As more and more people come on board with Twitter, each of us our finding things we like and don’t like. Because we can follow 1000’s of people, we have to establish some sort of personal filtration policies.
My 5 Twitter Rules
- No Auto Reply Direct Message
- Stop Using Twitter to Push Links
- No More RSS Feeds as Twitter Posts
- I DO care what you are doing
- Don’t turn Twitter into you personal chat or IM client.
Auto replies DM’s are about as impersonal as out of office email replies. It’s a quick way to turn away new followers. Some would even call it spam, which by definition would be an unsolicited, impersonal message. An auto DM just says, “You are not contributing to my conversation, nor do you care what my messages are.”
Yes, I am talking to you @andersoncooper. After a month of following @andersoncooper, I realized that this is crazy. Obviously, it is not him. It is someone that works for the show.
Twitter is about conversation. In fact, with @andersoncooper there is no conversation. It’s just messages that link back to stories on the website.
It’s okay to have links, but not the majority of the time. Links are used to share ideas and ultimately start conversations. Links in Twitter should be used as the “tender to the fire”. The fire is the conversation.
Thanks to @sandraniehaus & @pwnicholson for this one. Again, I use Twitter as a conversation place. I know where to find your blog posts and the other posts. In general, any type of automation with Twitter is annoying and takes personalization out.
I follow you because I do care what you are doing and what you are working on. So tell me. We may be working on similar projects. You may be able to help me or, in the extreme case, I may be able to help you.
I have to admit, I break this rule often. I hope to work on this issue in 2009. I often use the @ command in get involved in one on one conversations that most of my followers don’t care about. That’s what DM’s are for.
Okay, those are my personal rules. But all that being said, do whatever you want to do. That’s what Twitter is. There are no standard rules. We each have our own personal policies and preferences. But don’t let anyone, like me, tell you what you should and should not do with Twitter.
Follow Me: twitter.com/johnwellis
Tags: Twitter
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