Twitter tips, hints, do’s and don’ts

29 May 2009

Twitter, I find it great, however it’s hated and it’s loved.  Whichever way you turn inevitably there is someone using it, what makes it interesting? I really don’t know, it’s one of those things which eludes me each time I use it.  I actually “tweet” from 3 accounts and use tweetdeck as a client to access the twitter service.  It looks as though the client is soon going to be skinnable, so I would recommend using it – hands down winner for any PC users out there.  There are other clients for other systems – ie Macs – probably best to use Nambu I think, however – I’m not a tried and tested mac user!

So – on to those tips:

1. I can’t stress enough – don’t use Auto Responders, it’s a SOCIAL network, not an auto network, there is nothing more annoying.
2. Provide content, tweet on topic, be interesting, network with people – that means using the @ reply function, converse and of course enjoy it!
3. Re-Tweet, if you have 10 people following you, and one of those people find one of your posts interesting, they will (or should) Re-Tweet it, this means that your post will be seen to THEIR list of followers, and potentially it could go out to everyone in the “twitterverse”
4. following on from 3. Post things that are interesting. don’t spam, be nice, normal, and you will be re-tweeted!
5. Follow like minded people.
6. use effective #hashtags, ie don’t use the #golf hashtag when you are talking about your 5 a side football game earlier that night!
7. #FollowFriday and #FF – every friday seems to be the phenomenon called Follow Friday, this is a day that you can post to your list of followers who YOU find interesting, I’ve found quite a few people to follow with this method, and it’s great to increase your number of followers..
8. If you ONLY want followers, it’s not going to happen, unless you are a celeb, trust me it’s not going to happen.
9. Be active, if you aren’t talking/tweeting, what’s the point in following you?
10. Add yourself to the WeFollow directory, it’s a good place to find other like minded tweeple..

What about the Don’ts…

1. Don’t block people that are actually genuine people, only block spammers – especially the “here’s my webcam” type ones – if lots of people block, then the account will be suspended.
2. Don’t use Auto DMs, these are honestly – highly highly annoying, there’s nothing worse, if someone follows me and says what is it you do – they obviously haven’t bothered their rear end in actually looking at my profile at all.
3. Don’t spam!
4. There are loads of other “Don’t” out there – if you are a twitter user, then please, by all means leave a comment, and I’ll add it to the list.

Have a great day!

Tags: tweetdeck, Twitter / Tips, twitter hints