A Meaningful Tweet

Some days I like Twitter a lot. Other days I try to remember, why am I following all these people? Do I have anything worthwhile to tell them, are they interested in connecting to me? Here are some ideas about how to get Twitter to work for you. Whatever your interests may be.

1) RT or ReTweet. If you see ‘RT @soandso with more text here and possibly a link’, that is called a ReTweet. You can do one, too! What a nice way to compliment what someone wrote. Try it, it’s easy and social.

2) Left Brain vs. Right Brain Tweets. If you are representing an organization or business in your Tweets, you may need to only Tweet what I call “left brain” tweets: always on topic, consistent in what types of Tweets the public will see. One of my friends who is an expert at these “left brain” tweets is @adoramalearn: follow him if you have any interest in photography at all. You won’t be disappointed.

However, if you have flexibility in how you write your Tweets, you might want to try what I call “right brain” Tweets. Tweet about topics not directly related to your profession or business. This is sort of like talking sports at a business luncheon. You don’t want to overdo the sports talk; on the other hand, you might get your luncheon guest to relax if you talk football instead of marketing for a bit. (Warning: talking to me about sports won’t work too well; I just don’t get spectator sports).

I follow some health twitterers, such as @twitterbo and @ihealthtube. I also follow other moms and dads; when you have kids, there is always a common topic to discuss!

Tweetdeck is a good tool for those who follow a large variety of Tweeters. You can group the tweets as you like, so it’s easier to find the ones on certain topics. For example, I put the web design and development Tweeters in a group called Tech n Design. I especially enjoy a good design tutorial; there’s always some new approach to learn.

3) Using your 140 characters. Try to fill up your tweet with key words. Let’s say you are writing about art. You may want to use the words ‘watercolor’ or ‘paint’ or ‘painting’ or any other descriptive words. I once tweeted about my daughter’s ballet rehearsal, and a ballerina started following me! Hash tags can be useful, too; you can find lists of hash tags (key words with a # in front, such as #toptenmovies) on the hash tag site.

4) Use search to find others Tweeting your topic. I searched for ‘library’ and ‘librarian’ one day and found others who are librarians or work for libraries (I do the website for the Highland Park Public Library).

If you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m @leoraw.

Thank you to @idangazit, someone I have only “met” through Twitter, who suggested the following when composing a meaningful tweet:
Hemingway’s six-word story (“For sale: baby shoes, never used”) would be worth referencing.