Twittering - is there a right way to do it?

With all the articles doling out advice on the best way to tweet, and the self-proclaimed experts claiming that they can tell you how to get the most followers and help you make money just by tweeting, how do you know what to do? Should you tweet a lot or a little? How does it work, anyway?

I've only been using Twitter in earnest for a year. At first, I couldn't understand how to use it as a boring individual, but I dove in when we launched YoLadies, last March. While it was confusing and overwhelming compared to Facebook, I feel like I finally got the hang of it.

Here's what I've found:


1. Don't tweet for money. Paid tweets are annoying. I've never tried to get paid for tweeting, but the profiles of those who have tried are nothing but freaking classifieds. Who wants to follow that? If anything, trying that will get you blocked.

2. Do tweet the things you care about. That's where you're star will shine - when what you tweet is what's in your heart. Whether it's your business or a hobby or a general interest, it's obvious when tweets are only created out of want for self-promotion.

3. Do promote others. Of course we're all on Twitter for some kind of self promotion. It's when that's all you do that it becomes completely unacceptable. Re-tweet those you appreciate - help someone else have their voice heard.

4. Don't send spam DMs. It's nice to get a "thanks for following" message, I guess, but most are followed by "oh yeah and buy this from us!" Lame. Just don't do it.

5. PLEASE don't complain about those YOU follow! I mean, c'mon. Check someone's profile before you click the follow button. If it looks like spam, don't freaking follow and then tweet about how you hate how your followers spam. You're the master of your Twitter feed, and you don't have to follow everyone who follows you.

6. Tweet when it feels right. It seems that there is a fine line between tweeting too much and too little. If you only tweet once a day, you'll never be seen. If you tweet too much, you become an annoying feed weed. So try, but not too hard.

7. Use lists. The list feature is the best way to group those you follow, so if you're looking for the latest on a specific topic, you don't have to scroll through your entire feed.

I'll never claim to be an expert on Twitter, but I think that the items on the list above are probably good places to start. Be yourself, don't be a spammer or a sad-sack, and if what you're doing isn't working for what you want to accomplish, try something different.

Happy tweeting!