10 Things You Should Know About Twitter

These 10 tips are things you must know if you tweet regularly.

1. The period has a purpose. If you want everyone to see your tweets and the first word you’re tweeting is a handle, put a period first. Without the period, only people who follow you AND the handle you’re tweeting about can see it. With a period (or a word), the tweet will be seen by all.

@CauseComm gives great twitter tips!

This will be seen by those who follow you AND follow @CauseComm

.@CauseComm gives great twitter tips! OR Thanks @CauseComm for the great twitter tips!

This will be seen by all of your followers.

NOTE: The period isn’t necessary if @CauseComm appears anywhere else in the tweet.

Keep this in mind when you reply to tweets. If you are replying to someone, only those who follow you and the person you’re replying to will see it. And that’s okay.

2. Not everyone needs to see all of your tweets. In light of the above, when you reply to someone, don’t always put in a period before the reply so everyone can see it. It’s less personal – and more like you’re trying to yell a conversation in public. In the same way that you reply to emails without copying your whole address book, don’t .@ reply every time.

3. It’s okay to schedule some tweets to go out at a certain date and time, but make sure you’re actually on twitter too. Twitter is social! You should be replying, talking to people and engaging with timely information and thoughts.

4. Don’t engage on a topic if it’s been too many hours. @erinsafe says that twitter is like a cocktail party. You wouldn’t walk into a cocktail party and start talking about something that was discussed 8 hours before you got there.

5. If you host a twitter party or twitter chat, you should engage all participants. Your twitter party or twitter chat should not be a one-on-one interview. It doesn’t give others a reason to stick around and follow the hashtag. If the chat is open to everyone, you get greater participation, interest and you make some great contacts.

6. Following and following back is like a handshake, says @ChrisTuttle. Do not follow people just so that they follow you back. Inevitably, you may then want to unfollow that person—and then it’s just rude. It’s like you stuck out your hand for a handshake, and then ran away while they’re reaching to shake back!

7. To increase followers, just keep tweeting.

8. Favoriting a tweet is like giving someone a virtual high 5. It’s also a way to let people know that you’ve seen their tweet without replying.

9. You don’t need to thank everyone who retweets you or every new follower.

10. Don’t overuse hashtags. Use two per tweet at most. The goal of a hashtag is to make your tweet searchable, but you don’t need to hashtag every searchable word.

For example, if you tweet: “Education in Los Angeles is amazing.” Your tweet will come up if someone searches “Education” but not “#education.” But if you tweet, “#Education in Los Angeles is amazing.” And someone searches “education” (not “#education”) your tweet will still appear.

If you’re at a conference or you’re not using the term elsewhere, then use it! Just don’t overdo it. For example: “Students are learning at LAUSD. #education” makes sense because the word “education” isn’t in the tweet otherwise.

#goodluck and don’t forget to follow us at @CauseComm!

You can also learn more about our tools and publications or our training program at www.hersheycause.com