What is it: #FridayFollow or #FollowFriday?
No matter if you call it Friday Follow or Follow Friday, at the end of each work week you'll find thousands (if not millions) of people using hashtags to give digital shout outs to their friends and fans on Twitter.
The Friday Follow tradition is great for finding new and interesting tweeters. And since the #FridayFollow hashtags are posted by other tweeps who know them, they're usually great introductions. If you like one person on Twitter, you'll often like someone they follow. But you don't have to limit yourself to only checking out the #FridayFollow recommendations from people you follow, you can do a Twitter search for the common #FridayFollow hashtags to see everyone's #FF.
A #FridayFollow can come in many different forms, but they generally look like this (an example of recommending yours truly):
If you crack open the Twitter search site and do a search, or if you click on one of the links I've provided below, you'll see a lot of love being shared with other folks on Twitter. (Especially on a Friday) Oh, and keep in mind that as with most Twitter-related searches, none of the search terms below are case sensitive.
Some people do one #FF per tweet and say something specific about the person they're recommending, some post one tweet with a #FF and link to a bunch of people, and some people (like me) mix it up. Once you get through your first few Friday's on Twitter you'll get the hang of it. 
You can follow me on Twitter at @halfbrown and check out all of my #FridayFollow tweeps.
10 Twitter Tools to Take Your Tweets to the Top.
Are you frustrated that your Twitter profile is getting overrun with spam accounts instead of real (and interesting) followers? Do you want to make connections with actual people instead of getting the same teeth-whitening spam tweets in your Twitter stream? If so, you're going to need the right combination of Twitter tools to get rid of spammers and find followers with similar interests.
Even though Twitter has between 75-85 million accounts, only about 20% of them are considered active Twitter users, which means there are 12-15 million active people using Twitter. Further more, close to 80% of all Twitter accounts have less than 10 tweets and less than 10 followers under their belts. No wonder it's so difficult to find an actual person on Twitter!
The good news is that those of us who are active on Twitter (you can follow me at @halfbrown) are not only friendly and helpful (for the most part), but we want to meet more people like you! In this blog post I'm going to show you some of the Twitter tools I've used to find not only real people who tweet, but who also share the same interests as me. I'm also going to show you how to use these Twitter tools.
Each of the sites below have helped me get over 800 followers, the majority of which are real people who actually tweet, share links, and engage in conversations with each other. Any fool can get 20,000 followers that are mostly spam or inactive accounts, but growing a list of real followers is another story. The Twitter tools I point out below will help you get there.
-
monitter.com:
One of the hardest part about starting out on Twitter is finding people you share common interests with. One of the best Twitter tools I've found to search for kindred spirits is monitter.com. Monitter allows you to search for up to 3 keywords (or phrases) at a time and with geo-location matching, to boot. A lot of the great Seattle-area people I've followed or met online came from searching on monitter.com. FYI: I get the best results by using a variety of keywords and hashtags and sticking within 30 miles of the closest major city near me, Seattle.
To do your own search, go to monitter.com, go to the upper-left area of the site and choose a distance. Then go to the 3 columns in the center of the page, and in the dark gray box replace the default search term with your own and click the "Enter" key on your keyboard. Repeat for the last 2 columns if you want to search more. Word of caution: the search is essentially in real-time, so if you use a really common search term, expect that you'll see a lot of scrolling!
-
tweetcloud.com:
A big part of deciding whether or not I want to follow a person comes from what they tweet about. Their bio can say anything they want it to, but the real litmus test for what a person is all about comes from their tweet cloud. A tweet cloud is a representation of words or phrases that they use most often when tweeting, and tweetcloud.com is one of the easiest and simplest Twitter tools that shows this info to you. If they have a lot of user names in their tweet cloud then I know they're an active conversationalist. If all their tweet cloud contains are spammy references or non-interesting keywords then I know I'm not going to want to follow them.
To see someone's tweet cloud, just go to tweetcloud.com, click on the "user" tab near the top left-hand section of the page, enter their Twitter user name, and click the "search" button.
