My Personal Twitter Rules So Far

By Dennis D. McDonald

So far I’ve found Twitter useful for keeping in touch, for getting quick questions answered, and for announcing new blog posts. I check in a couple of times a day if I’m at my computer. Here are my personal Twitter rules so far:

1. Web only. I don’t use a phone for sending or receiving messages nor do I use other applications; plain vanilla Web access is how I use Twitter.
2. No bad language. I usually “unfollow” people after reading an obscenity, swear words, cursing, or plain nastiness. It’s OK to call me old fashioned.
3. Names, please. If you follow me but make it impossible for me to tell if you are an individual human being or not, I probably won’t follow you.
4. No spam. If you’re just interested in selling me something that’s fine, I just have no interest in following Twitter based advertising that has no personal element.
5. No personal health details. I’d rather not know your personal health details. My family has had its share of life-threatening and traumatic situations in the past and I have no interest in sharing such details with others.
6. No blocking. Usually I feel that if someone wants to “follow” me, that’s fine with me, but just because you follow me that doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily be following you — especially if you don’t provide any name or personal information. I seldom use the “blocking” function.
7. Direct messages are OK. At first I didn’t remember to check to see if I had direct messages, now I do. I use the “DM” facility quite a bit now as a simple form of self contained email.
8. No Twitter feed on my web site. I experimented with this but dropped it. First, the aesthetics didn’t match my page design. Second, I didn’t think it provided the same “social experience” that the main web view provides.
9. Please no abbreviations. I know it can be tough to get your ideas across in 140 characters or less but please, don’t resort to abbreviations. How do I know if RE refer to “Real Estate ” or “Re Insurance”? Does ECM refer to “Enterprise Content Management” or to “Electronic Counter Measures”?

For the record:

• As of March 27, 2008 I was following 224; 337 were following me; and I’d posted 1, 431 updates to Twitter.
• As of December 9, 2008 I was following 501; 940 were following me; and I’d posted 3,085 updates to Twitter.
• As of January 8, 2009 I was following 529; 925 were following me; and I’d posted 3,278 updates to Twitter.

Question: how do these rules compare with your own? 

• Copyright (c) 2008-2009 by Dennis D. McDonald
  

Comments

[Ray Sims]

Good list. Same for me other than for #8. There, I also didn't care for the single latest tweet box, regardless of what colors I selected for the widget; however, I like the plain text list of the FIVE latest tweets, which I now use at my blog. In the spirit of micro-blogging it complements the main panel of the blog and I think (but don't really know from feedback) that it adds value for readers -- the few I have as a 'D-list blogger' -- in giving them closer to one place to look for what I'm working/thinking on. I suspect that many people will never click-through to Twitter from a 'my profiles' link.

[jspad]

We have a lot of overlap. Here are my rules:

Mostly web: I don't receive twitter on my phone, because I don't have a texting plan and I'm in no hurry to get one.

No offensive language: I don't have a no swearing rule because that kind of language doesn't usually bother me (I use it) but I will unfollow or not follow someone that uses language I think is offensive.

Let me know who you are: a link to your website is best, so if I don't already know you I can know about you. Otherwise, I probably won't follow back.

Listen: I do follow a couple of high volume folks, and often ask myself if I should -- but they do respond to @user, so it's okay. I tweet usually less than a dozen times a day, including my replies to others.

Share: not just your own stuff, but other good stuff you find or think. Some self-promotion is okay, but keep it in balance. You don't have conversations with a megaphone.

[Lee Aase]

Good list, Dennis. I'm mostly the same, except I'm starting to use Twhirl as a desktop client. I think it will help me be more interactive with the Twittersphere.

I also use TXT sometimes for sending Tweets when I'm traveling...updates on when I've landed, etc. I'm going to try Twittermail, too, so I can send Tweets from my Blackberry.

[Chris Parente]

Dennis:

Just getting into now, and your guidelines sound like a great place to start. Thanks.

[Dennis D. McDonald]

Another suggested rule: please don't use acronyms. I know the character limit on Twitter is 140, but if you use an acronym that a follower does not understand, your message's meaning -- and a possible social or professional connection -- are threatened.