It’s a great feeling when someone goes out of their way to recognize you as a resource for great insight and connection on Twitter. Recognition for being someone worth following is great for those trying to figure out the point of Twitter.

However, the common practice for a typical #followfriday tweet is to pack as many of your favorite followers into 140 as possible. While this strategy is great for pinging people in your network to let them know you’re thinking of them, it also can appear cheap and potentially a little off putting if the group of folks you include don’t have much in common.

Now, it’s rare that folks are actually offended by being included in a #followfriday. Most do in fact love to be included and recognized in some way by their followers. Some may even get a few new followers because of the referral.

As with most situations in life, however, #followfriday offers people the opportunity to cut through the noise with valuable tweets that create signal and meaning for folks.

The #1 Secret to Follow Friday Success
Something folks love even more than simply having their Twitter handle included in a mass #ff tweet is when someone devotes an entire tweet to something they specifically peg as a reason to follow somebody.

By taking an extra five minutes to break apart your #ff tweets and doing individual #ff tweets instead, you’re showing your followers that you value something specific about what they’re doing. It’s another level of respect you’re paying forward to the folks you value in your Twitter stream.

Rules
1) Use the entire 120 or so characters (How to Get Retweeted – The Formula) to describe something specific and amazing about the people whose tweets you value the most. For my handle (@dayneshuda) I can get away with leaving 15 characters available.

2) Include #ff

3) Include a Website (preferably the actual URL vs. a shortened version…for branding)

4) Give a specific reason for people to follow

Examples

Benefits of Going the Extra Mile
I’ve been trying to do this each Friday (although I do miss some) for some of my favorite folks on Twitter and the response has been wonderful and more than I could have imagined.

The folks that I highlight in detailed #followfridays are generally very thankful to be highlighted in a specific way. They seem to appreciate that someone takes the time to recognize their hard work in a field or for being a great friend and someone worth following because of their personality.

Sometimes in response (but never expected) folks have responded with similar, detailed tweets about me. It’s a nice little bonus for making the gesture.

What about your #ff experiences?

Do you leave detailed #ff tweets or the more popular styled #ff tweets?

What are some pros and cons of each?

Related articles on Twitip

#followfriday Revolution

Did @PhilBaumann Just Save Follow Friday?

Follow Friday; Too Much of a Good Thing?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



The #1 Secret to Follow Friday Success

It’s not the first time I’ve had the question asked, so I thought what better way to answer it than by sharing it with everyone here on Twitip.

Absolutes Don’t Exist

I’ll first be honest in saying that there isn’t a black and white answer, and this isn’t something that can be solved without testing. Too many people treat Twitter with black and white answers… with absolutes.

But there aren’t any absolutes.

Instead of looking for a perfect answer, why not claim every name that interests you and play around with them?

The task of playing around with multiple usernames on TweetDeck might be enough to convince you that you can’t manage more than one.

Or…

In playing with one for each niche, you find that it’s perfect for what you’re trying to do.

My Questions

But you still need help getting there, so let’s start with a few basic questions…

Do you plan on selling the associated domain at any time?

If so, then I recommend creating a new account for your domain/niche. Many companies will want the associated Twitter account when it comes time to sell, and at worst, it creates an additional asset that you can use to beef up the valuation of your web property.

Are we comparing apples or oranges?

If you’re trying to decide if you should have a different Twitter name for two different websites in the same niche, then I saw why not create an umbrella that owns them both and then start Tweeting from there?

If you’re trying to decide whether you should use one name for your personal blog and another for your basketweaving website, then I’ll ask you this… do you talk about basket weaving on your blog?

If not, then go with 2… at least try them. If you do, then you’re good with your own name.

Are you cross-linking your websites?

Look, if you plan on linking them all together anyway, then I don’t see any sense in creating one for each website. You’ve got enough on your plate as it is, and I’m guessing that the content will cross over between the two…so save yourself some effort and keep it under a single umbrella.

