Microblogs

5 Rules for Gaining Tweet Cred

As mentioned in my last post “10 Reasons I Love Twitter” I am somewhat of a Twitter evangelist. I rarely go a day or two without telling someone new about the virtues of the 140 character driven little engine that could. So naturally people are curious about the service and often run right to their laptop to sign up. Then the guilt of preaching to people about getting on Twitter without helping them gain an audience begins to set in. So I go out of my way to “introduce” my new converts to my tweeps. I’ve coin this activity of getting friends into a private party as lending Tweet Cred.

Street cred - as defined by Urban Dictionary - is:

Commanding a level of respect in an urban environment due to experience in or knowledge of issues affecting those environments.

Obviously, one can’t open up a Twitter account start posting tweets and expect Tweet Cred so I’ve posted a few rules on how to gain the respect of your Twitter Peeps (tweeps).

Rule #1 - Post at least once a day (but not once an hour)

Unless you’re an A-list Twitterati there’s no need to post every waking moment of your day. And I often wonder why the A-listers feel the need to give us a recap of every minute detail of their lives. For the rest of us it’s good to check in at least once per day. When searching for new folks to follow in my hometown (Detroit, the D, the 313, the Motor City, Motown, Hockeytown, the Murder Capital…whatever, take your pick) the first thing I look for is when was the last time they’ve posted. If someone hasn’t posted in a while - let’s say longer than a week ago - I’m not buying. Of course as you find relevant and useful information throughout the day it’s great to pass that along to the twitterverse so we can all enjoy your brilliant find or thoughts or random rants as the case may be.

I also recommend occasionally posting from where you are. I use brighkite.com to “check in” so people know where I’m tweeting from. It’s also a great way to find new places or see who frequents your favorite spots.

Rule #2 - Don’t just status - Post with a purpose

Okay, so I know rule #1 is post (at least) once per day but that doesn’t mean you need to just post anything. If I’m going to check in I typically add context to the post. For instance, as opposed to posting I’m “at the office” I like to say things like “working on my next post - 5 Rules for Gaining Tweet Cred - from my office in Troy”. My favorite posts from friends are “I’m reading _____” with a url so I can check it out, or a quick comment about a new website or cool company someone just stumbled upon. In order to keep the followers coming and retain your audience its important to join in the conversation by adding value, not just adding volume.

Rule #3 - Comment on other people’s posts

Twitter is the quintessential social media tool. It’s two-way, conversational, real-time, social web 2.0 at its finest. The rules of social media apply double-y for Twitter. Tweet cred comes by joining the conversation. Giving as well as taking - commenting as well as posting. If you lurk you lose. If you auto-follow just to take in the conversation without giving back you lose your tweet cred. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some great folks and very influential bloggers just through replying to a tweet. I can’t tell you how excited I get when other people reply back to something I post. The tool is useless unless it’s a two-way street (notice I resisted the urge to say stweet…oops I guess I just did it).

Rule #4 Pick at least two but no more than three “circles” to follow

I have 3 circles - in order of importance to me:

1. Detroit tweeps

2. Social Media circle

3. Greater Michigan twitter users

Really 1 and 2 are primary - 3 is a distant third but something of a job requirement for me. I find that the more circles you try to fit into the harder it is to be useful to any one or two groups. If you try to engage in too many groups twitter may become unusable. It kinda reminds me of being a part of too many social networks/niche social networks. The more ning groups I join the less effective my involvement in all the groups becomes.

Choosing your circles can be a personal decision, professional decision or in most cases both. One drawback of twitter in its current state is that when you post it goes to all your circles. It would be nice (and I’m sure there is either a client or one in the works that will do this) that will allow you to post tweets to only a circle of twitter users. Until that day and tool comes, your tweet about 1-75 and 696 being a cluster-you-know-what right now doesn’t exactly bring value to your global quilting twitter circle. So choose your circles with care and don’t over extend yourself (if of course you want to gain tweet cred that is)

#5 - Start a tweetup

So you think you’ve got the goods to be respected amongst your peers (feel free to “tw” that word…I’m not gonna touch it). A sure fire way to see if you can hang in the twood is to start a tweetup. Locally we’ve (@ccarmichael and I) begun the “Detroit Tweetup Network” to get on-line folks to meet up off-line. We’ve had some great times over coffee, drinks, dinner, whatever talking social media, Detroit politics, some weird biker places in Ontario, Canada - I digress - but the best part is we’ve actually started a community. I don’t claim in any way shape or form to be the local Twitter guru or the center of the Detroit Twitterverse, but hopefully by trying to connect the people together great friendships, business ideas and new thinking will emerge to help Detroit pull out of the current economic and overall slump it finds itself in.

So there you have it. Tweet Cred - getting the tweeps to like you and respect you - has some rules attached. Don’t let me find out you’ve been breaking them or I may have to come and take your tweet cred card from you.

© 2008 brainstorm.