Lots of communications people –journalists, PR folks, ad people–are on Twitter. I am too, and I follow many communications types. You can get a lot of good information, and interesting facts from your Twitter stream. But you can also learn a lot about the people you follow.
What you tweet about: Obviously, what you tweet about shows what you are interested in, and what you are more knowledgeable about. If you are in health care, you may tweet about the latest health research. If you are constantly tweeting about personal stuff, you are communicating that your business is not as important to you as your personal life. If you never tweet about personal stuff, you are saying that you view Twitter as only business.
When you tweet: Do you tweet during the day? Chances are that you incorporate Twitter into your work life. Do you only tweet on the weekend? Timing shows how much you understand how Twitter works. Although we have the ability to look a people’s stream history, Twitter tends to be about immediacy. If you are tweeting in the middle of the night, you are saying you don’t care whether people see your tweets, you just want to share.
How much you re-tweet: If you re-tweet stuff, it shows you are really reading what the people you follow share, and also, that you find it useful. You also are saying you are willing to share credit. If you never re-tweet, well, maybe you haven’t found anything worth sharing.
Your Twitter stream really communicates a lot to those who follow you. Twitter is about building your network, and it is about sharing. I would argue that Twitter is also about branding. If you haven’t locked your tweets, anyone can see what you are putting out there, and can form an opinion about who you are and what you do.
What does your Twitter stream say about you?
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
Brava, Deborah! You’ve packed a lot of value into a short post and 3 key points.
I’d add one more point: What you tweet about is also a quick filter for others who may know nothing about you. If I’m checking new profiles on the weekend, I’ll dig back to the work week. If your work week tweets aren’t of value to me, then I’m gone.
PS: Of course, if I ever start tweeting in the middle of the night it’ll be for the comaraderie of other insomniacs.
Thank you Daria. I agree–I always skim through someone’s tweets in order to decide whether to follow or not. It’s about relevance.