Twitter: Understanding and Using the @ Sign

One of my friends here on Vancouver Island

I was away from Twitter for several months, and I have recently returned to it. I get very involved with it, and then I need a break for while.

Upon my return, I was startled to notice that often twitterers don't really understand how Twitter works or how to use Twitter to their advantage. If you care about increasing your number of followers, understanding how to word your tweets is key.

The first thing you can do is to get your name circulating in the Twittersphere. In order to get your name circulating, you have to understand the @ sign.

If you start a tweet with the @ sign, the only people who see your tweet are the people who follow you and the people who follow the person you're sending it to. By that I mean the intersecting set. If I haven't made myself clear, a follower has to be following *both* of you to see that tweet. This is invariably a very small number.

So if your tweet is this (I'm making this up):

@joeshmo I had a great dinner last night at the @rottenfishcafe on Elm St. in Nowhere City.

You should instead, make it like this:

Hey @joeshmo I had a great dinner last night at the @rottenfishcafe on Elm St. in Nowhere City. #restaurant

or this:

.@joeshmo I had a great dinner last night at the @rottenfishcafe on Elm St. in Nowhere City. #restaurant

In the first example there's a word before the @ sign, and in the second example there's a period before the @ sign. If you put *anything* in front of the @ sign then *all* of your followers see the tweet.

But how does that help me, Cynthia?

It helps you in several ways.

A) It gets your name circulating. People get to know you and are more likely to initiate conversation with you. As you get to know people, it is more likely they will suggest others follow you.

B) People are more likely to retweet it (getting your name circulating more). Anyone who likes dining out, or who like the Rotten Fish Cafe, or is from Nowhere City will likely retweet it or initiate conversation with you. See A.

C) By adding the #hashtag, people who are searching for that #hashtag can find your tweet and you by association. They'll follow you because they learn that you know restaurants.

But, Cynthia, I was just having a conversation with my buddy, you may be thinking. I grasp that. However, many people have a long timeline of tweets that all start with the @ sign, so it's like you're living in a void on Twitter. A) Hardly anyone sees these tweets. B) Hardly anyone gets to know you. C) Other people would be interested in and enjoy these tweets, even if it's a long threaded conversation.

So how do I tweet the conversation so that others can understand and follow what's going on?

This is the method I use:

Let's say you tweeted this:

Hey @joeshmo I had a great dinner last night at the @rottenfishcafe on Elm St. in Nowhere City. #restaurant

Joe Shmo replies to you, @nobody111:

I had some rotten fish there on thurs RT @nobody111 I had a great dinner last night at the @rottenfishcafe #restaurant

This is what happens:

All of your followers see your tweet, and all of @joeshmo's followers see his tweet, and they can follow the conversation. You get to see the conversation because @you is in there. Threaded conversations like this can be very amusing to read for everyone.

This is just one little thing that most people don't understand and don't use to your advantage.

But, Cynthia, isn't it disingenuous to try to show off my conversation to the Twitterverse?

No. That's why we're on Twitter in the first place. Did you forget? It's to read and enjoy the floating conversation from people everywhere. It's to get to know people and have them get to know you. Enjoy.

Whenever I write about Twitter, I always like to thank my Twitter buddies. @TweetSmarter is the source of all things Twitter. @dudeman718 is a treasure trove of information and a really nice guy. @suzesmuses @BudgetDude @ej_butler and @mswaichingliu81 were happy to see me when I came back after a few months. @goodwilljohnson and @ashvartsman are writer friends. @loremarlene is my real life local friend and @keithborgnet was instrumental in getting me from 200 followers to 4000.

Another new friend

8 Tips for Quickly Evaluating Twitter Accounts

To Follow Or Not To Follow, That Is The Question

Now that I've been doing this Twitter thing for a while, I'm able to do quickly what used to take me forever. I thought I'd share a few tips on how to evaluate different peeps on Twitter just by taking a quick look at their profile. The profile gives you a lot of information if you know what to look for. Here's my mental checklist for when I'm deciding whether or not to follow someone.

