A blank slate. Many social psychologists believe that the human starts off with a blank slate. Regardless of your ideology, every relationship does begin with a blank ledger. Let me explain.
Social Media is about many things, one of which is building relationships. How to start that building is often debated.
“Relationships take time. If you try to shortcut social media, you’re shortcutting relationship building.”
Scott is right. Relationships are built over time. Being the logical person that I am, I came to the conclusion that Twitter is about trust and tweeted it on September 25, 2012.
Twitter is about relationships. Relationships are about trust. Therefore, Twitter is about trust. cc: @Carol_Stephen
In our digital age it’s easy to either be naive (an oversharer) or paranoid (incomplete profile). It’s true that occasionally you do run into people like Terry Rantula, as Carol Stephen describes in her post, “Social Media: Do You Really Know Your Friends?” But should that be the determining factor in our social media strategy?
But there is an element of style in the retweet. Style in tweeting is like jeans – there’s a fit for everyone. Quote Tweets or Quote posts are still fine. They have limitations. And to each their own.
1. Old School RT
Why would someone post on X with the prefix “RT?”
When Twitter originally started, there was no button to retweet. Users came up with the syntax — et voilà. We’re used to it — us old schoolers.
This is traditionally done by clicking reply on a tweet, copying the text of the original tweet, and pasting after the user’s name. Then you put “RT” in the front of the tweet and click send.
Copy/paste FTW!
Hootsuite and Tweetdeck (as well as their rival third party apps) have buttons that make this much easier. In Hootsuite, however, you have to change the settings for this retweet style to be activated. Well, maybe not anymore. I haven’t used Hootsuite since 2023.
On X (Twitter) this is called “Quote Tweet.” I still don’t get why they don’t have that option on the web version, but I digress.
You may have seen “MT” at the beginning of a post on X. What is it? It means “Modified Tweet.”
If the original tweet is very much longer than 120 characters, you may have to edit the tweet to get under the character limit. If you do this, then put MT instead of RT and use an ellipsis (…) where the text is cut off.
Another good use case for “MT” as a prefix is to thank the original poster but include the context.
This is a hybrid between the comment and the hat tip. Especially if the tweet has a link, I may use a quote or something in an article that I like better than the original tweet’s text but still want to give credit. When I do this, I usually add the website or author’s Twitter handle, if known. I may even add an appropriate hashtag.
You saw the link somewhere else (Facebook, G+, Instagram, et al) but still want to give this user source credit. Use the hat tip by adding “h/t @username” at the end.
“Do I buy followers?” No. In fact, most of the time people can tell when you have bought followers, as my colleague Carol Stephen describes in her post here. This strategy sort of backfired for former Speaker of the House and Presidential Candidate, Newt Gingrich, too.
Twitter is one of the major spokes in the social media wheel. Social media, people seem to forget, is about being social.
During the question and answer period of the Digital Influence panel at ACEC California’s April Conference, I was asked what the best practice for Twitter is.
This continues the conversation the original tweeter intended, presumably, when they sent the tweet in the first place. Awkward sentence? Sure. But the point is that Twitter is a conversation. By that logic, every tweet is potentially a conversation starter.
Live tweeting at events is quite fun and has a lot of benefits. Most recently I tweeted during the classes I took at Orange County’s WordCamp (#wcoc), June 1, 2013.
Personally, I love it. I type fast, it’s a fun way to sort of force myself to pay attention, too.
Live tweeting a great way to pickup followers, promote an event, and engage with other attendees.
These tips are applicable whether it’s a live webcast, a class, a press event, or a class. Anytime there is a public speech, you can live tweet.
Why Tweet quotes?
Quotes grab us. It’s a great way to tweet out the same content without having the same tweet.
You can tweet from live radio interviews, tweet from archived videos, tweet from debates, etc.
How is this done?
It helps if you can type 60 wpm or more and have an actual keyboard. But you can do it on a mobile device, too.
Live tweeting at events, using the event hashtag, is a great way to meet new people. (That's why you're on Twitter, right?) #GuruTweet
If there is an official hashtag for the event use it. If you’re hosting the event, make the hashtag known. If there isn’t a hashtag, make one up; use your best judgement. Short and to the point is good.
For example, I was part of the Digital Influence panel in April. There was no hashtag. We went with #DigitalInfluence.
If there is a class within a conference, use the an appropriate hashtag. For example for the class “WordPress 101” I used #WP101.
Form:
Use quotation marks. Use proper grammar. Use the speaker’s Twitter handle. Use the hashtag.
If you feel uneasy about tweeting straightaway, type the quote into a text file for later.
I like to open a text file and put the speaker’s twitter handle and hashtag (eg. @WebTW #WP101 #WCOC) there for cut/paste. I simply copy it. After I type the quote, I paste. It helps if you know the keyboard shortcuts, too (CTRL+C / CTRL+V). This makes it quite fast and efficient to live tweet.
Disclaimer: If you type (or find) the wrong handle, for example, like I did (twice this weekend), all of your tweets will be wrong with the cut and paste method. And all of your retweets will be wrong. Proofread. I could kick myself for getting a bunch of them wrong.
My favorite tool for this is TweetChat.com. With Twitter’s API changes, you never know how long services like this will be available. If all else fails, setup a column in Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to see the other tweets.
If you don’t have time to respond to others’ tweets, favorite them to respond later. Remember, one of the goals is to meet new people and form new bonds. Follow people back and maybe even put them on a list.
Respond to Others:
Find other people tweeting and retweet them. I recommend old-school retweets, but if you’ve been reading this blog, you know that.
Twitter only allows you to tweet 1,000 times a day which works out to 40 times an hour. Thanking and retweeting will take up some of your tweets, so be cautious.
