Basic Twitter: Who Are You?
First, check out this profile and see if you can tell what’s amiss:
The biggest thing was: I don’t know what the acronym stands for. The profile should basically tell who you are, to all kinds of people, non-political folks, folks out of your niche, folks that are un-techy. Don’t rely on them to click on the URL, that’s there for follow-up info, but basic “who are you” info has to be in that profile.
Some other profiles that have a nice ratio of followers/followed and basic 411 right on the profile page:
Robert Scoble follows a lot of people, and engages with most of his followers.
Janet just twittered me (ha) that she “…thinks it’s worth it to add a link to an about me in the bio too. I use VisualCV now ‘stead o my websites.” I’ll definitely check that out.
What I like about these- full name, clearly says what they do, and they have nice “ratios”- that is, followers/followees. It’s a conversation for them, not a bullhorn.
Obvious spam example:
Zero followers, no posts, and no description. Easy.
For the sake of showing a full spectrum- here are oft-followed, rarely-follower profiles:
I end up being very wary of folks who are either followed, or subscribed, to more than 500 people. Why? Because I know how much work that is, even with Twitter tools. Users have different aproaches to the use of the tool, and if it’s a very lopsided ratio, they either use it as an inside-joke chat application, or a bullhorn. If it’s a more balanced ratio, it tends to be a threaded live discussion, which is what I prefer, and what I think is the best use of Twitter.
BTW, feel free to criticize mine at will!
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Twitter is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Lately, it seems to be half people looking to engage in conversation and share information, half “expert” “guru” self promoters who think they are getting famous. I duck in and duck out, so following close to 1000 people isn’t a big deal. If I spent more than 15 minutes a day in it, it would probably get annoying.
Comment: Alex Williams – 06. April 2009 @ 8:23 pm
Good point Alex- it’s definitely a tool that is used differently, by different people. For me, TweetDeck makes it possible to organize over 100 people, otherwise I wouldn’t click past 3 pages of the Twitter web pages to read updates, and probably miss my main follows. I also only check twitter about 15 mins a day, if that.
Comment: banane – 06. April 2009 @ 10:18 pm
I was reading this over and could not agree more. Going with the simple approach I think works best. Creating enough interest so a person digs a little more is the goal.
Comment: SimplyCast – 07. April 2009 @ 5:20 am
I think it is just common courtesy to follow others as they are following you. We are all in the social game together, lets scratch each others back a bit.
Comment: Nick Stamoulis – 10. April 2009 @ 9:59 am
If you follow Scoble’s example and drop the “www” from banane.com in your Twitter profile, more of your domain will display in that field. Right now it’s cut off at “banane…”
Comment: Mark Alves – 14. April 2009 @ 10:47 am
But that is my domain…. simplement banane!
Comment: banane – 14. April 2009 @ 11:27 am
Oui, but a first-time visitor might think it is cut off. Seeing the “.com” will let them know they are seeing the whole thing.
Comment: Mark Alves – 20. April 2009 @ 6:55 am
Good article. I just started twittering for my company, Restoration Media, as well. @rmi_jad
Comment: Restoration Media – 05. June 2009 @ 9:23 am