06.2 The Art and Science of the ReTweet

Twitter is a wonderful beast. All changing, scamming, Oprahing millions of us trying to figure out how to use it to… What?

What are YOU using Twitter for?

To Learn.
To Sell.
To Discover Something New.
To Connect with New People.
As a Broadcast IM.
As a Sales Channel.
As a Business Opportunity.
To Have Fun and Joke Around.
Just Because It’s New.

Does “microblogging” mean anything to you?

In the year (s) of tweeting behind me, I have developed some strategies for engaging my tweetstream that I hope might be helpful to you.

The illumination/discovery path for today is going to be the dreaded and most valuable tweet technique the RT, or ReTweet.

So here’s how it works.

Part 1: Discovery - Someone tweets something you find helpful, amusing or dumb.

Part 2: Use the RT feature in your Twitter app du jour. (if your not using a Twitter app to manage Twitter, well… That’s another post: Putting a Dashboard Around Twitter.)

Part 3: Be Additive and Subtractive.

Part 4: ReTweet.

So let’s look at Part 3 more closely.

Additive: Adding your comment or twist on someones tweet to add value/humor/meaning/dialogue to the twittersphere.

I’ll pull one off the stream right now and give an example:

Alex Checks In w/ Morning Coffee

So I will hit the RT button in Tweetdeck (my Twitter app of choice, you can see that Alex is using Tweetie — probably on a trendy iPhone!) and being my additive process.

[Here's the RT without any work from me] RT @BaldMan RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I wait as I need my caffeine.

But I am interested in adding to Alex’s tweet in some way, usually to join or josh with Alex himself. And also, by ReTweeting Alex at all, to introduce my followers to BaldMan as a cool person to follow. Since I am following him and clearly ReTweeting with some joy his somewhat mundane “gettin coffee” tweet. (no offense Alex)

Some folks are happy to RT without modification, and I will do this occasionally if I am in a hurry and I REALLY DON’T WANT YOU TO MISS SOMETHING. But if I am connecting with BaldMan/Alex in any significant way, then I am will do my part to Twist or Comment on his Tweet via my ReTweet. (Have I lost you yet?)

[Here's my Additive RT of Alex's "gettin coffee" Tweet] RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I wait as I need my caffeine. >> Oh, boy Alex, mine’s gone cold. Could’ya bring a warm up and pastry for me?

Dang, I’m at 151 characters. (Tweetdeck shows -11 in RED, so I know what I have to cut] So I have several choices. I can shorten my response. Since Alex and I no longer work together, my plea for a warm up is ficticious. And inside joke for us and a “connector.”

Or… I can get subtractive of Alex’s part, and fit my ADD by shortening his original Tweet.

So now for the Subtractive:

[Here's my Additive and Subtractive RT of Alex's "gettin coffee" Tweet] RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I wait as I need my caffeine. >> Oh, boy Alex, mine’s gone cold. Could’ya bring a warm up and pastry for me? (Okay -1 still to go.)

RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I wait as I need my caffeine. >> Oh, boy Alex, mine’s gone cold. Could’ya bring a warm up and pastry for me? (Okay +1 let’s do it.)

My Add & Subtract ReTweet

Now I will often use different “offsets” to separate my comment from the original Tweet. Here are a couple examples.

Double Carat: >> RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I need my caffeine. >> Oh, boy Alex, mine’s gone cold. Could’ya bring warm up and pastry for me?

Brackets: [ ] RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I need my caffeine. [Oh, boy Alex, mine's gone cold. Could'ya bring warm up and pastry for me?]

Slash: / RT @BaldMan: Long line at Genuine Joe, but I need my caffeine. / Oh, boy Alex, mine’s gone cold. Could’ya bring warm up and pastry for me?

I’d love to hear your retweeting strategies and “offsets.”

It’s a bit like English grammar and poetry. It’s part of the ART of Twitter. And by being creative we can make people smile. It’s not about business, it’s about spirit!

