Checking Twitter for news updates and the latest is a daily habit. Like Facebook.
But when ordinary folks lose their minds and decide to schedule thousands of Tweets and bore you to death all day, they get unfollowed. Fast. Here’s a few ways to hold on to your Twitter followers.
Twitter Etiquette 101:
1. The point of Twitter is to have a point. Make a statement. Be as interesting as possible. It’s like show and tell: If you don’t have anything good to say or share, take a pass until you bring something everyone wants to see or hear about. Links to pictures, websites, stories, videos will help–if they’re yours.
2. Get a clue from Time Magazine–by far the best at provocative Twitter headlines. Don’t Tweet as often as Time Magazine. No way are you that interesting. No way. Unless you’re the leader of a country, a celebrity, an athlete…you get the idea.
3. Don’t swear…take a hint from The Fantastic Mr. Fox. If you feel the need to swear, cuss instead.
4. Don’t SPAM or use the words sales, sell, free, I can teach you…, Let me tell you how…, Learn how to…, lead-ins are uncool and will get automatic unfollows.
5. Twitter is like a mini talent show. You’re showing people what you’re good at doing. Inform, engage, share knowledge, entertain.
6. Leave other people’s quotes, stories, content alone. Create your own. Don’t plagiarize. Share a vacation video or of you taking a salsa class for the first time. Share a few lines from a poem you wrote. Twitter is for your statements, activities, clever insights.
7. If you learned something by making a mistake, put it out there. Motivate with a good quip. Share a sweet memory. Someone else could learn from your mistake, too. Keep the whining, moaning, complaining, criticizing to yourself.
8. Don’t thank people for following you. It’s lame and is usually followed by a message like, “I hope you find my tweets informative and helpful. Find out more at my website www.lametweets.com” Interesting people, be interesting! People are not trying to buy what you sell on Twitter.
9. Rumors are OK if they’re real and if you actually heard them. Yeah, Twitter is a gossip mill. Watch yourself if you have followers who respect you. Gossip is sketchy at best.
10. Limit yourself to a few Tweets a day or you’ll get unfollowed and you only have one chance to make that first impression.