1. Do they have a picture/avatar or are they using a default Twitter one? In my opinion, if someone doesn't put up a picture, any kind of picture, that's a red flag. It's easy to put up a picture, so either they're very new or not serious about Twitter. I want to see a picture. No picture = 1 Anti-point.

2. Do they have a bio? Anything in the bio? No bio = yellow flag = 2 Anti-points. This means they're either A) very new B) not serious about Twitter or C) they are a nefarious entity who doesn't want to tell you about themselves because they'll scare you off if they do.

3. What's in the bio? A lot of swear words, obvious porn, or obvious hard sales tactics like "I'm going to help you make money fast" = 3 Anti-points and a red flag.

4. Do they have a custom background? Again, this is real easy to do, and you can do it for free. I used these guys. No custom background is like #1: very new or not serious. 1/2 Anti-point.

5. Do they have any tweets in their stream? This is what the number of tweets tells you. Zero tweets means they have nothing to say or are very very very new. Zero tweets is a red flag = 3 Anti-points. I don't mind if they follow me, but I don't follow people who don't say anything.

6. What about very few tweets? Sometimes you see an account that has maybe 5 tweets and 1000 followers. What's wrong with that picture? Did they say such brilliant things in 5 tweets that they attracted 1000 followers? I think not. Most likely they bought their followers. Red flag = 3 Anti-points. I don't follow these accounts; they look hinky.

7. They are following more people than are following them. This is a good sign to me because it indicates that there's a good chance they will follow me back. Green flag and +1 point.

8. They have many more followers than people they are following. Yellow flag and 2 Anti-points. This is how I view it: if they follow me first, I will follow back. If they have not followed me first, then I won't follow them because I know it's unlikely they will follow me back. I follow very few people who don't follow back, about 50 out of close to 4000 or about 1%. This is a personal choice, but to me it's like having a friend that won't let you get a word in. I don't want to listen to people who don't want to listen to me. It's that simple. I'm on Twitter to interact with people and have fun.

So who do you recommend following even if they don't follow back? Well, people are on Twitter for different reasons, and it's a personal choice. I don't follow movie/TV stars because I don't care what Tori Spelling wore to take her kids to school. A few I recommend are @TweetSmarter because you'll learn more from them about Twitter than from anyone else, @GuyKawasaki because he has a continuous stream of varied treasures, and @MrsStephenFry and @BorowitzReport because they're just plain funny. I follow @MikkoHypponen who is a computer virus and hacking expert, and @Mashable is *the* account to follow for up-to-date tech news.

So you see that with practice, you can tell a lot about a Twitter presence with quick look at the account. I add up the points or Anti-points, and 3 or more Anti-points is an automatic no follow. Less that 3 Anti-points and I will have to think about it some more.

As always, I like to give credit where credit is due. Special thanks to @Agrevet who helped me get off the ground; and @KeithBorgnet who has been an enormous help to me on Twitter and is an all-around nice guy. Thanks to @janfromholland @veritable_virgo @detaildevils @cupboards @dogstoyevsky @harryporker who missed me while I was away from Twitter and noticed when I came back. And a quick mention to @Traddski who is brand new but learning fast!

Cynthia's Quick and Dirty 12 Rules for Using Twitter More Effectively

Twitter fascinates me. And I spend a lot of time on it. I decided to write a blog post on using Twitter because there are so many people who don't use it to its fullest capacity and don't seem to understand some basic things about it. If you know nothing about Twitter, then you should start by reading my earlier blog post about it. Today's article is for people who are already using it but want to use it more effectively.

The reason I'm allowed to have an opinion on this subject is because I've been on Twitter only 2 months and have amassed 2200 "followers". I haven't used any gimmicks or weird or paid services to attract followers. I attracted them the old-fashioned way--just hard work. For what it's worth, I'm now ranked #6 in British Columbia by Twitter Grader and about the same by Twitterholic --if they knew I existed. See tools for understanding your significance on Twitter. I have regular people I interact with daily on Twitter. I recommend people to others and others recommend me.

