Patricia Rossi
There are many great uses for the social networking site Twitter. Besides keeping family and friends connected to your daily life, you can use it for professional purposes, such as advertising job openings, business networking, and sharing news briefs. Twitter offers a micro-blogging platform whose posts are called tweets. Tweets are short posts of up to 140 characters that are displayed on your profile page. Twitter is a tool that can add value to your networking life depending on how well you use it. Twitter lets your message rip around the globe in 2 seconds flat. It is an amazing tool to enhance business and social relationships.
No tweeting if you are in a meeting, with a group of people, or one on one with another person. Give real people your full attention. People always know if you’re tweeting under the table no matter how inconspicuous you think you are.
If you see a great tweet it’s okay to re-tweet it. Just be sure to give the original tweeter credit on your Twitter feed for their 140 characters of brilliance. If someone re-tweets what you share, be sure to thank them.
Consider it an honor when people follow you. They are saying they like the content you share, so follow them as a reciprocal courtesy. An exception to this rule is if someone follows you only to hawk their snake oil. In that case un-follow them.
Never tweet in sacred situations, such as church services, weddings, funerals, baptisms, bar mitzvahs, etc.
Before you post a tweet, picture it in skywriting across the heavens. Never tweet while upset, inebriated, or unhappy with your boss or company. What you put out there will linger forever in cyber space, so be cautious about tweeting negative content.
Be neat when you tweet. Use proper grammar, since your grammar and usage tells a story about you. There is more than one way to be seen and received, so be careful with too many abbreviations and acronyms. Keep in mind that sloppily written posts are like leaving the house with your shirt incorrectly buttoned and one shoe untied.
Hashtags should only be used when relevant. A hashtag highlights and covers events that are happening in real time. They bring communities of people with similar interests together. Random hashtags end up just being unnecessary noise.
Refrain from using automation tools to connect or communicate with your followers. Real time interaction is what makes Twitter an amazing tool. Genuine engagement is the key ingredient while using social media, not a robotic auto-message received in real time.
Use direct messaging for private conversations and keep in mind you should never post personal information about yourself or others. If in question, pause and use the direct message option. You can always choose to post openly later, but if you make something public first, it’s too late to go back and make it private. Remember: When in doubt, don’t.
Be your very best on Twitter in everything you post. Be careful not to become too relaxed and share things that don’t represent you well. Keep in mind you never know who might be tracking your tweets.
Taken from Patricia Rossi’s new book “Everyday Etiquette” Contact Patricia for Speaking Events~Workshops~Business Etiquette Tutorials. PatriciaRossi.com 727-375-0375
PATRICIA ROSSI is the Nationally Syndicated Manners Correspondent for NBC’s “Daytime” where she hosts the popular Mannners Minute. Check out PatriciaRossi.com for a schedule of classes and speaking events.
