Or, “How I got off myself and started being social with my media.”
I’ve been on Twitter for a few years. After I got over the initial hump of no followers and not following many, I embraced Twitter as a way of interacting with fellow writers. I also used it to shamelessly plug my own stuff – although I could never be accused of being spammy. Until recently, my Twittering kinda went like this:
- I would not retweet stuff from anyone I didn’t have some kind of interaction with.
- If, after several retweets of someone’s stuff, they never acknowledged the retweets, I stopped retweeting their stuff or I unfollowed them altogether.
- I would only follow folks who were strictly within my interests of blogging or writing.
- I would not, could not tweet a quote. I would not do so in a boat.
- If someone tweeted political stuff that I thought was crap, I’d unfollow them. (Okay, maybe I still do this a teensy bit, but now I take a lot of other factors into consideration.)
- If a tweet had a link to Facebook, the Huffington Post or any liberal news media organizations, I would not retweet them.
- If someone always tweeted their own stuff and never tweeted anyone else’s, I would unfollow them eventually, or just ignore them in my timeline.
- If someone was obviously auto-tweeting the same stuff day after day I would not retweet any of it.
- If someone sent me an auto direct message after I followed, I would just as quickly unfollow.
- If a tweet had typos or was written in text-ese (U no what I mean 4 sure) then I would not retweet.
- If someone carpet-bombed my timeline with multiple FF tweets with no reason attached, I would unfollow.
After reading this list, you’re probably thinking, “Jeez, what an intolerant jerk. Not very social.”
Yeah, well that’s the same conclusion I came to. Congrats.
Now I do a lot of things differently and I’m gaining about 20 new followers every day. I’ve interacted with a lot of great folks and have seen the traffic to my blog and book sites increase quite a bit. In short, I’m using this social media platform socially and how about that?
Now, I retweet all kinds of stuff. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tweet about a book in a genre I would never read. It doesn’t matter if the topic is of particular interest to me. The way I see it, some of my 3200 followers may be interested and that’s good enough for me. I don’t care if the person never tweets anyone else’s stuff. Although with that said, c’mon people. Get a clue. Get off yourself and interact. I ignore the auto DMs. They bother me not. I follow back darn near everyone unless it is obvious that their tweets in my timeline would drive me buggy. I don’t care if someone never responds to my retweets. If someone does, I usually send them a quickie tweet, thanking them.
Essentially I’ve made being social on Twitter my mantra. I dig it and I hope my followers do as well. I’d like to think my timeline is eclectic with a mixture of writing, books, positive messages, quotes, funny stuff and general George witticisms.
The moral of the story is to take it easy and just enjoy the media. Lose the stiffness and expand your horizons. I’ll just bet you’ll love your twittering the more for it.
Great post – I agree with all of this! And while I tweet far less than I used to, I still try to maintain at least some semblance of a presence. I found that trying to judge what might interest others was an exercise in futility – comments/links I thought were great weren’t retweeted, others that I thought were a bit silly or banal got lots of RTs and views. So yeah, I just have fun with it, try to be courteous and do my thing without worrying about the numbers. It seems to work
Li @ FlashFiction´s last [type] ..We Were Only Boys – Friday Flash
Lisa,
I agree it’s working. You yourself have a diverse tweeting mindset. It’s one of the things I love about seeing you in my timeline.
Happy tweeting!
George
Love the post. I agree wholeheartedly, and actually followed just about the same growth pattern. I especially agree with “Get off yourself and interact. I ignore the auto DMs.”
Tami Parrington´s last [type] ..Unveiling the New Cover for “Promising Hope” by Emily Ann Ward
Hi Tami,
Thanks for coming by and commenting. I’m glad I finally figured Twitter out after all these years – not Twitter’s fault, mine entirely.
Cheers,
George
Hi George
I joined Twitter in February of this year. I told myself I was going to market myself more in 2012 and Twitter was one of the planks I added to my author platform. I am still learning the nuances of tweeting and working on building a following as well as following other artists… doesn’t matter so much if they’re writers or not, I follow pretty much anyone involved in the arts, be it music, painting, photography, whatever. I don’t follow kids. I don’t follow obvious spammers trying to sell me 1000 new followers.
I guess I am not here to socialize even though they call it social media. I am here to market my books and to help cross-market other artists. I see some people on Twitter who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time chatting with others. And that’s fine. But since I work part time six days a week I have only so many hours to put into my writing. Any socializing necessarily takes away from that. It isn’t that I am too full of myself to talk with anyone though. I simply have to prioritize my time or I’ll never write that great American novel.
I do retweet a lot. I’ll usually run through my 100 tweet per hour limit in about 15 minutes when I get on a roll. I try to mix it up and not retweet the same person 16 times in a row. I throw in one of my books every 10-15 tweets because I know when I look to retweet others I look for their own stuff, something personal to them. Failing to find something like that I’ll go to their website or blog and tweet that.
I prefer to retweet others who retweet others, if you know what I mean. If I go on someone’s twitter feed and see only tweets about them, I am less inclined to return than I am if I see many retweets from others dotting their feed. That isn’t to say I won’t retweet others who don’t retweet others, just that I am less likely to do so on an ongoing basis.
Anyway, still learning and enjoying all this Twitter stuff immensely so far.
Thank you!