So here are my Quick and Dirty Rules for attracting the most followers on Twitter. There are other things that may or may not work, but if you follow these rules, you will maximize your chances of attracting people.

1) On your personal Twitter profile page have a very descriptive bio.

Why? There are several reasons: having a descriptive bio makes you appear to be a live person. Twitterers abhor "bots" short for robots or automated presences on Twitter. Also using several key words enables people to find you in searches by looking for words like "reader" or "writer" or "candlestickmaker".

2) On your personal Twitter profile page upload a picture.

Why? Bots usually don't have photos. What are you hiding? People like transparency.

3) On your personal Twitter profile page fix up the background.

Use one of the free tools available to create something unique and attractive.

Why? Bots usually don't have pretty backgrounds. A personalized background makes you look more real and more permanent.

4) Have a few tweets on your page.

No one is going to follow you with zero tweets on your page. No one is going to follow without a recent tweet or at least half a dozen tweets because you look like a bot. I shouldn't say no one. A few people who don't evaluate the ones they follow might follow.

5) Follow everyone back who follows you. Except of course, obvious bots, spam, and porn.

Why? Because you will attract more followers. This is a controversial topic, but I have a strong opinion on this, and here is some support for my opinion. Most people are not willing to follow others who won't follow back. Who wants to listen to someone who is not interested in hearing what you have to say? NOT ME and not most others. A lot of people seem to think that what they have to say is so interesting that they don't have to follow people back and they will attract others by the tens of thousands just by existing. NOT TRUE. You're kidding yourself. Unless your name is Heather Armstrong or Conan or Craig Ferguson, most people don't give a rat's ass what you have to say if you're not willing to listen to them too.

So ask yourself this. Do I want a big presence on Twitter--for business, for example? Then you increase your probability of attracting people by following back.

The key here is to keep the "following" number higher than the "followers" number. ALWAYS. This becomes more difficult as time goes by--BUT DO IT ANYWAY. Let me use my own case as an example. At the time of this writing I am following 2252 people and I have 2223 following me. Of the people following me, there are about 100 that I don't follow--because they're bots, spammy or porn. That means that the people I am following who aren't following me back (YET) are about 130 even though it appears to be only about 30 (difference between following and followers). As people follow me at an increasing rate, I have to scramble more and more to keep ahead.

To those who say, "I can't make sense of such of big stream of incoming tweets," I respond, "then use Lists". That's how you set aside what you *really* want to listen to (read). If you don't want people to know what you're *really* listening to, then just make the lists private.

To those who say, "you're artificially inflating your numbers of followers," I say, "you don't know what you're talking about." This is real simple: you want lots of followers--then you have to follow a lot of people. PERIOD.

6) Be nice.

Why? People like it better and want to hear what you have to say. Thank people and suggest following people by name and publicly. That's how their name gets circulated. It helps them, and it helps you get the reputation as a nice person that others thank. It doesn't cost you anything extra to be nice--if that's not your nature.

7) Be positive.

Why? See above. Personally I get tired of a steady stream of saccharine quotes, but that's what most people like. There are a few exceptions, but most people don't want to read tweets that are mean-spirited and sarcastic and downers.

In real life do you want to hang out with Mr. Grumpypants or Mrs. Sunshine? Yeah, I thought so. Same thing on Twitter. So in the morning when I look and feel like roadkill I tweet things like, "and how are my twitter buddies this fine morning!" Why? because it's pleasant and that's what people want to hear. Moreover, if you talk like that enough, eventually you start to feel like that.

8) Don't be vulgar.

Every time I say "shit" as in "the weather is shitty in Vancouver" a handful of people unfollow me. If you don't care about that, then go for broke. If you're a business trying to amass followers, then don't do it.

Similarly don't have a "porn-ish" background to your page. People don't like it--unless you're trying to attract sex-offenders. Make your background "vanilla" flavored. Every time I see large breasts falling out of bikinis on background pages, I just roll my eyes and click away. Idiots.

9) Retweet.