If you aren’t associating the websites with each other, then you either need to use your name as a global brand, or create one for each niche.

That being said… how effective is it to create a Twitter name for fencing swords? I’m not sure…why not play around and find out?

Common Sense Prevails

I’d like to sit here and pretend that I hold the keys to Twitter salvation, but the truth is that there aren’t any keys.

The best way to figure out what works, not only for you, but for your business, is to get out and try it. Only you know what works for you…and unless you spend time seeing if Virginia Bed and Breakfasts can attract a Twitter following, then how will you know?

Regardless of what these “social media experts” tell you, there isn’t a right answer. We’re still early on in the game, and things are changing rapidly. What worked yesterday might not work tomorrow… so keep that in mind. Be flexible, be fluid, and be patient.

Do that, and you’ll be just fine.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



One Name or Two? Let’s Find Out

As with any new tool or fancy gadget it is imperative that you undertake all of the necessary research first to find out if it is right for you, but also what benefit you can expect from your investment in time and money. You won’t just go buy any 52″ LCD TV now will you? Social Media is no different. I myself was totally against joining Twitter when I was first introduced to it, however my skepticism of it “being a waste of time” was quickly shot down.

Here is a list of why I now value Twitter so highly:

1. Build a network of contacts within your industry that you never had access to or knew about before, not just locally, but globally.
2. Share your knowledge and expertise on a global basis.
3. Discover new opinions and thoughts from like minded people in your industry, locally and globally.
4. Great way to engage with future clients, the Twitter community are a very approachable bunch.
5. Great way to engage with current clients.
6. Build your company reputation through constant engagement and quality content.
7. Build your personal reputation as a thought leader and industry specialist.
8. When it’s organized, great way to meet your network through Tweet-ups and like minded events, building your personal contacts and forging friendships.
9. Your Network will bend over backwards to help you with things that you never would have expected. Trust me, it’s true.
10. Listen, watch and learn. You don’t have to contribute 24/7, there is great learning to be had just by watching your feed sometimes.
11. It’s FUN!

If that is not enough reasons then maybe Twitter isn’t for you. But if it is, what are you waiting for?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Why Should I Be On Twitter?

1. Tweet, often and honestly.

That doesn’t necessary mean you tell the truth it just means tweet things from the heart, things that you care about, things that amuse or entertain you or, if you must, things that will get a re-action.

2. Follow

Find people you like and follow them. It doesn’t have to be famous people, just ones that say things you can connect with. They might follow you back!

3. Don’t Tweet because you want more followers!

There are millions of Twitterers, they will follow you because they like what you say in 140 characters, not because you’re trying to sell yourself or other stuff.

4. Show people cool stuff.

Stupid photos, interesting links, things that make you smile or angry, music tracks (see blip.fm) and other peoples blogs!

5. Re-tweet.

Seen a Tweet you like? Make sure others know about it. That’s what makes the Twittersphere go round.

6. Respond

You don’t have to re-tweet everything, but letting people know you’re there and like what they say is always good, so hit reply. Don’t worry if they don’t answer back – it’s not about how they interact with you, but how you interact with them.

7. Block and move on

Don’t get sucked into a flame war. While it’s good to have people with different opinions on your follow list, there’s no need to put up with those you find offensive or annoying. That’s what blocks for.

8. Use hashtags (when necessary)

Hashtags are excellent for grouping comments together. Why is this important? It makes it easier to find items on similar themes; it also helps identify what are the most important issues on twitter (Trending topics).

And finally and most importantly:

9. Its not just about your blog.

When people follow me, I like to follow them back if, and only if, I like what they are tweeting. The number of times I’ve been to individual twitter pages to just find no other interaction, no re-tweets, no hashtags just a Tweets of “Hey, new post today!” Why would I want to read that?

I do, because of Twitter, read other people’s blogs when they post. Why? Because they interact, they communicate, they re-tweet, they hashtag; basically they get out there and are part of the community and I find what they have to say interesting.