@jmacofearth
permalink:http://bit.ly/ReTweeting

Related Links:

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May 15, 2009 • Tags: additive retweet, alex jones, amuzing, art of the retweet, art of the tweet, baldman, business opportunity, dashboard, discovery path, followers, getting real, getting real with twitter, illumination, iphone, morning coffee, poetry of twitter, retweeting with a twist, RT, sales channel, scamming, subtractive, subtractive retweet, twitter, twitter poetry • Posted in: getting real • No Comments

06.0 Mr. 50k and the Rise of the Auto-Bots

[Original Post Title: "Mr. 50k, Or What's Wrong With: #FollowFriday, #AutoDM, #AutoTWEET, #TweetLater - Everything!"]

Do you leave an out-of-office reply on your email account when you are gone for more than a few days? And what about when you are in the office? Do you leave your auto-reply emails turned on?

Okay so how do you feel when you call the bank on the phone and they say, “Your call is important to us.” Do you believe them? Do you believe them AFTER you’ve had to call back to the voice-navigation system three times because you keep getting routed down the rabbit hole? How about direct mail? Do those credit card apps offering you some “guilt free” money make you feel any more confident in the economy? Do they make you feel like the banks are finally ready to start bringing the economy back on line? Do you feel like they are trying to make contact with you, or sell you? Or even worse, scam you?

So here’s the connection: On Twitter when you decide for whatever reason (cool picture, cool name, random click, recommended by a friend) to follow someone, it is a pretty simple and trivial event. “Click.” Okay, so far so good.

In some people’s strategy the next thing you get is a DM from the new “friend” with some happy words of greeting. Or worse, a sales pitch for how you can increase your Twitter audience by a 1,000 followers a day. WTH? Is there any good case for Auto-DMing followers? Is there any good reason to leave your auto-responder ON when you are in the office. Well, perhaps if you are trying to fake a friendly “Howdy, friend, let’s have lots of great chats now that we’re friend.”

I find it more likely that you are faking that intimate connection that comes from an actual response and re-follow. Imagine these two responses I got after following someone who looked interesting.

Response 1: “@jmacofearth if you like that, you might enjoy also in absentia (blackest eyes) and fear of a black planet (way out of herefear of…)” fr: Tapatia

Response 2: “Thanks for the follow. I hope we get to tweet a lot and rule the world.” fr: name redacted.

So I asked Mr. 50k what the heck he was doing training businesses to do this Auto-Bot responder. I guess to him it was like an answering machine. But I think he missed the point and of course now he’s blocked me from harassing him any more.

When confronted, Mr. 50k responded that he auto-followed and auto-DM’d so he could invite the new “friends” to connect with him on Facebook or his website. Oh boy!

But wait a minute. What are you doing when you ping me back with a sales pitch? A sales pitch of any kind? Like, “Hey, John McElhenney, thanks for the follow. Be sure and check out my Facebook page HERE and get a copy of my free ebook “Winning with Twitter and Influencing Tweeps,” HERE.”

So Mr. 50k says it’s only because he wants to be able to DM you and for you to be able to DM him.
And I asked him, “So what if you took the 30 seconds to look at the persons page and made a determination if you were interested in having a conversation with them?”

“When you get 1,000 followers a day come talk to me about that 30 seconds.”

So Mr. 50k was at about 32k followers when we had this exchange. Let’s check in on him and see how he’s doing in his mega-twitt quest.
Yep, he’s gained 16,000+ new followers so far in the 21 days of March, so he’s well on track for becoming a regular Guy Kawasaki or perhaps even an Obama. But wait, let’s see what Mr. 50k has to say in those, perhaps he has an important message.

Uh, nope. There is this awesome blurb in his bio, “He believes that education is important, but not essential to becoming a successful entrepreneur.”

Okay, but don’t quit your dayjob.