-
friendorfollow.com:
Friendorfollow.com is one of the better Twitter tools you can use to sort through your list of followers and separate the wheat from the chaff. I've found that if I follow someone and engage in conversations with them online, the majority of the time they will follow you back, especially if they actively participate in the conversations. Some people, however, just aren't very social (strange, considering the very nature of social networking), and if I follow them and we never connect then I don't usually keep following them. I figure if I make an effort to try to get to know them and they aren't interested then why should I bother?
To start things off go to friendorfollow.com, enter your user name, and press the "submit" button. Once the page comes up with your information you'll have 3 tabs to choose from: "following" (people you follow but don't follow you back), "fans" (people who follow you but you don't follow back), and "friends" (people who follow you and you follow them back). If you're looking for someone specific keep in mind that the people listed on the page are in alpha-numeric order.
-
mrtweet.com:
For a simple way of finding people to follow you can use mrtweet.com to do some of the leg work for you. Like other Twitter tools it recommends users to you, but it also lists tweeps that it thinks are your influential followers and suggests some of their users to you as well. Added bonus: You can even have friends and followers recommend your profile to others.
Open up mrtweet.com in your browser and click on the "Sign in with Twitter" button. Like a lot of other Twitter tools, MrTweet uses the OAuth method of connecting to you account, so if you're already logged in you won't have to enter your user name or password, which is always a plus from a security standpoint. You will have to authorize MrTweet to have access, but I've never had any problems so you'll be safe. Once you're signed in you'll want to follow the numbered steps to make use of this Twitter tool. Keep in mind that if you're a new user or need an update that it could take some time before MrTweet will be able to show you any useful information.
-
@Twitter_Tips:
If you only follow one Twitter-related account, this is the one. @Twitter_Tips tweets all kinds of great information about Twitter. Topics include things like hash tags, retweeting, recommendations on Twitter tools, apps for tweeting, and anything else relating to the Twitterverse. Do yourself a favor... go to @Twitter_Tips and follow them today.
-
twitip.com:
As a blog on all things Twitter-related, TwiTip.com is a great resource outside of the Twitter.com domain itself. TwiTip not only has posts about using Twitter for yourself, but also has articles on using Twitter as a tool for businesses, reviews of Twitter apps, and more. It also has advanced Twitter topics like how to follow Twitter lists in an RSS reader and how to schedule your tweets.
-
twitter.grader.com:
As far as basic statistics go, the Twitter Grader is one of the better tools you can use to rank yourself against other tweeps. Based on the Twitter Grader algorithm. With it's simple interface and narrow focus on a few pieces of information, it's a great place for beginners to start tracking their ranking.
Head over to http://twitter.grader.com/, enter your user name and click on "Grade". You'll see a grade between 0 and 100 in a box on the right-hand side. Anything less than a 90 usually indicates a new or not very active user.
-
twittercounter.com:
With a nice graph showing a few different stats so you can see where the peaks and valleys are as well as the ability to compare yourself against 2 others at the same time, Twitter Counter is a great next-step up from basic stats. This tool has 3 different tabs: "Followers", "Following", and "Tweets". Clicking on each of these tabs will bring up a new graph that'll let you gauge how each of those stats is changing over time.
Point your browser to twittercounter.com and click on the "Add yourself" button. Like other Twitter tools it uses OAuth to connect. Once it does you can set up a profile so you can start looking at your stats whenever you like.
-
twitalyzer.com:
In my opinion TwitAlyzer is one of the better advanced Twitter statistics websites out there today. With a clean interface using infographics, numeric indicators, and even up/down arrows to quickly see how your numbers are changing for the many data points they calculate for your profile, TwitAlyzer makes sorting through data a breeeze. To me, this Twitter tool is an indispensable resource for anyone who really wants to get into the nuts and bolts of tweaking your profile for peak performance. One thing to remember, however, is that if it's your first time using TwitAlyzer or if it's been a while since you've updated it could take a little time for them to gather all of the necessary information to show you your stats. Believe me... it's well worth the wait.
Using TwitAlyzer is a breeze. Go to twitalyzer.com, enter your user name, and click on the "Twitalyze!" button. You'll be able to see some basic data, but if you sign in using their OAuth connection you'll get 9 more reports to sift through.
