As I spend a lot of time on twitter, my thoughts often wander to proper twitter etiquette. I have questions of my own of course, grey areas where I wonder what the fine line is between attracting more followers and pushing followers away. There are of course some rules of thumb that it would be wise to follow, but for the most part everyone has their own idea of twitter etiquette. Spam on twitter is a growing issue, and I find myself daily reporting someone for spam, or simply blocking them from my stream. What’s frustrating is that many of these people I block are not bots, but real people. Individuals who just can’t seem to respect some basic twitter etiquette. For example, posting twenty (even thirty or forty [I’ve seen it]) tweets in a row, is ridiculous. As soon as I see that, not only do I completely ignore it, but you get an automatic unfollow from me. I’m done with that person. Twitter is a microblogging platform for a reason, 140 characters, keep your thoughts short. We have blogs for the long ramblings.
What are your thoughts on twitter etiquette?
Recently I’ve been asking myself. How many times is it okay to tweet about a blog post? I have heard it said that the life of the average tweet is about ten minutes. Give or take I suppose depending on how many people someone is following. At peak traffic times, my one twitter stream is more of a raging river, and unless I’m watching closely I’ll probably miss your tweet. So if I tweet about a new blog post I’ve written, and you weren’t there during that ‘ten minute window’ then it’s gone, and you’ll never know. So of course most bloggers re-tweet their blog posts, often with different wordings or excerpts of text. So the question is valid, how often can I tweet about a new post? Every ten minutes? Twice a day for a week? Once every week for a month? I guess there is no proper answer to this question. Since it is impossible to gauge who has seen my tweet, I can’t estimate if I’ve yet become an annoyance to someone.
I asked some bloggers what they thought. Justin Germino from dragonblogger.com says “When promoting one of your articles on Twitter I recommend you promote no less than 3-4 times per day about 4-6 hours apart, this is to ensure that you are reaching all of your audience in the wide variety of time zones. Remember if you have a Twitter following that only about 5% of your following ever see your tweet in real time, and most never scroll through history. So you may tweet the same promotion like 20 times before a person see’s it for the first time.” Justin has also written a post on the same topic in which he queries “Is it spamming to promote content on social media?”
Obviously you need to take these points into consideration, as dragonblogger mentioned being aware of time zones is important. I’m on the west coast in Vancouver, Canada, and I often find myself finishing posts late in the evening, if I tweet them right away it may be one, two or even three AM on the east coast where a lot of my readers and twitter friends are. If I was someone who only tweeted about a blog post once it would likely get lost in the history of twitter never to be seen by anyone.
I feel quite comfortable tweeting about my posts regularly for the first week after they are released, and then periodically after that. The nature of twitter is such that readers can quickly scan posts. I often see tweets that are repeats, if I’m happy with the person I’m following (meaning they generally engage and involve themselves in conversation besides just self-promotion) than it is no trouble for me to overlook the tweet I may have seen three or four times before.
Don’t come off like a robot!
Chris Brogan has a brief and informal twitter etiquette guide that you can read, in it he mentions watching out for ‘robot behavior’, and this I think is the key to success on twitter. Don’t come off like a robot! If you’re tweets are all automated, all self-promotion, and you don’t engage any of your followers or engage with those you follow, don’t be surprised if people pay little to no attention to you. The people I follow the closest (and end up spending time on their blogs) are the ones who engage with me. They participate in conversations apart from just promoting their own blog or product. When people show that they are not totally self absorbed, my interest in them grows. Twitter is a site for social networking, so let’s keep it social. Re-tweeting other peoples tweets is a great compliment and will help to grow their followers. Looking out for others and doing what you can to help others grow their follow list will be beneficial to you. What goes around comes around, this is certainly true of the twittersphere.
What are your thoughts?
