by 
Now that the world is all a twitter, myself included, there are a number of rules of engagement for being on twitter and for “tweeting”. I’m probably a bit of a rule breaker in that I like to talk to people so at times I can drone on about silly or insignificant stuff. However, I’ve noticed that some of the insignificant stuff gets the most @ replies. Other than that I try not to be an annoying tweeter.
On the other hand, in the past few weeks, I’ve become more annoyed with twitter than I thought possible, so I’ve put together four rules of my own. Hopefully you won’t take offense and stop following; you’ll simply tweet a little wiser.
- I’m not a fan of the automated DMs with links to your sites. I check new followers as I get them and I’m already looking at your profile and your site. No need to DM me and restate what I already know.
- Twitter is not a singles lounge. If you’re following me, and I decide to follow you back- please don’t ask me to tell you about myself and if I’m married. That’s the fastest way to get unfollowed and blocked. Unless of course you’re in Public Relations and are looking for married women to participate in a study or promotion; in that case, say so.
- Don’t publicly @ me and ask if I’ve reviewed your site, tried your products or your services without developing a relationship with me first. I get pitched from individuals and companies constantly. If we’re following each other, this a conversation better left for DMs or email. If we’re not following each other and you want to open a conversation about you and what you do/offer, let me know. I’ll follow back and we can go from there.
- For the love of toast, start your own conversations! I know we spend a lot of time @ing back and forth to each other but I’d really like to see you have an original thought somewhere in your twitter stream; and no links to your work, projects, and make money schemes don’t count. I have plenty of days myself where I feel like I am doing nothing but replying back to people and that happens but pages of updates that are nothing but @ replies tell me nothing about you and what you think, who you are, or what YOU really care about. I love original thoughts; have some.
I love the power of Twitter. It helped me get hired with Babyspot.com as their community manager, site ambassador, and social media consultant, plus it’s garnered new professional contacts, some amazingly talented and funny people, and it’s my answer to the virtual water cooler.
The thing with twitter is that it’s just like any other water cooler; don’t abuse the privilage. By that I mean, all those people that are following you? If you get annoying or take to tweeting spam, they’ll go away, thus no more conversations and then who will Retweet for you or click your links. Be a good tweeter; engage with those around you but don’t spam them. It’s not all about you (even if the premise is “what are you doing?”) It’s about the people, the conversations, the connecting.
