How Not to be a Twitter-tweeting Tool

Along with our preceding post, we’ve both become increasingly frustrated and angry at the way in which a large number of people choose to use the application – without any professional courtesy. So, we compiled the following “Rules for Tweeting without being a total Twitter Tool” for your comment. If anyone you follow fall into these categories regularly, we suggest the unfollow button. If enough people did this perhaps they’d learn.

You’re not a celebrity, respond to people.

• When you want to talk to lots of people you use social media – hence the word “social” (look it up in a dictionary or, even better, take a MOOC on it or ask the person in the Palo-Alto-based beanbag next to you). When you don’t actually want to talk to lots of people about something you use email, SMS, your phone, two cans connected by string, DMs, Skype, sign language, inarticulate grunts… In other words, if you want to ask a question relating to the PoC of your totally way-too-cool-for-school-D-Bag-detection location based app but it was really only for your hipster friends to comment on only THEN ONLY SEND IT TO THEM. Others of us, taking an interest in what other startups are doing, may comment as a result of following you and seeing the message. Your failure to respond to our condisered feedback (based on some experience) is rude, stupid and arrogant, who knows, perhaps we have something that could’ve helped you? (See rule 3).

Thank people for Re-Tweeting you.

• This is a funny one. We often re-tweet quality stuff because it helps us build rapport with our followers and it helps share the “good stuff”. We are thanked, perhaps, 30% of the time.
• Being thanked for re-tweeting makes you feel good. It’s good karma. It doesn’t take much to thank someone for helping to share your thoughts wider (especially when they’ve got hundreds of followers) – it probably indicates they’re a good networker to have on your follower list. Not thanking someone for retweeting doesn’t make you a massive tool but it’s the kind of behaviour that gets you on your way.

Add value for your audience.

• OK, I know who you are now – you’re the same guy from rule 1. You tweet stuff for your circle of hipster buddies. You tweet rather than send an email (or a DM) because this way everyone sees that you’re in an exclusive club of my-startup-was-mentioned-once-on-zdnet or the hey-I-work-at-mashable-worship-my-hipster-credibility and that makes you feel freaking awesome. 99.99% of the people following you have no freaking idea of what you’re talking about and couldn’t care less. They’re following you for the advice, inside scoops, and the chance that you could help them with something, etc. not to be the audience for your ego trip. Here’s an idea, how about add value to their lives and spend a few seconds to do that? They may not unfollow you so quickly.

Next time – the gray areas in Twitter etiquette!

How Not to be a Twitter-tweeting Tool