3 Thoughts on Etiquette and Twitter
Engage. Social Media is no place for snobs!
There is a reason that Social Media mentions the word social. It’s about sharing, networking, and appreciating others. All those things we learned about in grade school. How to play nice.
It amazes me to see people hurt their personal brand by coming across as if they don’t care about other people. Twitter isn’t about how many people follow you, or how many people you don’t follow. In fact, if there is one place that you don’t want to come across as a snob — I’d say that would be Twitter! So for goodness sake (literally) you simply must respond to people who communicate with you. Whether that person is a customer, stranger or colleague.
Give a little – it doesn’t hurt!
The people you connect with here are left with the after-taste flavor of your brand. Make it sweet! Even if you do happen to be highly successful and a question someone asks you seems too trivial to be bothered with, that one person can have a very viral effect on your brand. Part of online reputation management is to be proactive, and that means listening and responding.
Lessons in etiquette from a Twitter Newbie
How many tweeps should I follow?
It took me some time before I delved into Twitter. So — although I’m fairly active in the Twitter community, I still consider myself a newbie.
One of the first and ongoing quandaries we’re faced with on Twitter is who to follow, and who not to follow. Or possibly more poignantly – how many to follow. I’ve struggled with this, but have fine tuned my philosophy.
Following too many people for certain lowers your capacity to interact. But frankly, I find it rather elitist when someone is following just a few people – especially when they are being followed by thousands. It’s a symbol of status to be sure — but it’s also a symbol to me of how much you value other people. Seriously – of all the thousands of people following you, you can find just a handful that are of any interest to you to interact with? It just seems pompous.
Have a fabulous weekend!
I’m off to enjoy the next couple of days. Unplugged. But before I go, let me share this truly inspiring (deserves to go viral) video with you.
Hopefully you’ll be left with the same warm and energized feeling that I was :-)
