/i5fgb

  • Dr. Holger Schmidt // May 16, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts http://snipr.com/i5fgb (via @danschawbel)

  • Stephen Davis // May 16, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    Five Twitter Do’s and Five Twitter Don’ts http://short.to/9tjj

  • Eydie Stumpf // May 16, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    I tend to agree with Ari regarding the avatar.

    Recently I changed my profile photo because the photo I was using was about 4 years old. An update was needed because I wanted to portray the way I look NOW. If only we could hold back the hands of time it might not be an issue!

    We need to be flexible and remember that there are always exceptions to the rules.

    I’d like to add 2 more “don’ts”.
    1. Don’t post 20 updates at one time and hog up my Twitter screen!
    2. If you only post quotes, how the heck will I get to know you?

  • David Bradley // May 17, 2009 at 11:45 am

    Eydie, okay, I’m hoist by my own petard. My avatar is actually getting old and I guess I’m going to have to change it soon. I actually wrote about how to achieve this kind of virtual blogging immortality a while back.

  • twittes // Dec 16, 2009 at 6:28 pm

    Five Twitter Do?s and Five Twitter Don?ts: Sin Descripción http://bit.ly/7YC4df

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