Five Faux Pas to Avoid on Twitter

Almost everyone who has watched television in the recent months has heard about Twitter. It’s mentioned on the news, it’s mentioned in commercials, and it’s all over the Internet. It has become a very popular site in a very short period of time.

But there are a few things that you should remember when you are using Twitter. These things are considered faux pas, and doing them will lose you a lot of followers.

1. Tweeting About Every Little Thing You Do – This is one of the biggest mistakes that people make on Twitter. Have you ever gone on Twitter and read some of the constant updates that people make, mentioning what they are watching on television or eating? It’s boring. Mention important things that people might be able to help you out with, like home improvements or searches you are doing.

2. Just Advertising – Okay, so you have a lot of affiliate links that you want to tell people about. That is fine, but people are going to get rather upset if t hat is all you do. Make sure that you are giving people information that they can really benefit from as well as posting affiliate links. You will find that you are going to benefit as well.

3. Using Product Images – You want to make a good first impression when you start up your Twitter account, so don’t choose a picture of one of your products as the image for your profile. Not only is it tacky, but it’s going to make people not want to follow you because they think it’s going to be one big commercial. Choose a nice picture of yourself instead, so that they can put a face with your name.

4. Cursing – The final thing that people do on Twitter that is in bad taste is using profanity. Remember, you don’t know who may be looking at your Tweets and what their personal feelings about profanity are. If you are going to use a lot of profanity, you may find that people are passing over becoming your follower. Therefore, it’s a better idea not to use it at all.

5. Trend Spamming – Trend Spamming is a sure fire way to get you noticed. But this kind of attention is not something you want to be part of. Basically some unsavory characters look for current trends on twitter and and use the keyword of the trend to peddle their product. Below is a prime example of some – for lack of a better term – Dirt Bag trying to profit off the death of another.

The idea on Twitter is to get people interested in what you have to say and to have a good following. This may mean that you are going to want to sit and think before you tweet. A good rule of thumb is to think about the things that you want to read about on peoples’ tweets and to use that as your guide.

When you are doing your tweeting, think about the faux pas listed above and ask yourself if what you are doing is breaking one of them. If it is, reconsider what you are writing. You are going to find that the Twitter experience is much more enjoyable for both you and your followers. Thinking about the feelings of others is going to help you to have more followers and to lose fewer followers over time. They will want to see what you have to say.

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One Response to “Five Faux Pas to Avoid on Twitter”

1. Jeff Atkinson says:

   July 29, 2009 at 1:43 pm

   I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.

   Reply