Tweeting Etiquette

This post is different from my others because it is rare that I rant or criticize the expression of others via social media. However, after having lunch with a close friend, at her request, I am writing this post. To all my tweeties out there I won't say that I have never been guilty of any of these, because I'm sure at one point I have, but I try to remain consciously aware of the quality of my tweets; however, if this is you, it is absolutely why I am not following you.

1. The Endless #hashtag

If your tweets constantly consist of 100 character hashtags that are not meant to be hashtags I don't follow you. Hashtags were created to put your tweet into a grouping with others who are tweeting about the same subject so that you can connect with one another, I highly doubt that there is another person out there hashtagging #ihatemylifesomuchohwaitIAMSOAWESOMEbuteveryoneisDUMB

Also if you tweet one sentence then use a million hashtags to express your feelings I don't follow you. Exhibit A:

My brother likes to make fun of me when I'm coughing and about to die #hehatesme #whysorude #justtheusual #joysofbeingfamily


2. Tweeting Every Thought

I don't mind followers who tweet consistently throughout the day as long as their tweets don't look like this:


9:10- Just woke up from a great sleep.
9:11- Just wasn't enough sleep.
9:12- My dream was about....wait I can't remember!
9:12- Guess I'll get out of my bed to go pee, wish I could remember my dream.
9:13- Peeing now...oh I JUST LOVE TWEETING. #twittterisawesome

If your tweeting also consists of constant trash talk about some girl who "did you wrong" or some boy whose "azz is thug" then you guessed it, I'm not following you.

3. The Illiterate Tweeter

If you tweet illiterately, I will unfollow you in a heartbeat. I understand the occasional misspelling, and I let punctuation slide most all of the time considering writing must be adapted to the media machine, in this case 140 characters. However, if your tweets look like this, not only am I not following you, I also probably think you need to go back to kindergarten.

if u tweet lik dis i don follo u. it look dumb no matter if u talkin bout yo boyz or dem gurlz yuhhhh? n no u aint flyyyy.

4. The #FF Overkill

I appreciate my followers who participate in #FF--it's a good way to reference other people to your followers. The time I don't appreciate it is when someone tweets their whole twitter follower population every Friday morning. It's always nice to know why you are promoting these accounts, and unless you are obtaining 100 new followers a week, all of us have already seen tweets last Friday where you also told us to follow these same people. I am probably not following them, or you.

5. The Spambot

We all hate you, except for those people who are just trying to get more followers. Go away. No, I am not following you, even if I can win a free iPad2.



In saying all of this, I am no social media "boss" and my follower count is pretty minimal. However, I do love Twitter and using it to connect with other people. Honestly, I will follow just about anyone as long as your tweets don't consist of any of the above. Like I said before, this is just a rant, but know that if I am not following you....this is why.


Don't worry, this song is completely appropriate for this post ;-) SOTD