Fail Whale

With every passing day of using Twitter, I find that new users tend to forget a few simple rules of effective tweeting. I tend to treat the Internet like I would an interaction with anyone else out there in the “real world”: everything you learned in Kindergarten, plus a few more things that are peculiar to Twitter.

1. Block mass followers. You know the types– Following 3,203. Followers: 2. They seem to be peddling porn, or stealing other people’s tweets, or worse. Block them, so that they can’t see your tweets or find other people to follow from your list. The more you twitter, the more you attract these types. It’s sort of gratifying to block them.

2. Spread out your tweets. Don’t tweet five times in a row (though I think we have all done it before). The 140-character limitation leads to concise thought– if you need to tweet 5 times in a row (and they’re not @ someone else), write a blog entry.

3. Content, content, content. For me, at least, seeing a bunch of “ME TOO!” and “YEAH!” twitters are a big turnoff. Interacting with other Twitter users is important, but I want to see your thoughts, too. Don’t think it’s silly to post what you’re having for dinner, or what you’re doing at work. Just post! Twitter is social networking about nothing (sort of like Seinfeld), but you make some fantastic connections that way.

4. Decide whether you’re separating personal from professional– and stick to it! I Try not to duplicate posts to both your personal and professional accounts, particularly if lots of your followers follow both. Your professional followers may not care about what your kids are doing in soccer practice, and your personal followers may not care what you’re doing at work. ‘m on Twitter, but I only have one account. It is both professional and personal, though I censor it so that it isn’t too personal.

5. Don’t add too many people. I have no idea how some Twitter users interact with their 3,000+ followers. I just don’t. You can’t really form a meaningful relationship with everyone! Be selective in who you follow, and who you allow to follow you back.