-
twittervalue.com:
Finishing out the list is one of those Twitter tools that's just for fun. It evaluates your account and puts a dollar value on it. Don't expect anyone to actually pay you this money for your account, but do have fun with it by checking out your value and then your friends, followers, and celebrities who are on Twitter.
That's it, 10 Twitter tools to help you manage your tweets and tweeps. These are just the tip of the iceberg, too, but they should help you find great followers, get rid of the inactive or non-participating ones, and get you up-and-running quickly and easily.
3 Secrets of the Twitterati.
The Urban Dictionary defines the Twitterati as:
Twitterati: The Tweet elite, whose feeds attract thousands of followers and whose 140-character spews capture the attention of the rapt who doggedly monitor them.Maybe it's not the most glowing definition going, but the point is clear: There are people out there whose tweets hold more interest (and probably influence) than others. I'm not just talking about celebrities or the otherwise famous -- it's obvious why those folks have so many followers -- and I’m also not talking about friend whores or spammers who just add people indiscriminately. I'm talking about the people with actual, real followers. Lots of them. The people I'm talking about are the ones who have a true connection with their followers and make a real impact on them.
It's called social media for a reason, isn't it?
Even though the members of the Twitterati are different people, the same things are being done, more or less, by all of the them. Everyone's voice is different, most have different areas of expertise or special knowledge, and they usually have a unique viewpoint. Still, you can find 3 common elements in all of their tweets if you take a step back and look at the big picture.
-
Engage:
Possibly the most important of the 3 E’s, engaging with their followers is what sets the Twitterati apart, and really puts the social in "social networking". To build a list of Twitter followers isn't enough; anyone can get 20,000 followers if you only care about quantity and not quality. The power Twitter users get real people to follow them and learn who they are, find out their interests, talk directly with them, and find ways to get (and stay) connected with their followers as much as possible.
-
Expose:
In order to have any appreciable effect on anyone, you have to let them in, even if just a little bit. Show them the real you. Being yourself, opening up, and exposing your strengths as well as your weaknesses helps build a bond between you and your followers. Exposing yourself to your Twitter followers builds trust. And without trust you're no better than a super-tweeting robot.
-
Enlighten:
Last but certainly not least is what the most Twitterati do to keep their followers once they get them. The Twitter elite retain their followers by consistently tweeting relevant links, new tips and tricks, inside information on a particular topic, and any other reliable data their followers will find interesting through a tweet. This is the part where they teach a man to fish instead of giving him one.
Honestly, these aren't even secrets. They're common sense and common knowledge. Unfortunately we all seem to lose our way sometimes and forget these things. If you make a point to talk to people, be yourself, and teach them things, you'll build a strong base of friends and supporters.
#Hashtag 101 – What They Are & What They Do.
When used in a tweet, a hashtag is a word, or words, which have been prepended with a hash symbol (#) to assist in organizing information about them. For example, if you wanted to create a hashtag out of the word "Twitter", you'd type it as "#Twitter" (no, they aren't case-sensitive). See how simple it is? With the addition of one character, a new hashtag is born.
By using hashtags, a tweet is given additional metadata that can flow inline with the 140 characters used in it and increase it's searchability by people interested in the topic. But it's not all fun-and-games. Adding too many hashtags isn't helpful, and it's actually kind of spammy. While there's no upper-limit on how many you can use, a ballpark number would be 3-4 hashtags per tweet (plus or minus a couple).
So what does all that mean for the average user? Well, simply put, if you want to gain attention to a particular topic or if you want to make it easier for others to find the things you're tweeting about, adding a hashtag would be the way to go. Hashtags are also calculated into Twitter's trending topics, which are the most active topics of discussion occurring at any given time. The more of a particular tag that are tweeted, the more likely it is to become a trending topic.
If you're interested in finding out more about hashtags and which ones are currently trending topics you can do it in two relatively easy places:
Use Twitter itself. Trends are located on Twitter search (below the search field). If you're logged into Twitter, there's also a "Trending Topics" area on the sidebar, directly underneath the "Lists" area. And... if you're one of the lucky ones, Twitter has recently pushed a new "location-based trends " test to approximately 1% of it's users in the same place as the existing trends within the Twitter sidebar.