The good news is that Mr. 50k is using his new found popularity and has launched “a social media marketing company, which specializes in training large companies how to engage their customers by using social media.” I’m not sure he knows what the meaning of the word “contrived” is, but so be it. (definition of contrived - adjective: obviously planned or forced; artificial; strained: a contrived story)

So maybe he can help you. Maybe I’m getting all riled up about nothing.

But if I left my out-of-office email reply on (also called an auto-responder) with a pithy welcome statement, my guess is you would feel less welcome and more like a customer.

Main Advice: Don’t join the Borg, don’t be an Auto-Bot. Be REAL and in REAL TIME.

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April 15, 2009 • Tags: auto responder, Auto-Bot responder, auto-bots, discovery, friendorfollow, FUD, getting real with twitter, getting things done, getting webwork done, GTD, Guy Kawasaki, jmacofearth, mega-twitt, mr 50k, Obama, occam's razor, quicksilver, social media success, speed the web, speedtheweb, tweetdeck, twitter, twitter discovery, twitter etiquette, twitter for business, twitter formula, twitter satisfaction, twitter scam, twitter seesaw, twitter spam, twitterholic, twittertools, unfollow • Posted in: getting real • No Comments

06.1 Twitter Acid Test - Etiquette of Following and UnFollowing

[Original Post Title: Twitter Acid Test - Discovery Beyond the Shiney Objects and Creative Avatars]

What are the criteria by which you choose to follow someone on Twitter?

TS = FUD (Twitter Satisfaction = Following good tweeps, Unfollowing shallow tweeps, Discovering new tweeps)

I have several “shiny object” criteria that attract me to click the “follow” link.

A unique or attractive image.
A unique or creative title that expresses something I am interested in.
A bio that contains humor, self-awareness and beauty.
Names or Bios that include the following concepts: writer, poet, poetry, musician, songwriter, cat, dog, animal tweets, enterprise 2.0, rock n roll.
An awesome post, great link, something that makes me laugh, something that awakens my senses, senseless beauty, epiphanies, spirit.
A retweet by a contact that contains any of the above qualities.

And in the same way there are a number of tell tale signs that the potential tweeter is not my cup of tea.

A salesly name, bio or tweet with topics such as: real estate, sales, increase your twitter followers, let me show you how, business propositions, deals, tips, company PR channels, b2b, b2c, “social media”, expert, guru.
An AutoBot Tweeter (AutoFollow and AutoDM after I have connected to them.) Cause if you’re an Auto-Bot I don’t really want to hear from you. There may be exceptions, and I don’t unfollow simply by being refollowed, but you your gonna follow me back do it in person, not via an auto-responder-out-of-office-automaton message. I don’t care how personal or happy you try to make the message, it comes across as fake. However, one word, that shows you actually looked at my profile, “nice bio” or “songwriter, eh?” is enough to make me smile. And that’s what all this is about, the smile.
Forgetting the smile. All business and no fun makes for unfollowed tweeps.

There was an article about happy people hanging around other happy people. And how happy folks actually attract more happy folks. And being with someone who is happy can actually make you feel better yourself. And happiness is a lot of what we are here to BE. I am all about happy. If something you tweet makes me smile, giggle, or just feel a warm fuzzy, then I’m IN.

So the discovery of new Twitter people is fun and addictive. Just as finding new friends on Facebook can keep you up late at night, Twitter “following” is no different. But when your “following” count goes above 1,000 tweeps, how do you manage?

I tell you, my criteria gets pretty honed when I am reviewing the people I follow for dead wood. I use several tools.

FriendorFollow (made by tool cool Austin tweeps)
Quitter (see who’s grown tired of your tweets or who is gaming your Twitter account)
Twitterholic
TwitTrak

But the basic task is flipping back through pages (20 tweeps per screen) and unfollowing the uninspired. And for that quick list the criteria becomes much simpler. So the Occam’s Razor of Twitter unfollows is this.

Does the Tweeter Follow Me?

