Best Twitter practices

Multiple Sarcasms · Oct 9, 2009

Can we build a thread with suggestions for best Twitter practices especially in regard to building a following?

Creating interesting and regularly updated content is a given but what are the secrets that can help you launch a Twitter account in the early days when the numbers are low?

Does it come down to a simple quid pro quo numbers game - you follow me and I'll follow you? That becomes a problem with the 2,000 'following' limit.

What practices have you found to work best when working to build up a Twitter following?

Deleted member 42 · Oct 9, 2009

Don't think about it in terms of following numbers.

Think about it in terms of content. Provide interesting tweets. RT with an @ interesting tweets. Interact with people you follow.

Participate in the culture--RT and FollowFriday and hash tags.

Celia Cyanide · Oct 9, 2009

Can you explain Follow Friday to me? I don't really get it. I am doing my best to find my way around Twitter, but it's all new to me.

tjwriter · Oct 9, 2009

What Medi said.

It's not just about numbers, it's about making connections with people. You have to interact and have conversations. If you don't, people aren't going to care about your content.

Celia, Follow Friday is where people list some of their favorite people to follow. You can check out who the people you are following are following because someone thinks they are interesting.

It's the equivalent of your friend x saying, "My friend Z is always so funny and has the wackiest stories. You should check out Z."

Celia Cyanide · Oct 9, 2009

So you're just supposed to pick interesting people?

Old Hack · Oct 9, 2009

Here's a useful blog post about Twitter, from the wonderful Nicola Morgan.

I hope it's a help.

tjwriter · Oct 9, 2009

You could do some of your favorite writers for FF. Or some of your favorite authors. Or some other topic. Or just randomly pick some of your favorite people.

It's just supposed to be about sharing, I guess.

Celia Cyanide · Oct 9, 2009

Thank you. Some people have #ff'ed me, and I'm not sure what it means! Now if people see that and follow me, I'll be under all this pressure to be interesting! AAAHHHHH!!!!

Toothpaste · Oct 9, 2009

Follow Friday isn't a rule though. Remember you are under no obligation to do anything you don't want to on Twitter.

Oh and just because someone recommends you, doesn't mean people will follow you. It usually happens, but don't think that all of a sudden everyone is going to start bugging you, Follow Friday is a recommendation, not an order

. Unless someone like Ashton Kutcher recommends you. Then . . . well then that will be overwhelming.

katiemac · Oct 9, 2009

Also, the search function is your best friend.

mommyjo2 · Oct 9, 2009

Interesting or quirky tweets with hashtags.

Polenth · Oct 9, 2009

I tweet stuff and follow interesting people. If someone follows me and they look interesting, I follow them back. There isn't really a trick to it apart from that. Most of these get-followers-quick schemes make you look bad and don't work.

Things that put me off following someone:

- Too many links, no matter how relevant.
- Too much self promotion. Many people put links to their blogs and that's fine... but you don't want to be talking about it every other tweet.
- No replies or retweets.
- Following then unfollowing if I follow back.
- Unfollowing if I don't follow back within 24 hours (or similar).
- Getting into arguments with people all the time.
- No profile picture or description.

SouthernFriedJulie · Oct 10, 2009

Polenth said:
I tweet stuff and follow interesting people. If someone follows me and they look interesting, I follow them back. There isn't really a trick to it apart from that. Most of these get-followers-quick schemes make you look bad and don't work.

Things that put me off following someone:

- Too many links, no matter how relevant.
- Too much self promotion. Many people put links to their blogs and that's fine... but you don't want to be talking about it every other tweet.
- No replies or retweets.
- Following then unfollowing if I follow back.
- Unfollowing if I don't follow back within 24 hours (or similar).
- Getting into arguments with people all the time.
- No profile picture or description.

Don't forget Auto-DMs. I hate those. People follow you, then you follow back on to get an auto-dm that thanks you for following and to just click their link.

Bleh.

I go through my followers and cull them all the time. I don't care if I know the person off Twitter or not, if all I ever see is link after link with no conversation-poof- blocked.

Nothing but quotes drives me nuts, too. If someone is going to network, they should have the decency to share some of their real self.

veinglory · Oct 10, 2009

I follow people who twitter things I want to know and actually read pretty much anything they post. I think blind reciprocal following often means a lot of those people will never even look at your tweets. It's like the audience equivalent of empty calories.

veinglory · Oct 10, 2009

p.s. I often look at a profile's following-to-follower ratio rather than absolute numbers, to try and predict the usefulness of their tweets.

Deleted member 42 · Oct 10, 2009

Seriously, like with most things on the Web and community, it has to do with content, creating good content, pointing to good content, and responding to good content.

katiemac · Oct 10, 2009

veinglory said:
p.s. I often look at a profile's following-to-follower ratio rather than absolute numbers, to try and predict the usefulness of their tweets.

I do this, too.

stldenise · Oct 10, 2009

Do you guys use tweet deck? I lost interest in twitter a while back but my account is living some kind of phantom life without me. I set up some automatic crap that sends out notices when I post on Examiner, and another one that auto follows. BUT now I can't remember what program I used! AND I'm pretty sure I changed my mind on the auto follow right after setting it up, but it seems to be working without me. Gag.

I'd like to revive my twitter presence. Any advice - besides tracking down the auto follow software and shutting it down?

And I never really figured out the hashtag thing. How do you find a hashtag that relates to something you're interested in?

veinglory · Oct 11, 2009

I use tweetdeck. I only follow the number of people that I can easily read on the deck.

mommyjo2 · Oct 11, 2009

I love Tweetdeck. The few times I have to sign into my actual twitter account to follow someone, I miss my deck!

mommyjo2 · Oct 11, 2009

In tweetdeck you can make a column with a search field with hashtags, so you can have multiple columns following a tag.

nancy sv · Oct 14, 2009

veinglory said:
p.s. I often look at a profile's following-to-follower ratio rather than absolute numbers, to try and predict the usefulness of their tweets.

I don't get this. How do you use that ratio to figure out anything about their posts?

mommyjo2 · Oct 14, 2009

Well, if they are following a crazy amount of people (like thousands) or if follow more people than follow them, it's a warning signal.

Really good, interesting, or famous tweeps will have far more followers that people they follow.

tjwriter · Oct 15, 2009

I follow a few more people than follow me, but I'm not as active as I could be either.

veinglory · Oct 15, 2009

If a person follows you, but you don't follow them, that suggests you have content that is worth seeing for its own sake.

Best Twitter practices

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