Whether you're a Twitter n00b or an old pro, you start to get annoyed by missteps that new users make - and again, the old pro users too! I think most of us have made some of the following common mistakes in the time we've been on Twitter. Check them out and see if you're guilty of any!
"In line at the dry cleaner." "Waiting for the dentist to call me back." These tweets may not be TMI, but they become the junk tweets that your friends have to sift through to find updates that interest them. To illustrate: Andy Milonakis'
Let Me Twitter Dat
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Not Using Your Face as an Avatar or Real Name as Your Handle
Unless you're tweeting on behalf of someone or something else, I like to see people using their real name - or something close to their real name - as their Twitter identity.
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Following Too Many People
Sure, you may want to follow a lot of folks and be followed by a lot, but you don't have to follow everyone who follows you, nor do you have to follow as many people as possible. And as you see from my earlier slide, it just gives you more to sort through.
New tweeters often complain to me that they can't find the tweets of the people they care about, but still want to follow a lot of people. I reply with one word:
Nambu. OK, then one more if necessary:
TweetDeck.
How overwhelming was it to go on Twitter the day (and day after) Michael Jackson died? And it didn't feel like a community outpouring of grief, either - it felt like a lot of people reporting the same news and making the same jokes. Originality, please!
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Not Keeping It to 140 Characters
Stick to
Twitter etiquette and keep it to 140 characters - don't cheat by just continuing the same message in your next tweet.
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Tweeting About Food Constantly
This one I am totally guilty of myself (as was the
Fake Tina Fey, RIP): It's tempting, and a neutral area to talk about, but so many people talk about the delicious burrito they're about to eat, the chicken they're roasting, or the donut they're digesting. It gets tiring, and torturous for the hungry masses.
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