IF NO. Do I recognize the tweeter? If not, they have probably not made any tweets that stick in my memory.
- IF YES: Skip to next Tweeter.
- IF NO: Do I still recognize my initial interest in following the Tweeter?
  - IF NO: UNFOLLOW.
  - IF YES: Keep and skip to next Tweeter.
IF YES. Do I recognize the Tweeter?
- IF YES: Have they made any memorable tweets?
  - IF YES: Keep and skip to next Tweeter.
- IF NO. Do I still recognize my initial interest in following the Tweeter?
  - IF NO: UNFOLLOW.
  - IF YES: Keep and skip to next Tweeter.

And to review, here is the Twitter Formula:

TS = FUD (Twitter Satisfaction = Following good tweeps, Unfollowing shallow tweeps, Discovering new tweeps)

+++

01.0 The 1-2-3 Guide to Getting Real with Twitter

Okay, here’s the One-Two-Three Guide to Getting Real with Twitter.

1. Join Twitter, Use Twitter Properly
2. Don’t Use Auto Anything
3. Be Honest

In a recent war of tweets I wasn’t nice. For those who started following me as a result of last nights flame wars, welcome. I believe in being honest on Twitter. And even if that gets a little heated, I also believe on outing the abusers or “gamers” of the system. It’s fine if you want to spam, porn post or work really really hard to get 50k+ followers in less than 5 months…That’s all fine. For you. Not for me. So if you choose to do that, don’t expect me to play nice either.

But I was genuinely intrigued by the DMs I got while I was railing at a Twitter abuser. Here is what I learned. And again, these are MY personal opinions so take a shot at them if you think I’m off track.

1. Use Twitter Properly
Twitter is sometimes called a “micro-blogging” system. I think of Twitter as an OPEN IM forum, where I can broadcast a message to a lot of people at once. And I choose to Tweet things I think are a.) funny; b.) useful or interesting; c.) tips and tricks; d.) business related links around my area of ~~expertise~~ interest. [cause if you meet the social media expert on the road, run the other way]

2. Auto is BAD
Twitter is about REAL PEOPLE in REALTIME. Once you go into Auto-Responder mode of any kind you have become a robot or a marketing gamer. There is no good reason, NOT ONE, for using an AutoDM or AutoResponder or AutoFollower. The only good thing about Twitter Spam is it hits the AUTO-BOTS the worst, in the best way, AUTOmatically!

If you auto-me what have you done? Engaged in a conversation? No. Done me a favor by allowing me to DM YOU now? Bad logic, NO! Started the conversation between us? About what exactly? NO.

My belief is if you AUTO-anything on Twitter you are spamming or gaming the folks who use it properly, for conversations. Twitter is about REAL PEOPLE in REALTIME.

So, Twitter can be for business too, you say. Yes, but engage with me or be quiet. If I subscribe to your “AWESOME DISCOUNT INKJET DEALS” tweets, that’s my choice. And yes I could derive some advantage from following that account when I need to buy ink. And how cool [not] that the big boys are figuring out that they can give exclusive deals to Twitter followers. Whooo boy, that’s a relief, cause I’m sure the DEALS they are pushing via other channels (email, web, tv, mailings) are not as good. Well, my Tweets that’s just not true. It’s just another form of advertising DIRECTLY to you. Not bad, if you OPT-IN, but hard as heck to OPT-OUT.

3. Be Honest
So the last one covers a lot of ground. In your opinion what is honest? That’s the question for you to answer. I know what mine is and I have spoken some of my personal biases above. But the one thing I will say about Twitter and Honesty: Reputation is built over time. And if you provide value to people, over time, you will build a following. Maybe not 50k+ like my friend in the examples above.

Take the time to be honest. When I asked the 50k man why he AutoDM’d he responded by saying it gives people a chance to DM him back. AND he can invite them to “join” him on Facebook.