Retweeting or RT'ing circulates peoples names, and gets you a reputation as a retweeter--that's a great thing. Everybody wants to be retweeted. I try to Retweet at least 2 or 3 things every day. I find it a waste of time and impossible to try to predict what others will retweet. Just be yourself. I'm always surprised by which of my tweets get retweeted.

10) Tweet something interesting.

Tweets like "I'm brushing my teeth." or "My toe hurts" or "I hate Democrats" are BORING and don't encourage people to follow you.

11) Engage other twitterers.

Ask questions and make comments with @ messages. It makes life interesting and encourages others to join in. It's good vibes and helps your overall reputation on Twitter. The fact is no one knows you exist until you talk to them.

12) Sometimes break your own rules.

Samer Forzley on Twitter @sforzley is an example of me breaking my own rules. I followed him not expecting him to follow me back. But I engaged him and asked him about an article he had written about Twitter. In fact, he was happy to follow me back and has turned into a really nice and helpful guy. You should follow him too.

There are also about 50 accounts that I follow even though I expect they will never follow me back (although one did recently to my surprise). These include a couple of well-known comedians and several news-feeds.

Follow these suggestions, and I know you will have more success on Twitter than you are having now. If you want to follow me @quinceandquilt on Twitter, I'd be delighted to follow you back.

Epilogue: The people who have been most helpful to me--getting me going on Twitter--are @agrevet and @keithborgnet and @trotlinedesigns These are folks who have spent (and still do spend) a lot of time explaining things to me so that I can make sense of them. I am very grateful to them.

Twitter Twaddle

I was planning on telling you about Garbage Day today, but that's going to have to wait because since I blogged last, I've discovered TWITTER. I want to talk about Twitter while it's fresh in my mind.

A week ago I had no idea what it was. I had heard it mentioned a few times on CNN, but that was it. So I read a little about it, and nope, still didn't get it. It was only after my webmaster suggested that I at least look into it, I jumped in.

Twitter is very hard to explain to people who aren't familiar with it. As is often the case with computer applications, the best way to learn it is to use it. Just do it. So on the 13th of January 2010 or thereabouts, I arrived on Twitter. A childhood friend of mine, who had just launched a new website herself, helped me to get started and answered the first few idiotic questions. I registered the name quinceandquilt and just started talking (or tweeting as they say).

For a quick and dirty explanation, the way Twitter works is this: You decide who you want to listen to (or read), and others decide if they want to listen to (or read) what you have to say. The ones you listen to you "follow" and the ones who listen to you are "followers". There's a steady stream of comments (or tweets) that you have access to, coming from the people you follow. You can read them or not and respond to them or not. If you tweet only your "followers" see those replies. And the rest is commentary.

As someone explained to me tonight--a nice person I met on Twitter--some people or most people are only on Twitter to sell something and to promote themselves or someone else. Some people participate to learn something, offering or gathering links and information. A few are there just for entertainment. I'm sure there are some screwballs too. Some people are probably on there because their employers make them do it. I'm thinking of Fareed Zakaria of CNN who rarely posts and doesn't seem to have his heart in it (BORING), even though I believe he's a great newscaster.

I have to admit I like Twitter more than I thought I would, and I have found it very addictive. A week ago I had 2 followers (2 girlfriends helping me get started) and I followed them too. As of this writing I follow 97 people and 76 are following me. Will I follow more people? Probably, but I'm getting more and more selective about who I follow, just because like the ShamWow guy says, I can't do this all day. It takes time to wade through lots of messages. I think this becomes easier with a desktop Twitter application, but that's a blog post for another day.

I get the impression that most people on Twitter stick to a specific topic. Photographers talk about photography. Government people talk about government crap. Not me. I offer household tips, weird science news, opinions on current events, ideas for art inspiration. You'll never know what I'm going to say next because I don't know what I'm going to say next. So far 76 people find that entertaining.

I probably won't continue permanently tweeting as much as I am right now, but I think I'll be there for a while. I like it. If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm @quinceandquilt. If you'd like to know who my favorites are on Twitter, then follow me because I retweet (RT) them regularly.

Next time I PROMISE I'll talk about Garbage Day.