In conclusion, Twitter is all about interaction. I only started to blog because of Twitter, I found I had more to say and 140 characters is not enough sometimes. I hope people read it, hey that’s surely the point of blogging, but that’s not why I Tweet. Yes it’s handy for letting people know I’ve blogged a new post (and it’s worth retweeting several times, such is the transitory nature of Twitter) but if that’s all it becomes about, then maybe Twitter isn’t for you.

Note: Have I missed anything? Let me know and follow me at @fatmanslimming

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



9 Ways To Get The Most From Twitter

Let’s start off as if you are starting with a fresh profile. What is the first thing that you do when starting a twitter account? That is right, pick a name…

Picking a user name and actual name: Your twitter user name should include the keyword that you wish to rank high in. For example, if you want people to find your Twitter profile when they search for cupcakes, make sure that ‘cupcakes’ is in your name. @XYZcupcakes would be an appropriate example. It is usually a good idea not to use any dashes, make it short and easy to remember.

Next, with your actual name you can use your actual name, or take a step further and include the keyword again if it is appropriate (this doesn’t help with personalizing your account to you though). If you already have an account, you can fix this by logging into your Twitter account and clicking “Settings”. From there, change your ‘Name’. Do not change your ‘Username’.

What to do with your website URL…

Make sure not to use a link that has been shortened by using a shortner like bit.ly. Do however, get rid of the “www” because Twitter will only show the first 20 characters, it will help in allowing people to see the link before they click on it. If you need to change this, go into your Twitter account and click “settings”. From there go to the “Account” page and scroll halfway down the page.

Next is your bio…

This should be easy to include your keywords again. Make sure that your personality can shine through, but be short simple and to the point. You only have 160 characters and don’t waste them on words that have no search value. Consider this a to-the-point snapshot of who you are and how you want to be perceived and also is what a lot of people use to determine if they are going to follow you or not (but, only if they are interested in a real give and take twitter relationship). Keep in mind that Google will sometimes include your location in this. Make sure that you give a good location.You can fix this by logging into your Twitter account and clicking “Settings”. From there, change your “One Line Bio”.

You can even SEO your Twitter pic (avatar)…

Yes, you can even SEO your profile picture! You can’t add tags but, you can rename the photo before you upload it that way when it shows up in the URL it will have the keywords that you named. Be careful not to add spaces. Doing that will not translate the link very well. I don’t recommend changing your profile picture but, I would recommend changing the name of the profile picture and re-uploading it. You can do this by clicking on “Settings” and then “Picture”.

Burn Baby Burn…

Burn Your Twitter feed: Why would you want to use an RSS feed for Twitter? Well, by using RSS, people can subscribe to your posts (and in this case Tweets) and get instant feeds sent to them. Just like a blogger would use RSS feeds to increase their popularity with search engines and help draw traffic to their blogs, you can use RSS feeds to do the same for your Twitter account. So, how do you go about doing this you say? I will show you how to set this up in Google FeedBurner.

First you go to FeedBurner. If you have a gmail account you can sign in with this. Otherwise, sign up for a new account.

Next, in a different window open up your Twitter account and scroll down to the middle of your Twitter page and click on the RSS feed icon. Next go to the top of the page and copy the URL. (It should look similar to this: http://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline/104933666)

Next, paste it into FeedBurner. Then make sure that you add your user name and password so that it won’t be locked when people try and look at the feeds (Use the same format as the highlighted text: http://username:password@twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/15473972.rss). Click next and you have just RSS’d your twitter profile!

Last, go through the dashboard and choose important options for your chosen use of your feed. You can share widgets, add pictures, set up a title for the feed and make sure that it pings (connects) with search engines.

Tweet This…

Make sure that your tweets contains keywords and phrases that you want search engines to pick up. Also, make sure to occasionally use #hashtags. Search engines are already ranking these and this will also help tweeps find you in Twitter search.

You’re My Favorite…

Twitter Favorites with Keywords: Make sure that some of your favorite tweets contain keywords, key phrases and relevant links.