A third-party site that's been set up to actively monitor and display hashtags. There are plenty of resources online, and I've got a few examples of ones I've previously used below:
-
hashtags.org:
A great starting point for finding trending topics, hashtags.org provides a simple interface to search for tags. Make sure to follow @hashtags to have your hashtags tracked.
-
wthashtag.com:
This site uses a wiki to track trending topics and allows viewers to add a definition to the tags. WTHashtag.com lists active tags, categories, and even has it's own search bar that you can install.
-
monitter.com:
monitter.com lets you select up to 3 hashtags to watch in real-time. It also has an option to let you choose the distance from a certain area (10-100 km or miles from a specific city, state, zip code, etc.) and only see the hashtags from that area. I like to use monitter.com to find local folks who are interested in the same things that I am based on their keywords or hashtags.
-
whatthetrend.com:
Another website that shows hashtags in real-time, whatthetrend.com has a nice, clean page that displays the trending topics in a simple list format. Another great feature is that the hashtags are not only defined, but they can be redefined if necessary.
-
hashtags.org:
How I Use Twitter Lists.
Twitter lists are a great way to help organize your tweeps into categories, or lists, that you define. Getting started with Twitter lists is easy, but how you use them every day is another story. There are probably as many ways to use them as there are people who use Twitter, but today I'm going to focus on showing you how I use lists.
I've broken down how I use Twitter lists into 4 sections, and I'll go into detail with each of them below.
-
Filtering people into lists:
When Twitter lists made their first appearance, I decided to use mine like an email filter. I took a look at the people I was following at the time and started setting up categories based on a few general topics or interests and grouped together everyone who was an easy fit into one or more of my new lists.
These lists allow me to view tweets based on what different people tweet about, generally speaking. For local tweeps talking about local events I check out my NW Tweeps 01 list. If I'm looking to join a conversation regarding development, design, or blogging I go to my Dev Design Blog list. You get the idea.
-
Finding new & interesting people to follow:
I used to follow a bunch of other people's Twitter lists, but in the end it didn't work out for me. I found it difficult to sort through all of the different tweets on all of the different lists and make any sense of things as they were. There were too many of one kind of tweet and not enough of others and that made it a big time-killer. My solution? Use other people's lists as a starting point to find new people to follow instead of following their entire set of lists.
Now when I'm looking at someone else's list I look for who the most active tweeters are, see if they look like someone I might be interested in following based on my very exacting criteria (/sarcasm), and then follow them if they do. Lather, rinse, repeat.
-
Creating secret societies known only by me:
I'm a nice guy. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But if I'm being honest... I have a favorites list. There are people whose tweets have a higher priority than others do for me, personally, and it's the one list that goes beyond topics or interests like the other lists because it's filled with personal friends, influential tweeters, and the like.
Creating a private Twitter list allows you to keep your cards close to your chest and still be in the game. Whether you're looking to keep your close friends behind the door like I use it, peruse Santa's list of naughty girls (or boys if you prefer) without your co-workers seeing it, or even if you just want to follow the whole "... and keep your enemies closer..." maxim, private lists are the way to go.
-
Read but don't necessarily follow:
Sometimes I find that I don't want to follow someone anymore, for various reasons; but I also don't want to unfollow and forget about them either. Or maybe I've never followed a particular tweeter at all, but I want to keep tabs on what they're tweeting because they look like they might be interesting but I'm not 100% sure. Either way, their addition to one of my Twitter lists is essentially a reminder service for me. One list where I do this a lot is my Movies Comedy Music Etc. list.
There are a lot of celebrity accounts on that list, as well as improv groups, theaters, etc., and for the most part I don't need (or want) to catch up with all of them every day. In that case I can use the list to drop by whenever it's convenient for me and see what the latest news is for each of them.
And there we go, my personal Twitter list usage guide. If you've found any of this interesting or you have any questions regarding something specific, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.
A Valid Twitter HTML Widget.
