Is there such a thing as Twitter etiquette?
We got talking about Twitter etiquette at the Geek Breakfast, and I decided I was going to do a post about the emerging dynamics of being polite while micro-blogging.
Jackson seemed to think that was pretty ironic, though, since I’m apparently violating the #1 rule of Twitter etiquette: don’t post daily recaps of your Twitter updates in your blog. Or at least don’t make it the only content you post for a week or more.
In my defense, I said, I’ve been modifying my Twitter updates since I started doing that so that they’d be somewhat more substantive. That got a mumble of support, but the message was clear: daily Twitter summary posts do not make up for real blog content.
OK, so there’s rule number one, and I’m public enemy number one, and now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to number two, shall we?
The ability to track topics is one of Twitter’s most useful features. I track several keywords, and when I find myself reading updates from the same people multiple times, I decide that they must be worth following. I don’t just start following them, though — I send them a direct message letting them know I saw their posts about magazines, say, or songwriting, and am now following them. So far no one has acted like I’m stalking them, and most of the people I contact that way end up following me back.
So rule #2 is: before you follow someone you don’t know, send a message and let him or her know why you’re following them. If nothing else, this will let the other person know what content is most interesting to other people, and that’s always handy to know.
Alright, so there are the first two rules: one of which I’m bad about, and one of which I’m good about. What would you add to the list?
10 Responses to “Is there such a thing as Twitter etiquette?”
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Don’t make all your twitters just “@friendA me too!!1!”.
We all may not follow your friend but may want to be in the conversation. Just take 2 extra seconds and say “@friendA I know, I hate people who cut me off in traffic too!”
It isn’t always possible to make a complete recap, but at least give the rest of the the topic at hand or some level of context.
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Oh why do there have to be rules? I mean, really.
The only thing I ask of people on Twitter is that they be real. I get followed by these apparent marketing bots who, when you look at their updates, don’t appear to post anything but links to press releases or other marketing jive and it gets kind of spooky.
Just be real and you’re welcome to follow me– regardless of why..
Good times at the breakfast this morning. was glad to get to meet you and the others in person at last.
See you ’round.
Kieran
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
For me it is about and acceptable level of signal to noise in regards to duplicate content. I just checked Facebook status updates for my friends and 8 out of 10 were from twitter and I had already seen them. Argh.
I posted about that a while back. I will dig up the link when I am at a computer.
P.S. My ribbing was mostly to encourage more blog posts
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Kate, good to meet you today at the breakfast. I missed out on this conversation this morning but ironically enough I was thinking about Twitter etiquette (Twitterquette) about a month ago myself: http://tinyurl.com/yvfzza
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
At least you don’t post every twitter to your blog all thru the day - I’ve unsubscribed to 3 livejournals because there are 20-30 posts a day “I am on the bus going to work” - I’m not a twitter person and maybe I just don’t understand the medium (I admit to not getting facebook or myspace) but I don’t understand why anyone would care.
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
See this post about “Ambient Intimacy” and see if it helps make any more sense of the Twitter Stream of internet consciousness..
http://www.disambiguity.com/ambient-intimacy/
Posted: Jan 29th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Hey Jackson.. I know what you mean.. and this is something I’m thinking about as well, although I think I come down on the side of ‘unity of message’ valued over duplication..
You may read the same AP story in newspapers across the country, (and that may be frustrating and seem like a waste to some) but it’s value is in the federation of that information through different outlets, with consistency and relative ease.. no? This is the stuff RSS feeds are made of..
Or maybe I’m just lazy and don’t want to have to come up with something witty to say on my silly Facebook status?
Posted: Jan 30th, 2008 at 6:38 am
[...] Kate O’ went to the Nashville Geek Breakfast that Lesley spoke of yesterday and is opining about Twitter Etiquette. We got talking about Twitter etiquette at the Geek Breakfast, and I decided I was going to do a post about the emerging dynamics of being polite while micro-blogging. [...]
Posted: Feb 10th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
New rule: Twitter is not instant messaging. If you find yourself heading into a one-to-one exchange, use the direct messaging feature by prefacing your tweet with d @username.
This is my number one pet peeve with Twitter. I might be interested in knowing who you are meeting for lunch and where, but I definitely don’t need to see the 8 message exchange deciding when and where.
Kieran loves this rule.
Posted: Feb 10th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I totally agree with this. Especially, of course, if you’re using Twitter to update your Facebook status. Then it truly makes no sense at all.