There are lots of do’s and do nots when it comes to twitter. What advice to you have to share? Be sure to read part 2 to this post, Twitter Etiquette for bloggers continued…
27 comments
Tweets that mention Twitter etiquette for bloggers « Information Carnivore -- Topsy.com says:
Jun 27, 2010
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by dragonblogger and Brian Gill, Daniel Snyder. Daniel Snyder said: Twitter etiquette for bloggers, some thoughts. New post http://bit.ly/9GTCl3 […]
dragonblogger says:
Jun 28, 2010
Dude, I am honored that you put my point of view and Chris Brogans in the same article. Will be sharing.
Sam Bowne says:
Jun 30, 2010
Here's my two cents. I think my attitude is atypical–I was raised Puritan.
I don't think it is proper to seek followers, or, in a professional life, to seek money. The correct thing to do is to focus on your mission and do it well. Followers and money may come if what you do has real value. But looking behind at your followers and trying to please them devalues your work. What matters is that you accomplish what really matters to you, not how many people like it.
In the same vein, one tweet about a blog post is more than enough. It would make even more sense to only tweet about the really important blog posts. Less is more.
danielsnyder says:
Jun 30, 2010
Sam, thanx for your feedback… of course there is always that part of us (well me at least) that is enticed by the desire to gain a following. It is not easy to stay faithful to your mission, whilst avoiding distraction! Question, if you feel someone is over-tweeting, do you let them know or just unfollow?
Bev Robb says:
Jun 30, 2010
On day one of the new blog post – I sometimes tweet it aprox. 4-6x and then find different services to expand coverage. Ping.fm, Delicious, FB, etc – I also have re-written blog posts for examiner.com – you just have to be innovative and non-spammy about your approach.
Twitter Etiquette for bloggers, Part 2 « Information Carnivore says:
Jun 30, 2010
[…] Etiquette for bloggers, Part 2 My first article on twitter etiquette for bloggers was really well received, I got a lot of feedback with additional input and other schools of […]
Vote on this article at blogengage.com says:
Jun 30, 2010
Twitter etiquette for bloggers « Information Carnivore…
As I spend a lot of time on twitter, my thoughts often wander to proper twitter etiquette. I have questions of my own of course, grey areas where I wonder what the fine line is between attracting more followers and pushing followers away. There are of …
danielsnyder says:
Jun 30, 2010
Yeah I find it is really important to expand using other social networks. Stumble Upon and Digg are some of my favorites.
Melinda says:
Jul 1, 2010
I always wonder how often I should tweet posts. I only post 1-2 times a week and tweet 2-3 times a day for about week about them. I can see, though, if I were posting daily maybe that would be too much. I think it comes down to doing what you feel isn't spammy. I think you would have to really be overdoing it to lose followers over it.
danielsnyder says:
Jul 1, 2010
Good thoughts Melinda. Part 2 of this article covers some of those exact thoughts.
http://www.infocarnivore.com/2010/06/30/twitter…
Sam Bowne says:
Jul 1, 2010
I just unfollow them. I don't try to change them–I assume they have sufficient reasons to act that way, according to their priorities.
Brian says:
Jul 2, 2010
Well I don't use twitter all that mu8ch to promote myself but I do tweet many articles that members submit to blog engage. I think twitter is a great marketing platform but like Justin said it's hard to reach your entire audience with one tweet.
I think he has a great concept of what is good to do and not to do. Sometimes twitter can look really busy but you have to learn to filter the good from the bad. After time it becomes more easy to see the difference between the two.
I normally tweet when I want and as often as I want. I simply do not tweet my own article more then once a day. I try to build a good following of tweeters that will hep me do this. At times this works and others not so much lol.
danielsnyder says:
Jul 2, 2010
Brian, thanks for the feedback. And I was excited to discover Blog Engage is based out of Canada, yes? Looking forward to getting to know my way around there.
Twitter Etiquette for Bloggers says:
Jul 5, 2010
[…] When Daniel Snyder from Information Carnivore asked me about Twitter Etiquette for Bloggers and my opinions on the subject, I shared my own point of view and experiences in a short paragraph […]
bloggerden.com says:
Jul 20, 2010
Twitter etiquette for bloggers….