I was a bit surprised when I found out the (now older and difficult, if not impossible, to find anywhere on Twitter) Twitter HTML widget didn't validate. They've got an empty <ul> (e.g. without any <li>'s) in their code, and that makes the W3 HTML validator cranky.
The fix (in bold below) is simple enough:
<ul id="twitter_update_list"><li style="display: none;"></li></ul>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/YOUR_USER_NAME.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5"></script>That's it! Easy peasy, Mac-n-Cheesey. Just make sure to also replace "YOUR_USER_NAME" with your actual Twitter username. And keep in mind that this is clay... I didn't do anything fancy to any of the resulting HTML, there's no CSS to style the return all prettified and whatnot. I leave that up to you.
If you want to talk about this Twitter HTML widget fix, please feel free to leave a comment here on the blog. You can also follow me on Twitter to talk about it, or just say "Hi".
Image by halfbrown.
You Don’t “Get” Twitter? Neither Did I, Until…
A lot of people don't "get" Twitter. I know I didn't when I first signed up, which is why I tweeted a handful of times and then forgot about the account for over a year. It felt so pointless to me at first, and 140 characters to get a thought out there seemed like nothing when compared to the open-endedness of of a blog post (which, when I first signed up, I had been doing with some regularity for about 5 years). That's probably why a large percentage of people who try out Twitter end up quitting within the first month of signing up. Oh sure, there's not official number on that (Twitter is notoriously quiet about their actual numbers), but the guesstimates by people more in the know than I am all seem to point to that as a fact.
So why did it take me so long to finally get to using Twitter regularly and falling in love with it? Well, after reading more about how people were using it, lurking a whole lot, and doing some thinking about the Twitter phenomenon I finally "got" it, and I'll try to explain Twitter to you as I understand (and use) it: Twitter is a social networking tool. That's it. I'll break that down, because people are always talking about social networking as if we all took that class in 8th grade and are intimately familiar with the concept.
-
social:
For all intents and purposes, "social" means "people". Specifically social means people who want to interact with other people (whether they know them or not), and there's a million reasons why they want to interact with them. Maybe it's a new mother reaching out to other first-time moms, or a small business trying to get it's message out there. It could be the iPhone app developer releasing his latest version to the iTunes app store or even the intern in a big company who's trying to keep sane working for her third new boss this week (and it's only Tuesday). Each of these people has a story they want to share.
-
networking:
If social means people, then "networking" means "connecting with" those people. And by connecting I mean engaging. Interacting. Mixing it up, if you will. Twitter's like a dance we're all attending, and in order to cut a rug we've got to cross the room to ask that pretty girl to dance. If you're not networking, you'll never "get" Twitter. And I don't mean networking in the job-fair-at-the-airport-hotel sense of the word. I'm talking about putting yourself out there and making a connection with people. Whether it's one person or 1,500, you're making a connection, and possibly a friend. Maybe even a difference.
-
tool:
The real tool in this scenario is whatever you use to connect to Twitter. It could be the "What's happening?" form field we all put our 140 characters into and then press the "update" button. It could even be Tweetdeck, or Hoot Suite, or your Blackberry. Whatever you're using to make those connections, that's your tool. That's what's getting you out there, and without it you wouldn't be able to do any of the social networking mentioned above.
No one can make you make the connections with other people, and that's what I see as the stumbling block for most people who give up on Twitter. My suggestion on getting started the right way? Do a search on Twitter for your city's name, or maybe even a hobby you're into. Start browsing through the people who are talking about those things, or any other topic you're interested in. Take a look at the profiles of the people who are talking and see who already "gets" Twitter (read: they're talking to other people), and follow them. Start up a conversation. Ask them a question. Interact with them, because that's what Twitter is about. Finding a connection with someone and interacting with them.
And if you or someone you know don't know who to start with, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I'm easy to talk to.
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/sepblog/ / CC BY 2.0
10 Essential Twitter Etiquette Tips.
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as Twitter etiquette, and whether you're a complete newbie or a Twitter addict, there's a good chance you're making a few mistakes (socially speaking). Every online community has unwritten rules of usage and/or proper behavior, and using proper etiquette on Twitter will keep you from being blocked, booed, or banned.
