Tweet, tweet. Every day, more and more people are beginning to enter the wonderful world I like to call the “Twitterverse.” I was quite reluctant to join at first, as my roommate can attest to, yet after three months of living with her and after hours of her raving about it, I gave in and created my own Twitter account. Soon after,
I understood all of the greatness of Twitter that she mentioned earlier-you can follow your favorite celebrities, athletes (or in my case, all NHL players), and your friends to see what everyone is up to at any moment. And you can tweet anything you want to let your friends know what you have been doing, a funny thing that just occurred, or a thought you need to share. The power is in your hands, however, it is true that “with great power comes great responsibility.” There are still rules to tweeting, and with my guidelines, you’ll know how to properly tweet.
1. To Tweet or Not to Tweet…
Some may choose to tweet once a day, others choose to tweet once an hour. DO NOT TWEET 12 TIMES A DAY. It’s so unnecessary, and to be honest, no one cares THAT much where you just ate lunch, and that you’re bored in your chem class, and an hour later you’re walking and it’s unseasonably cold out today. When it comes to tweeting, less is more, like when you used Elmer’s glue back in kindergarten. I would say tweet on average two to three times a day, unless a lot of hilarious occurrences happen, then you can push it to four.
2. What Can Be Considered “Tweet-worthy”
The more creative and humorous your tweets can be, the better. Also, tweeting exciting things, for instance finding out that Eminem is coming to Lollapalooza this summer (YAY!), is always acceptable. What is not acceptable, you wonder? “Ughh library all night…again.” We all pull all nighters at the library, so it’s not unusual that a fellow classmate is as well. Tweet funny quotes, a random thought, or something more interesting than stating you’re at the library.
3. When To Use a #HashTag
When I first began tweeting, I was baffled by hash tags. I didn’t understand when to use them, how to use them, where to use them, and why I would use them. I finally got the hang of them a little after I started tweeting. Hash tags can be considered a sort of afterthought after a tweet. For instance, a tweet could look like this: “Justin Bieber has taken over the Grammy’s #bieberfever.” Hash tags are also ALWAYS written with no spaces-just a reminder!
4. Protect Your Tweets!
This is similar to setting your Facebook to private. Protecting your tweets means that only your followers can see your tweets, and you must approve someone as a follower of your Twitter. Sadly, Kim Kardashian won’t be able to see that you tweet about her (unless you tweet at her!), but it is MUCH safer to protect your tweets, just like it is setting your Facebook to private. Internet safety is still important here!
So, for all my fellow tweeters, let’s keep inviting our friends to the #twitterverse and teach them how fun Twitter can be. And no, Facebook statuses are much different than Twitter! Keep on tweeting, with Twitter etiquette, of course.
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