Twitter is growing into a beastly network. Its developing millions of loyal users that want to protect the value it gives them. The first line of defense to their twitter world is to be picky about who they let into their feed. If you don’t meet their criteria, its an insta see-ya-later for you. The following things are on just about every real Twitter users list of criteria.
No profile picture and no bio.
Who are you and why would someone want to follow you? This is the first question someone asks when they find you on Twitter. If you fail to answer this basic initial questions, you’ll be dismissed. Not having a photo or bio shows you aren’t really serious about your twitter presence. If you aren’t serious enough to do that, you probably aren’t serious enough to contribute anything of value.
Only post links.
Give me a reason to trust your recomendation. Why is it worth my time to follow your links? Its way too spammy to just post links and expect people to care what you have to say. If you want your message to be received by willing readers you need to establish their trust. Offer links only because they’ll provide value to your followers.
No conversation
Everyone loves twitter because its so easy to connect with different people and engage in conversation. If your feed is full of one way open-ended tweets or links with no “@’s” you aren’t talking anyone. You can be sure if someones entire feed doesn’t have one “@” tweet they aren’t interested in conversation. Conversation is what every twitter loyalist is after and if you aren’t down with that, you’ll get an ignore.
Auto Direct Message with a link
There is only one thing more spam like than only posting links, and its having an auto direct message sent to every new follower with a link to your website. Twitter is not about shouting your message off a mountain top, its more like mingling at a cocktail party. You’re looking for real conversation with real people that you can trust. Sending that DM instantly may give your new follower the wrong impression about your motives on twitter.
Following 588 people with 18 followers and less than 5 tweets.
Its ok to follow people to develop a following of your own, but this is ridiculous. Clearly this user is not trying to participate. They’ve spent the time to follow a boat load of people and have put zero effort into becoming worthy. They may be a worthwhile twitter user in the future, but at this point they’re going to get ignored.
Way Off Topic
Most people are getting picky about who they follow. Your name, bio, picture and website will share enough to help potential followers determine if you fit into their topics of interest. Make sure your tweets are in alignment with that initial impression. Its ok to vear off and have random conversations but don’t be the golf guy that talks about hockey in every tweet.
The twitter culture is morphing rapidly. As users get more and more attached to their beloved twitter, the etiquette is getting more and more cut throat. Make sure you’re staying up with the times in the crazy internet world twitter has created.
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