Tiny?

Tinyurl.com your links. By Using a shortener like Tinyurl, search engines will recognize the link and rank them.

Build it and They will Come…

By actively following other and having others follow you, you increase awareness with search engines.

The Missing Link…

This is probably the most important part of your Twitter SEO. Make sure that you are submitting your Twitter profile and RSS feeds to directories. Also, be sure to add your twitter user name in blog posts and forums. This will allow you to get noticed by more people, more often, resulting in a larger and diverse following and higher page ranks.

Congratulations – You now have one of the most searchable profiles on Twitter!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Turn Your Twitter Profile Page into an SEO Masterpiece

How To Get Ideas
Good names don’t just appear magically! You have to evaluate different candidates and to do this you can combine different words and/or expressions which are related to either you or your product. If you need some help to explore naming possibilities, go and try Visual Thesaurus, an interactive tool that allows you to discover the connections between words and concepts you’re thinking about. You can get inspiration by adding something to an already established keyword (you can add other roots, affixes or find rhymes with this tool) or by “looking” at your words with a visual dictionary.

Be Unique
You must distinguish yourself somehow, and a unique name is one of the things that can help you. Would Starbucks have been so successful if its name was “Coffee Lovers”? Go and take a zero Google match, one or two words nobody has ever thought about. It would be great to have the same name across different social platforms: a good way to ensure that your dream name is available in major websites is Namechk, which allows you check the availability of your desired username in a few seconds.

To Understand or not to Understand?
Many people think that a good name should be a plain description of what you or your product are: fashiongeek, elearninguru, learnkanji, sellmore etc. Others think your priority must be a catchy name with exotic orthography and strange spelling, like Zymbraa, Goyoyix, Japnya or something like that. I think there is no rigid rule: probably if you are an independent user it is better to be unique, but one should seek a balance between catchiness and understandability according to the aim of your online activity. Your name should be appealing to your intended audience, so don’t call your dental plate firm “Teeth”.

People Must Remember
Many web names are great, but they are not successful. Why? You have to make sure your name will be remembered, otherwise the girl you met at the airport won’t find you on Twitter, and you will not sell a copy of your new ebook! According to my personal experience as a web user, these are good name patterns for a web name:

1. [NOUN] [NOUN] – where there is a unusual combination of terms; example: Rocket Ranch.
2. BLEND – again, the combination must be unusual and unattested! example: Listorious
3. [NOUN or clipped noun]+[verbal suffix] – These names are excellent “calls to action”; example: Domize

Think About Other Languages
One common mistake in naming is not considering how your candidate name sounds in other languages. The name of a famous medicinal tea company means “(s)he uses drugs” in Italian: needless to say, no market in Italy! Especially if you are going international, take the time to ask around some non-English speaker what they think about your name. Sometimes, the finest word in one language can be the worst swearword in another.

Happy Naming!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



5 Naming Tips For Your New Twitter Account

Twitter is a bright, shiny universe of new friends, new ideas, hilarious little snippets and occasionally even a spot of news. It’s a great way to promote your blog or your business. But if your primary purpose on twitter is promotion and not to connect with other people – abandon ship. Twitter is not for you. Ulterior motives don’t do well. They result in one action: UNFOLLOW. Mistakes are easy when you start out. After all, no-one is updating their status – they’re engaging with one another! And that’s confusing – is it private or can you join in? How do you make the most of it and have fun? Well for starters you could avoid the most irritating twitter behaviours. And before you start trawling through my twitter stream – yes I have committed most of them.

1. Gluttony (Over-Sharing)
Do not, I repeat do not over-share. Do you really want to know about someone else’s digestive problems? I didn’t think so. When you went into graphic detail about your gastric flu did you consider all the people reading your tweets while they were eating? Your followers should be wanting to know more about you, not less.

