5 Ways NOT to Use Twitter

By sparklyscotty on 4/10/09 11:39pm
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Following on from my promotion of this medium yesterday,  I feel it is only balanced to issue a few words of warning and guidelines to new 'Tweeple'.  While I do truly believe that Twitter is a great social networking and communication tool,  like all popular internet trends is is open to being grossly abused by many people desperately trying to plug a product or service.  Here are my top five good netique rules for using Twitter.

  1. Don't just tweet a sales pitch
    I mean really, who is going to want to listen?  You might drive some initial traffic,  but there is no faster way to lose followers than to annoy them with a repetitive and blatant sales message.  You need to round out your Tweets.  Ask yourself:  Who would follow me?  Now try to throw out some Tweets that you think they might enjoy.  They will be far more likely to click on your own links when you send them.  Twitter should be about keeping your customers informed, and attracting new contacts,  so Tweet about new, exciting product arrivals, an interesting piece you have written, a special offer. NOT just a plug along the lines of "Read my books!  http://clickhereandpaymenow.com"
  2. Don't ignore your followers
    Be interested in your followers.  Read their Tweets,  reply, interact.  This can help to build relationships with your followers and I have seen huge companies hire people just to talk to their target audience.  It is a great way to buildtrust and loyalty,  as people feel like they have a personal connection with you.
  3. Don't be self centered
    No one likes someone who can't talk about anything other than themselves.  Promote others in your tweets, especially your followers.  Share links to sites that you have found that your followers might like,  acknowledge a great blog post by someone else,  and re-tweet and notable tweet from someone you follow.
  4. Don't overtweet
    Next to only receiving sales pitch tweets this is the top reason for me 'unfollowing' someone.  Try to keep your tweets to one per hour or less.  Sending out a tweet every few minutes is only going to overwhelm your followers.  Which one do you want them to pay attention to more?  Besides, don't you have something better to do that tweet?  Which brings me to my last Twitter commandment of the day...

  5. Thou shalt not waste hours of your day without good reason
    Twitter joins Facebook and email as a potential drain on your productivity, and can suck up cumulative hours of your time if you let it.  Compulsive tweeting will no doubt become another affliction of the desk jockey, duly talk about on Oprah and CNN when it gets to the point where "Mr Smith became increasingly isolated from his family, and didn't leave his house for days [fill in the rest of the tragic tale here]"

The bottom line?  Be a good all-round tweeter.  Enjoy the service and it's benefits but keep it in perspective; at the end of the day it is just another tool to be used to further your goals, and shouldn't end up taking over your time.