Thursday, April 29, 2010

Twitter do's and don'ts from a twitter snob

These are my own personal tips for twitter snobs. For lack of a better word.. I sometimes feel as if I am one! For those of you who tweet whatever you want and don't care, please know I follow you because I want to and I follow you because I enjoy. There are plenty of times I can relate or agree! I will not stop following you and after this I hope you will not stop following me!

However since I believe in the.... "once the cyber words are out there.."... rule... (That's my story and I'm stickin to it...) I realized these things sticking out in my mind.

I jotted down list of things and wanted to share. Intended totally for thought and not to criticize. I mean no judgment and encourage input...

First let me say, yes I AM the daughter of a retired school teacher (they never stop teaching by the way). I make my share of mistakes, but I find a few things equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. To take a minute and think about what you post.. can make all the difference in how the world views you.. You are projecting your impression on the world. I read my own page. I look at it as my creation because that is what it is. If I smile when I look at it I feel and hope that other people will too.

My chalkboard nails:

The opposite of tight is loose. The opposite of win is lose. This can really ruin a good tweet. I'll read a beautifully inspiring tweet and it will say loose instead of lose. It sort of spoils it for me!

Not as annoying to me but still important is, your and you're. You're = You are. Ex: If you're not careful you may be ruining *your* tweets (I think the worst offender is use of you're incorrectly).


My personal Twetiquette:

*A note: I know one of the reasons we love twitter is for its expeditious micro delivery of what we want now. It is of some necessity that we fondly use terms like ur, r u, b4, 2, 4, but whenever possible I like to use the correct terminology and my thought is don't use twitter language on other forms of social networking. If you like to abbreviate that much then just stay on twitter! We love ya!

*Acceptable exceptions imo (in my opinion) are ty wy lol rofl and the like... (for multiple social networks)*


1. I like to keep dictionary,com up, to check spellings and meanings and Google to check facts.

2. I don't quote anonymous sources. Every quote came from somewhere. If I quote or RT a quote it is a   reflection of me and I like to know its origin so I can pass it along with my heart felt intent.

3. I'm not offended by foul language or racy tweets but I am cautious to RT or comment in order to not  offend my followers. This doesn't mean I wouldn't like to!

4. I also understand that you can't please everybody so I don't take things personally.

5. I pay attention to my Follow Friday referrals. I check them out and usually find some good ones.

6. The majority of the time, but with some exceptions, I only use the Retweet feature if I can't fit the entire RT in. I do it to be a little more personal, but I think we all do enjoy seeing our Retweets from the feature.

Things I like:

I like a good Balance between RT's,  personal posts (thoughts) and engaging or funny conversations.

When people I follow ask for an RT (for good intent) I RT.

Follows, RT's and listings are always appreciated.



Things I don't like:

I prefer my "thank you for following", to NOT come in the form of a DM (Direct Message). I block everyone who solicits me by DM.

If promoting... don't slam people.  Especially with DM.



List Features:

For finding interesting people, I look at other people's lists. I follow some and look to find new people to check out and learn something from.

When following a lot of people I find it's great to have my own private lists. I use them as filters for when I'm short on time or focusing on a specific area for that day.

Good to use for Follow Fridays


Follow Fridays:

They can be some work but I believe they show you care, and are a special bond in Twitterhood. I am just fine with people promoting their own Follow Friday list, to take the time factor out of it, and I always try to RT them the same way I normally would.



I want to end with an actual rant to satisfy the name of the blog and since I rarely, if ever actually blog anymore. And I don't really rant much. At the time of this writing I did a search using the hash tag  #teens. I was saddened by what I saw. I understand the freedoms, but it hurt to see.  Almost the entire listing was of very graphic nature. I am currently writing an e-book on teens and violence in today's society. There are numerous heartbreaking stories in the news of children on children violence. Horrific events that to me are just unfathomable. Schools are being forced with budget cuts and the creative outlets are the first things to go. Art, music and physical education. Music and art are a form of open creativity. There is a lot of history to be learned and people place their own value on that. However, they are also a form of expression, and a mental release. Physical education ..obviously, is a form of physical (as well as mental) release. So in a nutshell getting rid of them does two things:

1. Inhibits your child's creativity, which could be the future brainstorming of something big... and

2. Gives them no safe outlet and nowhere to release emotions.



I don't think either of those statements needs further explanation.. If that doesn't scare the heck out of you then just think on it for a good while. How do you see society 5-15 years from now when these children have grown up?



Twitter has produced some wonderful results in our world. We can pass on breaking news, missing children reports, and communicate and make progress in world catastrophes. I'm hoping we can get a better hash tag for teens. I think it's a place that can be a great resource for teens looking for help and parents looking for them - End of rant