Social trends change and we need to get used to different etiquette rules to survive in the jungle of social media. People either get to like us or we simply annoy them, like with any other form of communication. We may offend people and put them off by not following some basic rules of polite behavior on Twitter.

Below I have listed my own practical tips on how to use Twitter in a way that will avoid irritating our potential valuable followers. I hope this list will make things easier for all of us.

1. Conversation tool, not a spamming tool

So don’t spam, don’t be too pushy, ask questions, listen to what others have to say and engage in discussions. Be interested in how others are doing, saying, or suggesting. You are more interesting to other people when you are also interested in them.

2. Quality, not quantity

Tweet valuable things, for example; links to interesting & useful blog posts, links to relevant resources such as tutorials & freebies, and actively contribute to your community. You won’t get many followers by tweeting inappropriate messages 15 times during the day. Messages like  “I’ve just had bath” don’t add much value to the Twitter world, and lets face it, you wouldn’t dream of doing this in a real life situation at the next networking meeting you attend, twitter is no different apart from the potential for your message to reach a much larger audience.

3. Do not over tweet; tweets should be at least 15 min apart

Followers who are alerted via text messages get annoyed with constant messages from the same person, and if they are busy checking the website link you just tweeted, they will miss your other tweets while viewing your first, so leave enough time in between your tweets. Maintain a proper balance in the amount of tweets, trying not to tweet more than 15 times during one day unless it’s really something outstanding.

4. Twitter is a public zone

Be careful what you post because once you post the message on Twitter or other social networks it will be there. Take full responsibility for what you are posting.

5. Rules of politeness apply

Try to say thank you for re-twitting your messages and for responding to your questions. Imagine it like a normal conversation; you would use manners so the same should apply here.

6. Follow back

It’s acceptable not to follow somebody back and there might be a variety of reasons for this. It doesn’t instantly mean “I don’t like you”. Don’t feel guilty. However it is polite to follow back as you risk losing this follower if the decide to un-follow you due to you not following them back.

7. Stealing tweets

If you retweet a message always include the original source e.g. RT @pmdesignweb. If this is a retweet of RT already you can skip the secondary source but still mention the original author.

8. Self-promotion

If you don’t contribute any valuable content except for links to your products, deals, new blog posts, events and requests to vote for you on various portals you will soon be forgotten. If you want to come across as credible and community-minded, remember to promote others as well. The only exception is when you set up an account named after your product or service, which provokes different expectations among followers, if they have chosen to follow you here then they will expect to receive tweets about your products and any special offers you may have.

9. Overdoing it

Not every Direct Message requires your response. You are not obliged to respond to each and every @mention or read every tweet. To help you keep track of what is happening in a Twitter stream, you can use service such as Tweet Deck. But be careful since the power here lies in the interaction and if you are too passive you will lose followers. Similarly, if you decide to unfollow a person you don’t need to send the notification.

10. Private conversations, via direct messages

Don’t spam people with conversations about your husband or wife and where you are going out tonight. These updates are completely irrelevant for the community. And if you tweet more then two @replies, it should also be moved to a direct message. Basically, if I’m not involved in this conversation I don’t want to be spammed with your private matters.

11. Avatar and a short bio

People like to see who they’re talking to.  It shows you’re a human being and enables to easily find you via the twitter search facility.

12. Grammar and punctuation

It helps if we can understand what you mean. Don’t overuse abbreviations such as 4U etc. To save space stick to contractions whenever possible and use numerals when inserting a number in to your tweet, not words for numbers.

13. Don’t cross-post on social media

Don’t post the same thing to different services. Nobody wants to receive the same message multiple times only because they follow you on multiple services. If you treat Twitter communication seriously and want to get the best out of it, try to stick to the above rules, especially if this is a company account and part of your marketing and branding strategy.

Twitter has proved to be very useful but only for those who know how to handle it in a proper manner.

Do you follow any other important rules when communicating on Twitter or any other social media site? Share it with us!

About The Author:

Pawel Martuszewski

Pawel Martuszewski the founder of Web Design Tutorials - PM Design is also a Web Designer and Developer, SEO Expert, Marketing Specialist and Internet Guru, working as a Senior Designer for media design company, and Freelancing from home. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Linkedin profile.