In a stupor of sleep deprivation last night this morning I yattered on about being simply clueless about Twitter. Well, I woke up wanting to answer the questions I asked in the article ‘To Blog or To Write‘.
After some googling, I found Margaret Mason’s article ‘Writing My Twitter Etiquette Article: 14 Ways to Use Twitter Politely‘ in The Morning News which helped me see what Twitter is and can be making it less scary than it was in my mind.
I didn’t think about it before but there were times when I just wanted to jump after struggling with my word quota for the day but when I tried to blog about it, I realized that’s all I wanted to say, nothing more. Margaret Mason explains this perfectly:
Now, you already have a phone, an email account, a blog—but what about the moments too small to blog? (Snacking on pretzels.) Too insignificant to email? (The twisty kind of pretzels.) They’re happening every second! How can you share the moments between the moments worthy of note? Enter Twitter.
When she described the two types of people using Twitter – the Responders and the Broadcasters, it made me wonder which one I am. If I had to choose. Can I not be half of one and half of the other as 100% of one is not very appealing. The Responders are like people who like chatting whereas the Broadcasters, well, broadcast. Can I sit on the fence and not be one or the other?
Mason talks about the possible collision between the two types of people which answers the question I had in my previous post. Do people expect me to follow them if they follow me? According to Mason, Responders would be offended if you don’t follow back whereas Broadcasters would not. Eeek. Does that mean I have to see who they communicate on their page? Lots of @ means you’re a Responder and you would be offended not to hear from someone if you sent a direct message or follow someone. How complicated.
Here is a summary of the 14 Ways:
- 1. Watch your ratio.
I don’t want to turn into a spammer. Okay, will watch my ratio. Don’t be too click happy and follow just any person or wait until you have enough followers before randomly following. I’ll be serious. Okay, from now on I’ll be discerning.
- 2. Think twice before twittering in an altered state.
So the word is ‘twittering’ not tweeting. This I’ve not been guilty of yet. Not done it drunk, yet. Would you call sleep deprivation not thinking straight an altered state? I think so. Oops. Ah, that’s going to be most of the time. I’m either sleep deprived or getting over it. It’s me. Grouchy, irritable and arghhh – I’m going to allow myself.
- 3. Consider pausing between tweets.
If the messages are called tweets, then I am tweeting as well as twittering. No? Okay, I may be guilty of this. When you’re not sleeping and the only outlet is blogging and tweetering (is that a word? well, it is now in Insomniac Foetus land) I can’t help it. I’m sorry. I will try and time my tweets to not annoy followers. Oh dear, your poor ears.
- 4. Keep small conversations private.
I understand this one. Not guilty yet.
- 5. Accept that some people will use lots of @s.
Seen it. Found it a bit weird first and wondered what the heck but I’ve acclimatized now. I’m okay. Thanks for asking.
- 6. Be vague when twittering private social events.
Understood. If I ever get invited to a ‘private’ event. Check.
- 7. Remember everyone can hear you.
Like Facebook if you highlight ‘everyone’ on who can see you. Gotcha.
- 8. What’s rude in life is rude in Twitter.
Oops. I did tweet back to someone who wrote: what you’re doing right now is what you are. I wrote back: a twit? It wasn’t meant to be a stab. Would it help if I was talking about myself twitting (is that a word?). Okay. No more wise (I thought) remarks.
- 9. Don’t compound an accident.
I haven’t done that yet. Thank God.
- 10. Try to keep within the character limit.
Didn’t think there was a choice. Character limit is good. Editing is good practice.
- 11. DMs don’t necessarily require a response.
This one I was pondering over too as I’ve received some DMs from strangers I decided to follow thanking me for following them and I wasn’t sure if I should respond saying ‘no problem’. It seems there could be if they’re a Responder. Man, does that mean I have to check? Good thing there’s only been a few. I don’t mean to not appreciate your thanks but it gets me jittering when I don’t know if you expect me to respond or not. It’s complicated.
- 12. Leave when you want.
Mason, there’s Twitter sex?! I guess with every platform there is a dark wanton side. Okay, so if someone unfollows me I shouldn’t get upset and vice versa. Okay, got it.
- 13. Plug moderately.
Not guilty yet. But will do. I promise.
- 14. Answer your own questions.
I do all the time. It’s a prerequisite to having a mind that doesn’t stop.
That’s it. Half way through writing this list down, I wanted to give up but by that time it was too late. Here are other links that I’ve read about Twitter Etiquette:
The Guardian Laura Barton’s Twitter Etiquette – the rules gave me a few more pointers: don’t address celebrities you’re following; Twitter is not Facebook so don’t use same updates; Retweet if it’s not your idea; Twitter is not a dating site and don’t lose your love one because you’re spending more time with Twitter. Some websites are good in that they show you how many times that particular article has been retweeted so you know you weren’t the first to get there. But some websites don’t. You must forgive people who can’t find that retweet number counter which I’m sure I might be guilty of at some point or other.
Chris Brogan’s ‘A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide‘.
[Pic from here]
“When you know that you’re capable of dealing with whatever comes, you have the only security the world has to offer.” Harry Browne – Writer and Politician
STATUS: Need to wash and get some laundry done.
