Six types of Tweets if you Twitter everyday

I have so many people asking me how to write Tweets.  So I have provided a list of generic types using real Tweets by some of the social and new media people I follow.

This is a list of Tweets for those who want to use Twitter to develop skills to cultivate a community, a professional community at that. If you are using Twitter to communicate with your mates, it will not be relevant.

And, remember, there is little point polishing your Tweets if you have not been selective about people to follow on Twitter and people not to follow on Twitter.

The information Tweet

@fruchter Seth Godin on sending a personal email. Common sense but worth the read. http://is.gd/fkst

Helping your community with knowledge is a core reason for people to follow you. I get RSS feeds of over 30 blogs but a Tweet with a link from someone you trust and respect, like social media expert Mike Fruchter, is a great way to have a really important post brought to your attention quickly.

(which can also be ) The wise Tweet

@jayrosen_nyu  If people on all sides think you’re unfair you could be doing something right. You could also be doing everything wrong.

Only a few people, such as NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen,  can do this one and get away with it – impart a phrase of wisdom that informs your community without a link to an article, picture or video.

The introduction Tweet

@psmith please welcome @jonslattery, former Press Gazette deputy editor and top blogger, to the halls of Twitter

Introducing new people to your community and explaining that person’s worth is really important. Jon Slattery has years of distinguished experience in traditional media and has now launched a blog. He is exactly the sort of person that anyone interested in an analysis of the changes taking place in traditional media should follow – exactly the sort of people who follow paidContent’s Patrick Smith.

The ReTweet

@tojulius RT @gerkmanaThinking of joining blog network? Read this first. http://tinyurl.com/8msuxo [I’ve been thinking of leaving network, lately]

How cool is this one! If you see a great Tweet, reTweet it, that is send it out to your own community with the letters RT or the word “reTweet” at the front. Remember to clearly indicate who wrote the original by adding the name (@gerkmana in my example). You not only show how useful you are to your community, as Julius Solaris, another social media expert, has done. You also show how you help others.

Update: thanks to William Murray for pointing out this omission!

The status Tweet

@jowyang I’m going to be trying some other technologies and tactics for a while, going to be on a Twitter hiatus.

Don’t forget. When you have a regular feed of good things for your community, it will miss you if you go offline for a while, particularly if you are a high-profile, social media guru like Jeremiah Owyang.

The question Tweet

@GeorgeHopkin Anyone know of a list of UK newspapers with Twitter accounts?

 Do feel free to ask a question but, 1, don’t ask too many times, and George Hopkin, the digital director for a UK regional newspaper company, doesn’t, and, 2, don’t get too spooked if nobody answers.

The blog post Tweet

@johnwelshJust rewritten my blog’s “About me” page http://is.gd/fc3a and a new “About you” page http://is.gd/fc5V (idea @Armano http://is.gd/dSOf).

It’s very bad form, well I certainly don’t like it, if you just use Twitter to blast out links to your blog – it’s using traditional push techniques to abuse social media. But if you do it, be clever. Here, I hope to remind my community of a good idea that they could use but give full credit to the originator David Armano and a link to the blog post.

If you thought this post was useful, reTweet it to your community!