The Golden Rule: Tweet Others The Way You Want To Be Tweeted.
Tweet others the way you wanted to be tweeted. Sounds so simple yet every day you see things on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram that are perplexing. Being kind to others is so important: in life and on social media. Greet others cordially and you may be blessed with a delightful response. The message that you send is amplified and you do not know who may end up reading your comments or what their frame of mind is while they are reading.
My mom always said, “if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.” This is especially true in social media. Please don't spout angry paradigms at the masses, no one is interested in reading or retweeting those tweets.
Another word of caution is using sarcasm, which I personally love, but must be used with care as it can be taken incorrectly by the intended receiver of the tweet or someone else who is reading it. I love my sarcastic tweet buddies and created a list called Sardonic Super Pals to honor their fine use of sarcasm, however, using caution may be wise. While it may lessen the sarcastic boom of your comment, add something that lets people know that you are joking or being sarcastic. I like to add hashtags so it is fun. When you have an established group of social media friends that are sarcastic amongst themselves, it can be great fun but be aware that each tweet or post goes to all your followers, sometimes their followers and where the tweet stops, nobody knows.
If you are unclear of the intent or meaning of a tweet or post, don't go off in a huff or respond in anger. Simply ask for clarification. The fragile connection on social media can crumble like a crisp autumn leaf, don't lose friends over misunderstandings. Sometimes this requires a direct message, phone call or Skype conversation and isn't a friendship worth that effort? I say, yes!
Be a generous retweeter or sharer of your pals and people that you follow. Take time to occasionally flow through your stream of “All Friends” and give them some RT love. Everyone appreciates it and most reciprocate as well. One of my friends makes it a point to check her new follower's tweet stream and RT them right away which is a great way to break the ice and start building a relationship.
Calling out people for what you perceive to be a mistake is obnoxious and rude. There are no steadfast rules for social media, only best practices, and guidelines. Be kind to other people and help them if they need it.
Tweet others the way you wanted to be tweeted. Simple and effective.
Appreciate your comments Andrea. Seems like common sense, no? We really did learn all the things we needed to know when we were little, sometimes we just need reminding. Thank you!
Thanks Justice! Appreciate your thoughts and so meaningful to me that it resonated with you. Cheers
This comment was tweeted from @dgcattaneo: “I was going to make some funny sarcastic remark about your blog, but then I read it and decided to go for just nice :)”
What an awesome tweet! So fun
Good post Peg.
Like you, I enjoy a good sarcastic remark, but sarcasm is difficult in Twitter. You have a good solutino in adding #hashtags to help to make the sarcasm understood.
I just want to add to Dane’s #2 point: Besides “Don’t drink and tweet” – Don’t let friends drink and tweet either :))
Hello Dane & Stephen – thanks for stopping by!
Dane ~ I love your advice on a “meanie” – Love the Jackson Five quote. It is so hard because one negative experience seems to overshadow all the positive ones that come down the stream. And I agree – no name calling. Lots of people could see that tweet.
Drunk tweeting is never pretty!
Stephen excellent point: Besides “Don’t drink and tweet” – Don’t let friends drink and tweet either!
Thanks to you both!
My husband said that we should give out #TWI tickets for people who tweet while intoxicated. Perfect, eh?
If anyone knows Twitter etiquette its you Peg!! Thank you for always being a fab example!! Love the post my amazing friend!! YOU make twitter sparkle!!
Michelle ~ you are so gracious and sweet with every tweet, such a pleasure to be your Twitter girlfriend!You make Twitter extra sparkly as well. Thanks for the support!!
Thanks Steve – appreciate your thoughts. I am a fan of the hashtag. 🙂
I agree Deidre! That is when you need to go beyond 140 if possible. A tweet can be read or misread many different ways.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to line this all out for us. This particular article ended up being quite helpful to me.
Excellent points Peggy!
Thanks so much Ann! I appreciate you. 😀
I’ve retweeted this twice. It bears mentioning again and again. Retweeting is an essential part of building relationships. From my perspective, it is just a twitter-new application of Carnegie’s adage that “A person’s name is the sweetest word to that person in any language”
What a co-winky-dink.
That was a favorite in my family too!
My great, great, great grandparents always said:
“Tweet others the way you wanted to be tweeted.”
Seriously,
Peg thank you for the excellent article.
jb
@DrJeffersnBoggs:disqus
on “the twitter”.
Nice, Peg. Been meaning to comment on this. You make a lot of great points.
I don’t use lists, so I don’t know what you mean exactly when you say: “Take time to occasionally flow through your stream of ‘All Friend’” and give them some RT love.” Does this mean that if you don’t follow “All Friends” you don’t see all RT/mentions? Do you have some sort of automation that lumps them into a “Thanks for the RT” sort of list so you can follow up at a later date? Just curious.
Great to see you last night. Lots of fun!. :)))
Hi Susan!
Fabulous to see you again too – we must do it more often!
Yes, I use lists and don’t follow the list of all the people I follow all the time. I follow a lot of people now so the stream is very fast for everyone. I have different lists that I follow and a few hashtags. I see my retweets in my mentions column in Tweetdeck. I also check Crowdbooster for my weekly people who mentioned me the most & thank them.
What things do you do for thank yous and following people?
Peggy
Good to know how you do it! I have a smaller number of followers/following than you so I can work it without lists (which I can see would be needed with larger numbers.) I try to thank everyone for every RT. I look at every profile to see if I want to follow back, and then send every person a personalized DM. Doing this actually helps me remember people. I also use Tweetdeck, and I will check Crowdbooster as well as commun.it for most active engagers!
Keep writing the good stuff!
Great tips Peggy. This is a very popular post. I will be sharing this timeless post again.
Saw this tweet: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas; what happens on Twitter stay on Google forever!~ @jkcallas
Ann
Great post…so true…Peggy you always teach me something new. I love that about you
You are so kind Jodi! I am happy that you liked the post. I wrote this one almost a year ago.
Thank you so much Sneha! And I agree happy tweets are the best.
Thanks Peggy. My first visit to your blog, and the advice was helpful. I also like the way your writing drips positivity at every turn.
@Greg Marcus Thanks Greg! That’s fantastic. Hope you come back. 🙂
to the point
I agree completely and have a post about online civility going live next week. It’s validating to see that we aren’t the only ones tired of people being negative to each other hiding behind the screenname.