Comments on: How to be a better tweeter

Want to be a better tweeter on Twitter? We have all the tips you need to take it to the next level.

[lorne-pike]

Thanks Don, I needed that. Some good points here that I'll take back to my keyboard.

It actually was a really good chicken salad sandwich though! :)

[mexic0]

Your post points out exactly why I can't stand retweets: if I'm not following you in the first place, why the heck would I be interested in the fact that you didn't get your NY Post? I don't follow people so that they can your (or other people's) activities to me, and I drop followers if they get into the RT habit. I enjoy original thoughts, not copycats.

[rizzinup35]

I get where you're coming from, but it isn't necessarily true. I understand that Don is going to be getting a bit of "RT @donreisinger How to be a better tweeter: http://tinyurl.com/d9r595" tweets, but you've got to look further down the tree: My friends aren't following don, but I think it's worthwhile for them to see this information. At the same time, Don gets credit for linking this information, and he may get a follow in return (since he's tweeting some good stuff).

For example: My friend tells me about a great song. I'm not gonna sit there like a duck and only share the songs I find to my friends, I'm gonna share the song my friend told me about too, except I'm gonna say something like: "My friend Don introduced me to this band... their sweet! You should check them out." Am I not being original? No, I'm simply passing the word along.

There should be a bit of original tweeting too. I'm not gonna leech off of don and retweet every tweet he posts. THOSE are the copycats.

[SteveNimmons]

RT can be a tad annoying when it is used as an ego massage or playing virtual 'kissy face' with one of the self-styled mavens. RT can be useful though, it is a virtual vote, a possibility to push the content further into Twitter's intertwined circles of follow / following lists. RT if it's useful, if not don't bother. But don't let anyone try and define 'useful' for you! RT is also being used to measure rudimentary authority, although I think that will prove overly simplistic.

Steve Nimmons, occasional retweeter!

[nelsondr]

I agree with most of what you have to say. I think it gets old when people constantly tweet about what they had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I do, however, appreciate it when someone I'm following tweets about how good the new restaurant is for dinner.

When it comes to the automated tweets, I agree they can become overwhelming with information that's not relevant to anyone but the person that is responsible for generating it. I think if you are careful in what you have set up to automatically tweet, that it can be a useful tool. For example, I don't use Twitpic. I upload everything to Flickr. I then have a Twitter Feed that checks my Flickr feed for my tag CameraPhone. What ever I upload that way is something that I would have sent to TwitPic. It's just that I prefer having all of my pictures in one centralized location. Then when it comes to sharing my Google Reader, I only share news items that would be of interest to a large portion of my followers.

I don't know if you've done an article on this yet, but how about responsible use of things like using FriendFeed, Twitter Feed, and other tools to post tweets for you.

[Robinskyoo]

Regarding tweeting about food . . . There is a tech industry person from the UK that I follow and he has had an amazing response to his posts about his food. He starting posting pictures of the food he prepared and got responses. After posting that he'd made the best omelette he'd ever eaten,100 of his 1000 followers wanted him to post a picture. After that he posted pictures of his Sunday dinner and got such a huge response that now he's asking followers if he should organize a night out with a chef at a favorite restaurant. Neither he nor his followers are in food as a profession. I'd post some of his tweets here, but don't want to infringe on privacy. So this might go to show that some of us ARE interested in food . . . maybe a whole lot of us.

Re retweeting: It's great to learn from the interesting articles people retweet, but I'm getting a lot of repeats or "different article but same topic" stuff. For instance, yours is about the tenth post in the past 2 wks about twitter etiquette or good twitizenship. In fact, of the only 50 or so people I follow, I've started to get so many posted links I can't read them all and am just favoriting the interesting ones for later. But I don't know when I'll get to them because they just keep coming. Twitter is great an the all time great information exchange, but a lot of what is being exchanged, in my experience so far, is info about the boom in social networking and how to use of it for personal gain. Is that what I want from Twitter?

[Nesnejr]

I completely agree. Hashtags are extremely powerful. Get involved in one and you will be amazed by how much engaged you get into a conversation. On another note with retweets... just as important as retweeting is asking for others to retweet your updates. When you get retweeted it improves your chances for your message being seen outside of your network.

[jayphilips]

Great tips for everyone. When I first started with Twitter I gave it two days and gave up due to people tweeting about stuff that I thought was just TMI. Now I've been on Twitter more actively and must say it's very much worth it. I've met some great people and learned some great tips & tricks.

Jay
http://twitter.com/jayphilips

[georgekinzy]

Jay, Like you I'm giving Twitter a chance. I don't know where my messages, or Tweets I guess, go and if anyone sees them or answers them. Where and how do I find answers and how do I get into groups and follow and get followed. If you see this where do I find your answer?

[PandaSage1221]

Those are definitely good tips.

Though in my opinion, you shouldn't tweet by other people's standards. You should tweet however the heck you want to. And anyone who likes what you do will follow you.

I do tweet about my meals kind of a lot. And I like reading about other people's tweets about food too.

The internet is a big enough place where you can do what you want and, eventually, like-minded people will find each other.

[csuphilosophy]

I think your comment on food tweets are one place where you may be a bit off- I'm sorry YOU don't enjoy those tweets, but as it happens, I'm a gluten-free food blogger and in my community, people are a bit food obsessed. I'd rather read about someone's interesting dinner than their latest tech news discovery. Good thing there are all these different networks of people that connect with each other and can find each other interesting... that's one of the best things about Twitter.

[MonTemplar]

I regularly retweet stuff I think is worth sharing with my friends, and also make a point of replying to thank someone for a useful tweet. :) Don't tweek links directly, but I have my Friendfeed synced to Twitter now, so stuff that I find thru Facebook, Google Reader, YouTube etc. will show up automatically. Not used hashtags yet, will investigate.

twitter.com/alan_ralph_uk

Incidentally, my entry into Twitter was prompted by its support within user profile pages by deviantART, one of my fave sites. Just thought I'd pass that on.

[ardvorck]

Need help getting a video clip produced by a laptop converted to a format that will allow me to upload it to something like teacher tube. The tag is something MOV000007. When I try to up load it I get an error msg.

[salesgirl]

I have arrived

[peyton222]

im here!

[annatamaro]

I always have an excuse not to exercise. I know there has to be people like me. These excuses are going to kill me.
My mind tells me one thing but I do not do it. I must have five excuses i use on a daily bases and can probably come
up with five more. What is wrong with me? Lazy? I need to move.

save the children

[georgekinzy]

I'm getting better, I found this site, but not sure how I got here, and where to look for any comments that will help me. Can you tell I'm new? If I follow and send a message to someone on my list that I have, and don't know where they came from, will they answer? I'm trying to have fun. George

[havertown]

whtat do you think of the tea parties

[maendy]

i hated twitter when i first started it....but it is growing on me. I'm not going to stop wearing my farting twitter bird shirt though...
http://www.prankplace.com/tshirts_tweeted.htm

[richoadino]

my twitter comments only appear on my home page. How can can I get them to appear on my favorite search categories,e.g., massage therapist, chiropractors, etc.?

[LKStevens]

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WELL WORTH the $19.99.....very insightful! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING THIS!!!!!!!!

[691109]

glad am finally eir! kindly connect me to the long lost friends world over n new ones