As I spend a lot of time on twitter, my thoughts often wander to proper twitter etiquette. I have questions of my own of course, grey areas where I wonder what the fine line is between attracting more followers and pushing followers away. There are of …
BloggersBase Blogging says:
Jul 28, 2010
Not all your twitter followers are fans… yet!…
So, you’ve been working hard to build a following on twitter. By now you have at least ten followers right? Good job. Keep up the hard work. Eventually you’ll have many more, provided you keep……
BloggerLUV says:
Aug 25, 2010
Twitter etiquette for bloggers, advice about promoting…
As I spend a lot of time on twitter, my thoughts often wander to proper twitter etiquette. I have questions of my own of course, grey areas where I wonder what the fine line is between attracting more……
Rose DesRochers says:
Aug 29, 2010
Brian has built a great service, but from a networking long term point of view I did not find it useful. The bloggers who are members only engage as long as you are actively submitting articles. If for some reason you no longer submit post, those you were previously engaging with stop engaging. Of course this is common with many close nit cliche communities.
I still enjoyed the traffic the site brought me while i was able to be active.
Daniel Snyder says:
Aug 30, 2010
Interesting viewpoint Rose. Did you mean engaging with you outside of Blog Engage? I submit articles regularly and also engage with many of the Blog Engage folk on twitter and other social networking sites (like Digg, Bloggers Base, Blogger Luv, Stumble etc…) The challenge for me is to not be spread to thin among too many networks…
DO FOLLOW LUV says:
Sep 23, 2010
Twitter etiquette for bloggers…
How often should I promote my blog posts on twitter? Part 1 of a series on tweeting for bloggers….
Moni says:
Oct 2, 2010
Personally I don’t mind seeing many tweets. Sometimes, I mean to check something out but I either forget or something else (like work LOL) demands my attention. So I appreciate the reminder. I think tweeting definitely more than once is a good idea considering, as you mentioned, time zones, tweeps not scrolling through history, etc. I don’t mind it because I understand it. And sometimes I don’t add a comment to a RT because there is not enough room and in nay event, the tweeter said it best! 🙂
Daniel Snyder says:
Oct 2, 2010
That’s some feedback I like to hear. It’s good to know there are those that can be understanding of this. I think the majority of people can quickly scan and overlook a tweet they’ve seen before (I know I certainly do)… some people I follow have great quality content and valuable tweets, even though they often repeat things I don’t let it bother me either.
A. Tatum says:
Nov 5, 2010
Good points as always Dan. Retweet the same post was something I didn’t do at first to avoid what you were talking about. I may send the same one out 2 or 3 time spread out pretty much as you stated.
Daniel Snyder says:
Nov 6, 2010
I think if you have some rock solid followers who you engage with regularly, they’ll also (hopefully) let you know if you’re tweeting the same thing too much. I’m not as aggressive as I used to be (now that my blog is getting more popular), but I still retweet the same post pretty consistently, especially for the first few days.
Not all your twitter followers are fans… yet! | Info Carnivore says:
Nov 16, 2010
[…] to just tell everyone about your latest blog post (you can read more about my opinions on that one: here), you’ve got to leverage your ability to interact with people if you want them to like you. […]
Brankica says:
Nov 24, 2010
I just want to confirm that I do the same when it comes to unfollowing people that kinda tweet too much.
I keep missing the good stuff because they just keep tweeting. And sometimes it’s like 30 tweets that are just links to products or what ever.
Fortunately, I use tweetdeck and I have a separate column for people who’s stuff I really don’t want to miss, but those over-tweeters really loose me in less than a day.
Daniel Snyder says:
Nov 24, 2010
I agree, and I also use tweetdeck in the same way. In fact just added you to my “I am Listening” list! 🙂 now I won’t miss your tweets.