2. Pride (Over-Promotion)
People get pretty sick of you if all they here are continual, duplicated plugs for whatever it is that you’re promoting. The argument that some of your followers may have missed it because of the timing doesn’t hold water. It’s extremely irritating to see exactly the same tweet repeated. Get creative and find a way to send the same link in a different way. For example “my loyal follower has just commented at my blog, what do you think?” And yes over-promotion includes blathering about blog stats, follower numbers or fans.

3. Sloth (Automatic Anything)
Anything that is automated means that you don’t care enough to make it personal. This includes automated DM messages for new followers, an automatic tweet in response to keywords or an auto-follow in response to keywords. This puts you squarely into the spambot category. If you don’t want to spend the time on twitter to be personal, don’t bother at all.

4. Greed (Not Engaging)
Things get pretty boring pretty fast if all you do is update your status, post links, post pictures and promote your blog. In order for people to care about any of that, you need to engage with them. This involves replying when something sparks your interest, or you think you can be of help; re-tweeting where you can add value; and getting involved in the discussion.

5. Envy (Crashing the Party)
Work out the difference between joining the discussion and crashing someone’s private conversation. If a tweet starts with @user it generally means it’s not for public debate because if the author wanted everyone they follow to see it there would be another character in front of the @user to make it visible to everyone. But if you really want to participate in the discussion at the very least acknowledge that you’re crashing. It’s less douchey that way.

6. Wrath (Blasting)
I don’t care how passionate you are about your topic, there is no excuse for blasting. There is nothing wrong with how passionate you are and that passion will probably lead you to find many like-minded people on twitter. But (and it’s a big but), ramming your opinion down someone else’s throat when they don’t agree with you is no way to promote your cause or yourself – particularly if you haven’t taken the time to get to know the person at the end of your rant. I’m sorry activists but twitter isn’t really designed for you because you end up unleashing the bulk of your argument about a theory on one person. Not really fair is it?

7. Lust (Celebrity Stalking)
Everyone loves to follow a celebrity or two. Nothing wrong with that. Although fair warning if you follow @mrskutcher and @aplusk you will have to witness some pretty treacly interchanges. It’s not the celebrity part that is the problem it’s all of their followers. If you say anything at all that could be vaguely interpreted as negative, be prepared for all of their followers to be all over you like a rash. In part because celebrities are so idolised but mostly because deep down their followers are thinking that by attacking you, ‘the hater’, the celebrity will acknowledge them, and might actually follow them back. So avoid the lemmings, they’re not worth it.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



7 Deadly Sins of Twitter

Twitter is a lot like the wild west of social media. The venue is relatively new, many people are unfamiliar with the etiquette and an even larger number of people could care less about the few rules in place. Which is why I am quick to my trigger and hit the block or unfollow button the minute people’s poor Twitter manners cross my path.

Here are six ways to become a Twitter pariah with me (and I imagine a lot of other people):

1) Send out offers on how to increase Twitter followers. Especially if you have less followers than me. Come on.

2) Repeat the same self-promoting tweet over and over. One follower I have seems to repeat the same tweet every time I sign on about something I couldn’t care less about if I tried. We get it, you don’t need to tell us about this “incredible  limited time offer” eight million times. Obviously, the offer can’t be too incredible or limited if you’re tweeting about it every time I sign on.

3) Send me porn. Only on the web do you have complete strangers offering you free pornography. I’ve never been walking down the street and bombarded by sexy women throwing themselves at me, though I would have killed for that when I was a teenager. Spam, viruses and shadiness aside, porn on Twitter is just plain tacky.

4) Send me a link to your business without having ever tweeted to me before. Nothing makes me hate you more than a blatant and unsolicited tweet to “check out” your site. Seriously, every time I get one of these, I secretly hope that whoever sent it is cursed by a disease which prevents them from typing. This is bad, not to mention, lazy marketing. Unless I am asking for information about the product you’re selling, keep your tweets to yourself.

5) Tweet only slightly less than you breathe. Seriously, if I’m looking at your avatar every time I open TweetDeck, you’re tweeting too much. Go for a walk or crack open a book, just take a break. And PLEASE, don’t tweet, “Off to take a break from Twitter.” Just go.

