The Techie: How Not to Be Boorish, Boring, or Bored on Twitter

Mia Eaton taps into her Twitter knowledge, with Margaret Atwood as spokeswoman. And this is only Part I.
Twitter is too vast a subject to cover in one post, but let's begin like this. Try to think of Twitter as a salon—a thoughtfully curated gathering of voices, news, and opinions from people with whom you choose to share your time. It is a place to contribute your thoughts, your humor or sensitivity, your unique knowledge.

How much you enjoy and benefit from using Twitter will depend largely on who you follow, what you contribute, the discussions you find, and how much you engage with others. Try to find and follow people with similar professional or personal interests, who provide you with relevant news, or whose company you enjoy.

"New Twitterers ask, "What will I say? Who will follow me?' Wise Twitterers ask: 'What can I learn? What cool ppl will I find?'" — @jooliagoolia

I've seen a famous writer go from moaning about how he doesn't get the point of crying out into the void, only to realize that he'd been missing countless @replies from fans and friends, and suddenly, the whole world opened up. Next thing you know he was harnessing the Twitter hivemind for knowledge about a strange bird in his yard and meeting fans at local bars.

A quick aside: you can use Twitter's website in your browser, but seeing all your @replies, @mentions, direct messages, and following #hashtag subjects is infinitely easier and less frustrating with a good Twitter client (typically for free or less than a gourmet coffee). I really love Tweetdeck on my home machine, and Tweetie 2 on my iPhone.

Mashable has an excellent Twitter guide book, that explains everything from #hashtags to why people aren't following you back. I'll cover the @ (at replies and mentions) more next time, as well as the hefty power of the hashtag, the best ways to RT (retweet) and the category lists that help you organize the people you follow.

So, how to not be a lame tweeter? See above re: why people aren't following you back, as that article covers many of the most common turn-offs. Consider the content and tone of your tweets. Don't blast people with links to your blog, or badger the world at large to follow you or buy your book. Avoid that irritating "expert" voice it's easy to slip into when trying to sound intelligent. Avoid aphorisms. Don't be a downer. You'd (not) be surprised about how many people use Twitter to blow off steam when they're depressed or frustrated. Constantly posting complaints or self-pitying remarks is no fun for others. Nothing says you can't have a bad day — I've had bad days turned around by an outpouring of twitterlove, people sending me pictures of bunnies and whatnot — but you can't talk like Eeyore all the time.

People naturally gravitate towards and are more likely to Re-tweet (RT) people who share good links, who are entertaining, or are endearing or empathetic characters. Like employing a writing constraint, it's helpful to flavor your tweets (writing, running and cooking, for example), but don't feel like you need to be super strict with yourself.

Margaret Atwood started tweeting a year ago, and yesterday she wrote a charming, amusing piece for The New York Review of Books about her experience thus far. I couldn't ask for a better spokeswoman:

"The Twittersphere is an odd and uncanny place....

But despite their sometimes strange appearances, I’m well pleased with my followers—I have a number of techno-geeks and bio-geeks, as well as many book fans. They’re a playful but also a helpful group. If you ask them for advice, it’s immediately forthcoming: thanks to them, I learned how to make a Twitpic photo appear as if by magic, and how to shorten a URL using bit.ly or tinyurl. They’ve sent me many interesting items pertaining to artificially-grown pig flesh, unusual slugs, and the like. (They deduce my interests.)"

So, She Writers who tweet, how do you find it?

Tags: #social media, business and technology

0 members like this

Comment

You need to be a member of She Writes to add comments!

Join She Writes

Comment by Lauren B. Davis on March 31, 2010 at 11:41am: Thanks so much for this. I have just started 'tweeting' (still a rather embarrassing word in my opinion), and find it confusing, if interesting. I post my blog links, and links to books or articles I find interesting. I sync from my 'goodreads' account, and would like to sync from Facebook but haven't figure out how to do that, yet.

I have no idea how people find me (and not many have), or how to make myself interesting to others in this place (perhaps I'm not), but I find it a good place to discover what folks I admire have gleaned from the web-o-sphere.

Comment by Jennifer Lauck on March 31, 2010 at 11:03am: Wonderful and timely! I just wrote on Facebook, "What is the point of Twitter." So this comes as the best advice at the best time. Thank you, j.

Comment by Christine Hennessey on March 31, 2010 at 9:31am: Great article. Personally, I love the list feature on Twitter. I can curate the groups of people I follow (friends, writers, librarians, runners, etc.) and read their updates on a separate stream. It keeps me organized and less overwhelmed, plus I can legitimately say I'm working when reading my librarian Twitter stream at my desk. ;)
- @evilolive

Comment by The Techie on March 31, 2010 at 9:14am: Thanks, Kamy! My handle is @VictoriaMia

I'm just busting at the seems, I feel like I had to hold so much back in this post, but there's LOTS of good info and advice to come. I think also a few things that may be extra nice for writer-tweeters.

Comment by Kamy Wicoff on March 31, 2010 at 8:04am: This is SO helpful -- I have not been doing it quite right. Look for substantial improvement in She Writes tweeting! And Mia, what's your handle?? We are @shewritesdotcom.

Comment by Nora Gaskin Esthimer on March 31, 2010 at 7:39am: Thanks for this--looking forward to more, from you and from others here who're ahead of me in Twittersphere.

Comment by The Techie on March 31, 2010 at 7:38am: Totally, Carleen! I definitely appreciate knowing when someone's updated their blog, or published something new somewhere. As long as it's how you describe, as part of your overall twitter participation. Heck, I'll be tweeting a link to this article in a second! I just don't want to flood my followers since I already tweeted twice this morning, hehe.

By blasting, I was referring to the way some folks only tweet "new post on my blog! [link]" with that being the only thing you see over and over on their profile page. That doesn't help anybody ;)

Comment by Carleen on March 31, 2010 at 7:01am: Good post. Though I do use Twitter to announce new posts to my blog. I don't mind when other's do that either. I find that followers most appreciate when you PARTICIPATE--ask questions, respond to other tweets, retweet what others have to say, say hello--rather than always talk about yourself. Twitter is a conversation that's going on 24/7. And nobody likes to talk with someone who only chimes in about themselves.

‹ Previous
1
2
Next ›

RSS

Welcome to
She Writes

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Latest Activity

Alison Kucich commented on the group 'Novelists (Struggling or Not)'

"Meg, great news! Congratulations! Now, on to query letters... do any of you know of or have a "query critique" group? I'm on my fourth draft of this bad boy and have recently had it picked apart by a prominent agent…"

18 minutes ago

Alison Kucich commented on the group 'Your First Novel'

"Hello, writers! I'm looking for a "query critique" group... anyone know of one? I'm on my fourth draft of this bad boy and it still doesn't have the "special hook." I've taken a class, and had it…"

21 minutes ago