Instead of learning things the hard way like I did, you can check out this list of 10 tips on Twitter etiquette that I've come up with during my time on the service. A lot of them are common sense and apply to other areas of life, too (much less other social networking sites). I hope you find them useful. You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/halfbrown.
-
Don't plagiarize:
If you see an interesting tweet, regardless of whether or not it's from someone you're following or a random post you found online, don't try to pass it off as your own, that's bad Twitter etiquette. Like most web-based communities, Twitter self-polices itself very well, and naughty boys and girls are made examples of swiftly and surely.
Make things easier on yourself and retweet (you may have seen it written as "RT" on Twitter) your find for proper attribution. Not only will the original poster be thankful, but it also helps make you part of the community.
Not sure how to RT? Don't worry, I can show you how to properly retweet on Twitter.
-
Easy on the tweets:
Unless you're churning out consistently interesting links, useful information, or insights into your soul, you should keep your tweet stream to a sane amount every day. Believe me, no one wants to hear about the 5 times you went to the bathroom or learn that the reason why you're going so much is because of the big lunch you had at the mobile burrito truck (there's a reason they're called a "roach coach", kids).
Something along the lines of a half dozen or so tweets is probably good if they're of the "blah blah blah, pay attention to me" variety, but there's no hard/fast rule about this. If you're pumping out 30-40 interesting tweets a day you're not going to have much, if anything, to worry about.
-
Too many links, whether sausage or website, aren't good for you:
It's very tempting to add more than one URL when posting, but try not to. Any more than 1 link, maybe 2, is begging for confusion in your 140 characters (and for the love of Pete, use a URL shortener like Bitly). If you have multiple links you should think about splitting them up into multiple tweets.
-
Let us know you're joking:
Written communication like tweets, IM's, and email can't convey the subtle inflections that the spoken word can. If you're trying to be humorous make sure to let people know it by adding a smiley face ":)", an "LOL", or a well placed "j/k". Remember that the written word always reads about 3 times more harsh to others than it does to you and re-tool your content appropriately.
-
Get to know your followers:
You'll have a much bigger impact on your followers if you can find out what makes them tick, learn their (online) personalities, and deliver the content, information, or entertainment they want. The only way you'll do this is by listening to what they have to say in their tweets, their blog posts, etc.
By all means jump into the pool with the rest of the Twitter community, but once you're in the water wade in the shallow end for a while until you get a good feel for how the rest of the folks are swimming. You don't want to belly flop your first time out.
-
Know when (and when not) to DM:
Direct messages are a great way to send someone information you don't want publicly available like a phone number or private email address. DM's tend to feel more personal, too, so be sure to not abuse your followers with too many messages. No one wants a stalker. And resist the urge to use an auto-DMing service since they're really easy to detect and it's usually thought of as spammy, and is a huge no-no in the realm of Twitter etiquette.
-
One message = one tweet:
Your followers are more than likely going to be hit with a lot of tweets during the course of a day from the group of people they follow. Don't unnecessarily add to the mix by re-posting the same tweet multiple times in a short period of time. It's rude, it's spammy, and it's a waste of everyone's time.
-
Keep private things on the DL:
Throwing a naughty little soirée with some friends? Making plans for a special date with your significant other? Maybe you're organizing a get together for after-work drinks with your co-workers to talk trash about the new HR Director? Great! But don't spill too many details on Twitter, otherwise you just might open the door for a real buzzkill by having unwelcome party crashers show up. Tweetups are one thing, but make sure you want to actually have an open invitation out there before you tweet about it.
-
Would you want your grandma to read your tweet?:
Even if you have a protected profile, you still have followers who read your tweets, and those people can copy+paste what you write in an email. Never post anything you wouldn't want a beloved family member, your boss, or a local sheriff to read.
Examples of things to keep on the QT are embarrassingly graphic details of your love life, the who's who of your KOS list (those of you who PVP in online games know what I'm talkin' 'bout), or especially what you think of your boss or your job. Things posted online live forever, and there's no way to take them back. Ever.
