Think Twitter is a simple concept, and that you can say whatever you want to whenever you want to? If you’re looking for followers, you need to be aware of some basic rules of Twitter etiquette:
1. Keep things short and sweet.
There’s a reason that tweets are limited to 140 characters, so don’t try to get around the limit by posting over and over again. Followers aren’t looking for someone who posts a dozen or more times a day.
2. Don’t overuse foul language.
Maybe a little peppering of colorful language is okay, depending on your followers. However, making every other word a 4-letter one is going to make you look like you can’t think of anything intelligent to say.
3. Keep your personal life out of your tweets.
No one wants to know about the intimate details of your love life, or about that blow-up you’ve had with your friend. There are some topics that should be kept between those directly involved.
4. Only offer constructive criticism.
It’s okay to disagree with someone on Twitter and to let them know it, but keep the “argument” constructive. If there’s nothing to be gained by having an argument with a person, just let it go.
5. Give credit where credit is due.
If you read something on Twitter that you’d like to share with others, that’s fine. Just remember to give the original poster credit rather than acting like you were the one who originally came up with the topic at hand. Use the “retweet” function if you’d like to completely repost a tweet, or make a note that the post is inspired by a specific user.
6. Talk about other people, too.
If you were out with friends or on a date, would you just sit there talking about yourself the entire time? Hopefully the answer is no – it should be, anyway. Just like in face-to-face contact, you shouldn’t be posting only about you on Twitter. Talk about other issues, too.
7. Pay attention to your followers.
If your followers are replying to your tweets, it’s only polite to respond to them. Do you really expect people to want to follow you if you don’t have the courtesy to acknowledge them?
8. Don’t tweet without thinking.
Whatever you say on Twitter is going to be read by many people, and even if you delete any posts, word travels fast on the Internet. You may not have the pull of a celebrity, but you can lose followers and true friends by tweeting without some thought beforehand.
9. Don’t tweet and leave.
If you sign up for Twitter, intend to tweet on a regular basis. Especially don’t join, get followers, and then just leave suddenly for no reason.
10. Ban spam.
You can do this by blocking any follower that is obviously a spammer. Easy to do, and helps keep Twitter more enjoyable.
