Are you a user of the latest social networking fad, Twitter? I am and love it. In fact, involvement in Twitter has caused me to leave a number of other social networks in the dust, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo.

As with anything, over time a set of guidelines has evolved for appropriate Twitter use. (”Twittiquette” it might be called.) These include things like:

1. Don’t bore people with too much mundane minutiae. I remember early on somone tweeting, “I’m going to get pizza.” Well, uh, OK. And you’re telling me this why? This type of banal conversation may have been acceptable at one point, but use of the application has reached a point of sophistication that it’s less desireable. Not only that, the number of Twitterers has grown so large that some self-imposed filtering of what’s shared is necessary. That’s hard on those of us who have little in the way of impulse control.

2. Don’t use Twitter for over-the-top marketing or self-promotion. When it comes to social media sharing I say, “Get to know me before you pitch me.” The same holds true for Twitter as well. If all you do when entering the Twitstream is make mention of your latest blog post, I have news for you: Noboby cares. In fact, the old adage, “No cares that you know until they know that you care” applies very well.

3. Do participate in the ongoing conversation. The antidote to the problem of self-promotion or pitching is to engage others in conversation using the @username convention. If you’ll place emphasis on building relationships, even if they are superficial by comparison, then and only then do you have a right to promote your stuff.

4. Do share links to useful information. The likelyhood that you will gather followers who share the same interests as you is great. As such, it’s totally appropriate to share links from blogs and other site you’ve found to be helpful. Think in terms of what will better the community. Another adage comes into play here: “Do unto others…” (You know the rest.)  In its incipiency, blogging was little more than link-sharing. Since Twitter is a “micro-blogging” platform, submitting helpful links synchs very well with its purpose.

If you follow these and other guidelines developed by the community, I guarantee you will become a valued member.

Hattip to Marketing Profs for sparking the idea for this post.

Article Tags: Social Media Marketing | social networking | Twitter
Filed under: Personal Opinions, Social Media Marketing