New to Twitter? Confused about when and how to use the “@” and “#” symbol? Well, this post won’t help you at all with those questions BUT I can help you Retweet with confidence! Consider this a mini-class where you will be “RT” certified upon completion of reading this highly helpful and useful blog post, because, you know, being a mom makes me totally qualified to write this. I shall commence:
Retweeting Others:
1. Don’t RT everything (or a large portion of what) you read. No one will like you.
2. When you RT because you are truly interested in the, say… news article, put a space after the link, and put two slashes (//) to distinguish that this is your personal note and not an extension of what they are saying. Then proceed to briefly say why you were interested in the topic or a quick personal note. (Sometimes it’s necessary to delete some of what they are saying, but leave the main point of the tweet or it’s kind of insulting to them and uninteresting to your followers.) That way it’s not just junk clogging up my feed, I personally relate to you OR completely disagree with you. But regardless, it’s more interesting. Look at it like buying a Mother’s Day Card and just signing your name without including a brief personal note. OH snap, you actually do that? Sorry… bad example…
3. If you feel you can’t delete any of the tweet without ruining the tweet’s integrity and there is no room for a personal note, you can RT it without one. Do this rarely and with these stipulations in mind:
-when its ok: If it’s one of MY tweets, if it’s a funny tweet that you think your followers would get a chuckle out of or if it’s a very compelling, top news story. Try to stay out of politics. Unless you are a politician on Twitter. I probably won’t follow you in that case so do whatever you want. Oh, and I can’t resist adding: never tweet picture of your penis. coughcough Weiner… (it was too easy, couldn’t resist)
4. Don’t RT Justin Beiber or Britney Spears or any other major celebrity. No one cares. Unless it’s a retirement notice. (Although they can fool you -AMANDA BYNES) In that case though it wold be a major news story so it falls into the above category.
Your Tweets, Retweeted:
1. It’s not necessary to thank someone for the RT unless:
-They put a personal note with it. Respond back to them appropriately. Like, if someone RT’s my tweet with the link back to this article I will either RT them with “THANKS!” or reply back “THANKS!” cause I’m sweet like that. (helpful hint: You can shorten “THANKS” to “Thx” in a pinch.)
-It’s an important person/celebrity. !n this case you should RT what THEY said about YOU and personally respond back with a phrase like “Oh wow! Thanks so much” unless you have to delete some of what they said about your original comment or your comment itself that they commented on.
-You really want to suck up to them. If you boss happens to follow you on Twitter and RT something you said (Hopefully not something bad about the company) ALWAYS reply back with a thanks. Perhaps an RT. Use discernment. They may hate suck ups.
-they have thanked you because you RT’d something they said. Back and forth we go. It’s like a tennis match.
It comes down to basic etiquette. Not everyone falls into one certain category. Be savvy. Be smart. Enjoy your new found freedom in this area, but please, don’t abuse it. 