Tuesday, May 12, 2009

5 Favorite Types of Tweets

Now a confirmed Twitter addict, I feel qualified to weigh in on the now age old question of, "What kind of Tweets are appropriate on Twitter and which are just messin' up the place?" (Note: I assume a Twitter "age" to be 140 days, so "age old" is appropriate.) The answer is, "Everything is appropriate!"

The geniuses at Twitter, who I'm convinced built the thing as a joke figuring it would never catch on, put in the ultimate content justifier. If you don't like what somebody tweets, then don't follow them! As a venue where a Twitter account hooked up to an office chair that measures flatulence has 3615 followers, there is obviously something for everybody on Twitter, and not every Twitterer is going to be your cup of tea. How wonderful!

Having now answered the requisite Twitter philosophical question, here are my 5 personal favorite types of Tweets.

  1. Informative - Teach me something. Point me at an article dissecting a news story. Give me a link to a CSS tutorial. Introduce me to a 93-year old lady that cooks depression era recipes on video. I'm an information junky. Be part of my supply chain.
  2. Funny AND Informative - Have a sense of humor and also feed my info habit. I like Twitterers like @annamariecox, irreverant, able to get into White House press briefings, and willing to tweet about the color of Robert Gibbs' tie.
  3. News - I find myself getting more and more of my news through Twitter. No, I haven't abandoned the ancient news sources of yesterday. You know: RSS, iGoogle, AllTop, etc. No. Far from it. I've been known to watch old-fashioned cable news, and even pick up some oddly formatted news medium printed on paper of all things! But with my local paper and television news channels having Twitter accounts, as well as many major national and international media Twitterers, and with increasingly good Twitter organizational tools like TweetDeck, I find 140 characters just about perfect to tell me about a news item and give me a link I can follow if I'm interested.
  4. Inspirational - OK. I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for a good inspirational quote or positive affirmation. Power of intention thinking and mystic wisdom and spirituality pique my interest. BUT, and this is a big but, for all you people posting spammy and questionable business promotions buried in the same dozen or two stale old quotes, be forewarned. If I think I've heard the same quote recently, and I go to your profile and find an identical quote on your front page, I'll unfollow you fast as I can click.
  5. Personality Tweets - A big criticism of Twitter is, "I don't want to know what someone had for lunch, or that they're waiting in a movie theater line." Well, sometimes I do. I'm sure it's a total mistake to think you actually "know" somone you've only met through Twitter, but there are Twitterers who I think really do give you a peak into their personalities through Twitter, and sometimes that can be interesting. @McCainBlogette is a good example. Politically, we're not very alike, John McCain's daughter and I, but I enjoy her prolific tweets and I appreciate the ability to gain some insight into another intelligent human being. There are thousands of interesting people on Twitter who I would not be likely to meet and talk to outside of that enviroment. How cool is that?
So that's my 5 favorite types of tweets. What are yours?

1 comment:

  1. I gave you a follow. So, I'll be keeping an eye on you. LOL.

    ReplyDelete

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