I asked okay, but why can’t you take the 30 seconds to DM the people directly, as in honestly? “How about an honest ‘follow’ before you DM me?” I asked. “But why do you have to AUTO-DM them? If they are interesting to you, why don’t you DM them FOR REAL. Take the extra 30 secs.”

And here was the reply: “When you get a 1,000 followers a day, come talk to me about those 30 sec.”

UG!

“So what you are admitting to is this, you have SO MANY FOLLOWERS they are no longer people but one of thousands… it’s a game!”

At this point the said Master of Twitter said he would “fire” me if I worked for him. Hmmm… I wonder what he would have me doing if I “worked” for him. And several followers of self-professed Twitter Teacher came out of the Twitterverse to defend him. Yuk! What were they defending? Getting Real is Good, Right?

So that’s it.

Recapping: Use REALTIME, Be REAL not AUTO, Be HONEST about what you are after. If it’s just more followers or hawking Printer Ink or Viagra, leave me out. And don’t Follow Me Back. Please don’t follow me and give others the wrong impression.

My Twitter Formula
My Twitter Formula is Twitter Satisfaction = Following smart folks to learn - Unfollowing low-value twitts + looking at who’s following who to Discover.
TS=FUD (not to be confused with Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) - jmacofearth http://bit.ly/self-defining

In the process of GETTING REAL WITH TWITTER I went through an acid test with the Tweeps I “followed” and cut my bandwidth from 1551 to less than 1000. wOOt! More REALity to come.

following down to 911

From 1551 followees

Also, I’d like to introduce you to the TwitterJoker.com and the first 3 TwitterJoke URLS.

http://twitterexpress.com
http://twitterexp.com
http://dontfollowfriday.com

Cheers, and have fun out there. REAL fun.

Additional Resources:
UK’s Telegraph How To Twitter Guide
The Follow UnFollow Problem on Twitter Exposed

Update: Okay I was thinking last night as I was being swatted at by the followers of Mr. 50k, that what I really wanted to say to them was this. If it takes absurdity to show how absurd your behavior has gotten then I will do back flips to prove my point. Pushing a bit further into the REAL side of the issue is my goal. But sometimes absurdity is the tonic we need to get a healthy purging. And with that I will rest my case with this software package that should put the master out of business, because now his paWnS can do it without any formal training.

I now present to you the REAL absurd http://tweettornado.com.

if things can be taken too far, they will, my case in point has arrived

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April 14, 2009 • Tags: auto anything, auto responder, auto tweeting is evil, autobot, autoresponder, bad twitter habits, conversations, don't be an Auto-Bot, flame wars, followers, gamers, good reason, railing, real people, realtime, robot, spamming, tips and tricks, tweeting, twitter, twitter abuse, twitter autobot, twitter cheating, twitter epxress, twitter for business, twitter gaming, twitter hell, twitter joker, twitter madness, twitter marketing, use auto, war of words • Posted in: getting real • No Comments

00.0 Table of Contents

“And while the mainstream is arriving, the twitterverse is a vast and complex system.”

00.1 Forward by Bob Pearson who served for three years as the VP of Communities and Conversations for Dell.

01.0 The 1-2-3 Guide to Getting Real with Twitter
02.0 What is Twitter? What is a tweet? What are tweeps? And who is the Fail Whale?
03.0 How we got started with the twirping and chirping. (SXSW 06 - twitter launches)
04.0 The 4 twitter personalities
05.0 Rules of the Getting Real
06.0 Mr. 50k and the Rise of the Auto-Bots
06.1 Twitter Acid Test - Etiquette of Following and UnFollowing
07.0 Extending Twitter - the apps you need to work Twitter
08.0 Integrating Twitter into Business Communications
09.0 Making Money with Twitter - a Dell Insider’s View of Twitter
10.0 Our Tweets Want to be Free - where is Twitter taking us, what will replace Twitter, do we even need Twitter
11.0 Twitter is a laughing matter - The TwitterJoker and other rumors and jokes
12.0 The Twittertools Index