Hey Dan,
Cool that you stopped by to share your experience. I try to strike a balance between retweeting stuff and socializing. There are a few folks that I may hold a conversation with now and then but for the most part I’m happy to peruse the timeline, retweet worthy folks and put my stuff out there. I also add the occasional quip when I think I have something remarkable to say.
I’m glad you’re in my stream and look forward to lots of retweeting interaction.
George
Hi George
I joined Twitter early 2011, and was very tense and earnest about it at first, but I’ve got over that.
My philosophy now?
Be friendly, try to tweet things that are useful to other writers, try to be helpful, don’t take myself too seriously, don’t take other people’s Twitter gaffes too seriously (eg the dreaded auto DM, or the “please RT” from a stranger), ignore anything I don’t like, and mostly followback unless someone’s timeline or profile is just too weird or icky for my tastes.
I’ve met some fantastic people on Twitter who help me and I help them and we interact outside Twitter. (I’ve met a few odd bods too…) Basically it’s been very useful and fun, too, and I’m glad I joined.
cheers, Belinda
Belinda, that is such a great philosophy to have. “don’t take other people’s Twitter gaffes too seriously” is prolly some of the best Twitter advice you could ever give someone.
Thanks so much for dropping by.
George
Hi George
)
a big thanks for this, i find it really helpful to know how others manage twitter as I have a sort of love hate relationship with it. I’ve been twittering since september 2011 and think it’s time for me to ditch the hate, lose the attitude, take it easy and be friendly (thanks, too, to Belinda!) Life’s too short
ps at the risk of sounding a complete rookie, what is an auto DM and can you tell them apart from other DMs?? Yikes! maybe i’ve never had one!!!!
Marianne, I am so happy you stopped by. Twitter is kind of an interesting beast and I believe it takes most of us a while to get our “sea legs.” From what I can see, you are well on your way!
Those auto-DMs can sometimes be hard to spot but if you receive a DM from someone you just followed saying something like, “Thanks for the follow, please visit my blabbity blabbity site” then almost always it’s a auto-DM. It used to be that not using your first name was a dead giveaway but now they can be sophisticated enough to include that.
Let’s go have a blast on Twitter then, shall we?
George
George is right, Marianne… you’re one of the good guys. And one of my favourites.
Belinda Pollard´s last [type] ..What Is A Beta Reader And Why Do I Need One?
Hi George – and a big hello to twitter chum Belinda
– thanks for explanation. Will look our for auto DMs so I can ignore them, or at least not let them wind me up ;o). YES! I am up for having a blast on twitter – just let me get back to Scottyland and regular internet – and can’t think of nicer people than yourself and Belinda to have as blast pals ;o)
Aww shucks, Marianne. I look forward to it!
G
UGH! Twitter has gotten way out of control for me and it’s caused me to lose touch with people I used to love chatting with (like yourself!) I’ve started using hootsuite to build lists and keep out the ‘noise’ and I feel like I just started tweeting all over again. It’s been refreshing to say the least. I think twitter is one of those things where you just have to change up what you’re doing now and then so kudos to you for managing that!
Heather´s last [type] ..Calgary Events – Heritage Park Free Concert Series
Hey Heather, Indeed it is very easy for the stream to get out of control. I think I am quickly reaching the point where I need to consider some kind of Twitter client because my rapid growth is allowing some things to fall through the cracks.
Nice to see you again, Heather.
George
Couldn’t agree more about ‘not taking others’ Twitter gaffes too seriously!
I don’t respond to auto DMs, but then I don’t unfollow them either – the best way to deal with stuff like that is to ignore it (and, thus, forget it within 20 seconds), or try to subtly educate others not to do all this shit…. oh, okay, I guess I have a way to go with this tolerance thing yet, right??!!
Ha ha!!
xx
I
Hello, Terry. So very nice to have you at my house.
I loves me some Terry-Twittering. You are truly a social Twitter user. I think there is just the right balance of self promotion and promoting others through your active engagement.
Hope to see you again soon.
George
okay George. Spill – how did you upset our Neil?
(Neverwhere is the book I’d like to have written).
Julia
Julia,
Ha. it was a differing political opinion and we didn’t even have an exchange. He took an opposite point, called me a “dick” and blocked me. I think it’s pretty funny that he would be so sensitive/unwilling to even discuss. Oh well.
George
Hey George
I’ve really changed the way I use Twitter in the past year. I don’t actively seek out people to follow any more. I scan the people who follow me once a week or so and follow those who seem real.
I don’t interact on Twitter so much now. I usually use it to share stuff (my own and other stuff I find interesting — like this post). Every once in a while I’ll retweet something I find interesting or funny. But actually being social is something that I haven’t done much of lately.
Being an introvert, social interaction is fun but draining for me. So I tend to spend less time on it than most people, both offline and on.
I think that you have struck a pretty good balance with your philosophy — tweet and let tweet.
Bill (LoneWolf) Nickerson´s last [type] ..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
P.S. I forgot to check the notify of followup button, so this reply is just to allow me to do that 8=)
Bill (LoneWolf) Nickerson´s last [type] ..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
Bill,
Nice to see you again. Hope all is well.
I actually do struggle with the social media aspect a bit. I’m keeping up but it really is draining. The payoff is meeting a lot of great folks. I truly hope I’m able to continue in this vein.
Cheers
George