6) Act like a robot. It’s okay to use an automation tool here or there, but if your Twitter feed is being run by Skynet, people can tell. I want a human on the other side of the tweets, not a robot scheduled to say “something funny” at 12:06.

In the real world, it isn’t so easy to put up with the personalities that annoy us. On Twitter it is as easy as the click of a button. Make sure you are tweeting in the way you would expect others to tweet.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Six Quick Ways to Becoming a Twitter Pariah

A subtly confusing aspect of Twitter, even for people who have been using the service for a while, is understanding the differences between replies, mentions and direct messages. These concepts are confusing because they’re different than E-mail and aren’t necessarily the same as on other social networks like Facebook. The goal of this piece is to help well-meaning people from inadvertently annoying others on Twitter, or worse, accidentally sharing private information publicly.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series about replies, mentions and direct messages in terms of how they’re used from the Twitter web interface (Read part one here). Today we’ll talk about mentions and direct messages.

Mentions
A mention is when a Twitter @username is included anywhere within a tweet. Think of it as a way of tagging someone in your tweet. For example “I can’t think of a wine shop that uses Twitter more effectively than @BinEndsWine“.

Every user who follows you will see this tweet because it doesn’t begin with an @. Each user mentioned in the tweet will see it in their Twitter feed -and- it will also appear in their list of “Tweets mentioning”.

How to use mentions:

Mentions are a great way to flatter people and to endorse other Twitter users. They’re also a great way to critique a business in such a way that your followers see it -and- it catches the business’s attention.

For example, if I wanted to give Comcast grief for not fixing my sister-in-law’s cable television service I could say “Hey @ComcastCares, I’m really bummed to hear that you’re not taking care of @DCSas. Step it up!” Comcast would see this, my sister-in-law would see this -and- everyone who follows me would see it.

How not to use mentions:

Unless you’re sure that you’d like all of your followers to see your response to another Twitter user, it’s better to use a reply than a mention.

Things you may not have known about mentions:

• Twitter itself didn’t always support a “Tweets mentioning” mechanism, however several Twitter clients have for quite a while. People generally want to know when people are talking about them so it makes sense that Twitter now collects mentions to make it easy for us to see what people are saying about us.
• Mentions are subtly powerful. Facebook recently implemented the ability to mention people in a status update as well.
• If someone mentions your username without “@” you will not see it appear as a mention. Sometimes, when someone has something negative to tweet about a business or a person and they don’t want the other party to know, they might intentionally leave off the “@” -or- mention you by name instead. There are ways to “listen harder” on Twitter if you’re keenly interested in knowing what people are saying about you.

Direct Messages

A direct message is a private form of communication between two Twitter users. There are several different ways to send a direct message. The most common is to click on a username in your Twitter feed and then on the right side of the page you’ll see a hyperlink to “message”:

Click on that and a box will appear that will allow you to type a message that will only be visible to that user and will not appear on the public timeline:

You can also send a direct message by beginning a tweet with “D username”.

How to use direct messages:

Direct messages are great for when you want to keep certain information private, like your E-mail address, phone number, or the fact that you’re out of town.

How not to use direct messages:

Direct messages aren’t threaded in any way, so if you’re replying to something someone said with a direct message, always provide context.

You can only send direct messages to someone who follows you. If you would like to send someone a direct message in response to a request they’ve made for a response via direct message, it’s acceptable to send them a reply requesting they follow you so you can send them a direct message. But understand that this restriction is in place to avoid people getting spam direct messages they don’t want.

Things you may not have known about direct messages:

• There are services that people use that trigger automatic direct messages whenever someone follows them. Be aware of this when sending someone an authentic direct message shortly after someone has begun following you as it may be mistaken for an automated message. If you really want to thank someone for following you, consider a reply mentioning why you followed them or respond authentically to something they say.
• The default setting on Twitter is that a direct message triggers an E-mail notification. Consider whether your direct message is urgent enough and in need of privacy. A reply may be more appropriate.
• Some people think that Twitter direct messages could eventually replace text messages.