-
Not everyone will read (or follow) this list of Twitter etiquette tips:
You should know by now that the Internet is chock-a-block full of idiots, naysayers, and contrarians. Don't get spun up by their posts and then sucked into a flame war because they're a nut looking to get a rise out of someone. Either ignore them or block them. Problem solved, and you don't look like just as big an idiot for falling prey to their brand of crazy.
That's it. Ten simple rules to make your life on Twitter easier. For the most part you can consider these Twitter etiquette tips more of a guideline than actual rules of the road and of course they can be fudged a bit every now and again, but be careful when doing so. The last thing you want is to be That Guy (or girl) and find yourself in the hot seat by something you do or say.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Abraham Lincoln
Happy Twittering!
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrotcreative/ / CC BY 2.0
How to (Properly) Retweet on Twitter.
A "retweet" on Twitter, sometimes called an "RT", is the most common form of promoting content written by someone else and sharing it with your followers. Any great link, information, or insight is potentially retweetable, and there are a few courtesies and conventions on how to do it properly.
There are many reasons for you to retweet compelling content, not to mention creating retweetable material of your own. Examples include attracting more followers, increasing your personal relevance among your followers (depending on the content of the original tweet itself), and even being placed on a one or more Twitter lists. I've personally seen all 3 of those examples happen to my @halfbrown account after posting content on Twitter. Increased followers and popularity is all about great content (unless you're a celebrity, in which case your existence alone on Twitter can get you followers), and retweeting that content helps everybody.
There are two common ways to properly retweet, and each method is detailed below:
-
Using the Twitter RT:
Twitter added their own retweet functionality in late 2009 to mixed reviews, and love it (or at least have a "glass half full" view of it) or hate it, it looks like it's here to stay. To retweet using the Twitter-supplied way, simply mouseover the tweet you want to RT and look in the bottom right-hand side of the tweet. You should see 2 options, "Reply" And "Retweet". (See the graphic below for an example.)
Just click on the "Retweet" link and a confirmation saying "Retweet to your followers?" will appear. If change your mind on the retweet, simply click the "X" to close the confirmation, otherwise click the "Yes" button to retweet it. When you click "Yes" the tweet is sent out to your stream like your other tweets, but shows up as being from the original tweeter user (their profile's avatar is used, etc.) with text at the bottom showing it as retweeted by you.
The up side to using the Twitter RT method is ease-of-use and automated attribution of the original poster. The down side of using it is that you can't add any additional comments. I like to use this method of retweeting when I don't have anything to add to the mix and just want to quickly pass the info along to my Twitter followers.
-
Creating a manual RT:
Before Twitter added their retweet functionality the only way to RT was to do it by hand. It's a little more complicated than the Twitter RT method, but it gives you more control over what's shown and how it displays. The basics are simple:
-
Find a compelling tweet to send to your followers:
Chances are good that if you have real followers who like what you usually have to say, they'll be interested in most things you'd want to retweet.
-
Copy+paste the content of the tweet into your status update field:
Sometimes you'll need to strategically trim a few words to get under the 140 character limit. Just try to stay as true to the original content as possible and no one should mind. If you have room left over, feel free to add your own commentary or maybe a relevant hashtag. The former will help increase your engagement with the original tweeter, and the latter will expose you to a few more folks searching for that hashtag who otherwise may not have found you.
-
Retweeting etiquette calls for crediting the original tweeter:
This usually in the form of an "@" which, when prepended to a Twitter username, auto-links to that person's Twitter page. Prepend the previous step with the following: "RT @username ", where "username" is replaced with the username of the person who originally tweeted the content. Make sure to add a space after the username so the original poster will get properly linked and credited!
The upside to using the manual RT method is the control you have of the content (adding hashtags, comments, etc.). The downside of using it is the potential for broken or missing attribution of the original tweeter and sometimes having to change the original content to conform to the 140 character Twitter limit. I like to engage with my followers and the original tweeters, so I prefer to use this method.
-
Find a compelling tweet to send to your followers:
Regardless of which method you use, as long as you’re retweeting quality content and you give credit where credit is due, a good retweet has a lot of value to you, your followers, and the person you're retweeting.
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/creativecommons/ / CC BY 2.0
