The first 10 Rules of Twittiquette

The rules of etiquette for Twitter

Web Applications Alert By Mark Gibbs, Network World
April 29, 2009 12:05 AM ET

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Some time ago a friend asked me (on Twitter) what I thought the rules of etiquette were for Twitter. I said I'd have to think about it and, having done so, here they are.

I must digress for a moment and admit that I can't remember which friend actually asked me so I tried using Tweet Scan, a service that creates an archive of your Twitter messages (tweets) from their database (which, they note, goes back to December 2007).

You give Tweet Scan your Twitter credentials (they swear they forget them as soon as they use the them) and then they create a ZIP archive for you to download that contains your tweets in both comma separated variable (CSV) and HTML formats. They also note that they don’t guarantee complete accuracy. I downloaded my tweets, searched them in every way I could, and nothing. I couldn't find a hint of who asked me so, whoever you are, this one is for you …

Herewith are my first 10 Rules of Twittiquette:

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1. Don’t tell us what you had for breakfast. Really. Or for that matter tell us what you’re planning to eat for lunch. Or what the weather is like wherever the hell you are. We really, really don’t care. If your mom is following you then OK, she might care but as far as the rest of us are concerned, we don't care at all.

2. If someone re-tweets one of your Twitter messages (usually signified by an "RT") it is good form to thank them, preferably privately via a direct message. If they aren’t following you then a public thank you is fine (and doesn’t hurt your reputation).

3. When you re-tweet, show it’s a re-tweet (by including "RT" in the text) and credit the original author in reply format (that is, add an @ before their Twitter handle). Do not change the original tweet unless re-tweeting as I suggest pushes the tweet over 140 characters. You can then remove minor words and abbreviate but keep the original sense. If you’re re-tweeting a re-tweet and you need the space, it is acceptable to remove the first re-tweeter’s Twitter handle.

4. Don’t be gratuitously rude. There are a few twitterers who can be rude when someone tweets something stupid and for those people it is in character – part of what you expect. On the other hand, for those of us who prefer to be thought of as civilized and don’t want to loose followers then being polite is the best choice.

5. Don’t keep tweeting the same message. We’ll all notice if you’re repeating yourself too frequently and we’ll get bored. Then we’ll stop following you.

6. Get an icon (or avatar as many people incorrectly call them). When you see a Twitter user using the standard Twitter icon it tells you nothing about them (it’s like turning up to a party wearing a mask - no matter how entertaining they might be they are still weird).

7. Keep track of replies and direct messages and respond promptly. If someone sends you either kind of message as the start of an exchange it’s just bad form to not reply. Using a client application such as TweetDeck you can actually set up groups specifically to monitor Replies and Direct Message. It is so easy you really have no excuse.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.