Question of the Day: What other nuances about about mentions and direct messages weren’t obvious to you when you first started using Twitter?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Concise Guide to Understanding Replies, Mentions and Direct Messages on Twitter – Part 2 of 2

A subtly confusing aspect of Twitter, even for people who have been using the service for a while, is understanding the differences between replies, mentions and direct messages. These concepts are confusing because they’re different than E-mail and aren’t necessarily the same as on other social networks like Facebook. The goal of this piece is to help well-meaning people from inadvertently annoying others on Twitter, or worse, accidentally sharing private information publicly.

This piece describes replies, mentions and direct messages in terms of how they’re used from the Twitter web interface. Once you understand how things work on Twitter’s website it’s easy to map these things to use within Twitter clients like TweetDeck or TwitterBerry.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Today we’ll talk about replies:

Replies

In it’s simplest form, a reply occurs when you see something that another user has tweeted and you want to respond to it in a public way. A reply is any tweet that starts with “@” followed by a user name.

For example, if I wanted to respond to the following tweet I’d click on the reply button:

…and then the Twitter “What are you doing?” box changes to a “Reply to” box and the text is populated with “@makerstable:

I’d then fill out my reply and click the reply button to send the tweet:

@makerstable would then see this tweet appear in her Twitter feed -and- it would also appear in her list of “Tweets mentioning @makerstable”. This last point is important because “Tweets mentioning” or “mentions” for short provide a way for users to notice the tweets that are most important to them- tweets about themselves!

A reply doesn’t necessarily need to be a response to a specific tweet. It can be simply a message to a specific Twitter user. For example, if I simply wanted to ask someone on Twitter a question I could say “@BostonTweet Who makes the best burrito in Boston?” Further, the person you’re targeting with the reply doesn’t even need to be someone you follow on Twitter. You can reply to anyone and it doesn’t even need to be a response to something specific they’ve said recently.

When you reply to a user, that tweet is viewable to everyone on Twitter. However, it will only appear on other users’ Twitter feeds if they are following the person that the tweet starts with. Say for example you follow @makerstable in the example above. You would see my tweet that was a reply to her in your Twitter feed. If you weren’t following @makerstable, you would not. Either way, if you viewed all of my tweets (by clicking on my username in Twitter) you’d see this tweet.

How to use replies:

Replies are a great way to engage people on Twitter. It lets people know that you’re listening to what they’re saying and not just following their updates. It’s also a great way to respond to people who aren’t following you but have asked a question that you might be able to help with. Say you own a wine shop and you sell a particular wine. You could create a Twitter search for that wine and when you noticed someone tweet “Does anyone know of a wine store in Boston that sells Cakebread?” You could reply to them and let them know that you do. Using Twitter as a lazyweb can be powerful.

How not to use replies:

It’s not really that useful to frequently reply “ha!” “lol!” or “so true!” to something someone has said. This can be annoying when a group of people with similar interests follow each other and your well intentioned tweets begin to fill up someone’s Twitter feed. Also, it’s not a good idea to reply without providing context. Twitter has a notion of threaded conversations, but it also moves pretty fast so it’s a good idea to reply with context as to which tweet you’re responding to. Instead of “lol!” say “@mnik That’s hilarious! Whenever I hear the word ‘webinar’ I cringe too.”

Important points to remember about replies:

• Replies don’t necessarily need to be responses to something specific someone has said
• Replies are public so be careful what you say
• You can reply to someone even if you’re not following them
• Limit the use of inconsequential replies. Some people don’t like it when Twitter is used as a chat room.

Question of the Day: What other nuances about about replies weren’t obvious to you when you first started using Twitter?

[Read Part 2 of this post here]

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Concise Guide to Understanding Replies, Mentions and Direct Messages on Twitter – Part 1 of 2