Twitter Etiquette

What lesson does the newborn royal princess teaches us about Twitter etiquette?

Tami Lancut Leibovitz

Royal wishes to her majesty and the entire kingdom of Britain! This week, the world and the British nation received great news – Prince Charles and his wife Kate Middleton welcomed a new princess to the long heritage of the family.

Nevertheless, I’m not here to only congratulate the royal family, I wanted to point out phenomena that I found amazing.  Before the official anchor of the kingdom even had a chance to declare the gender of the new royal princess, Twitter users were quick to announce her birth and her gender! The new treasure of the kingdom, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, was announced to everyone on Twitter before the official representative of the nation had a chance to let the world know.We might have a new princess, but seems like Twitter got the crown this time, proving again its speed and relevance in covering global events.

What’s makes Twitter unique compare to other social media platforms?

Twitter is one of most known and major social media platforms. Last December, Instagram, the popular social media photo app suppressed Twitter and hit 300 Million users, compare to twitter’s 284 Million active users at the time. Twitter’s co-founder was quoted than by saying:

”If you think about the impact Twitter has on the world versus Instagram, it’s significant. It’s at least apples to oranges. It’s this real-time information network where everything in the world that happens on Twitter—important stuff breaks on Twitter and world leaders have conversations on Twitter”.

The historic announcement of the royal baby gender on Twitter certainly proved he was not far from the truth. Politicians, world leaders and celebrities take their thoughts to Twitter, reporters tweet from war areas, and anonymous users regarding events that once could be only cover by news crews pass information.

If your Facebook friend would update his status 50 times a day, you will be disturbed and annoyed – with Twitter, people tweet around the clock, tens of times a day or more if needed. It’s all about the most current updates.

Just like those celebrities and government, officials are held accountable, so are your tweets, especially in a business environment. Follow an important rule of etiquette, just like you would in an e-mail, fax or regular letter, check yourself twice before sending and ask yourself: can someone get offended by my tweet? Can someone misunderstand me? Can my tweet bother someone?

As part of my latest book “The IBL Code”, the International business language, you can find a complete etiquette guide for On-line etiquette, social Media etiquette and so much more. For more details and a copy of the book, visit my website or Amazon to inquire about my book, The IBL Code: International Business Language.

Follow those guidelines to tweet successfully in a business, commercial and personal environment:

When you Tweet….

• Keep it short and neat – having 140 characters doesn’t mean you have to use all of it, every time. Keep it interesting with tweets that hit their mark without using extra, unnecessary words. Here’s an awesome, classic tweet that demonstrates it:

Via Huffingtonpost.com

• Check your spelling mistakes and don’t leave room for errors.
• Keep your business and personal accounts separated, don’t embarrass your business followers by posting family beach photos on your work profile.
• Share achievements and marketing materials on your business profile, but keep it balanced with content that has a value for the follower.

When you tag….

• “Hashtagging” is a form of modern art, it can make any tweet cooler, more specific and more relevant to your crowd. Choose relevant keywords for your hashtags, what will help you reach an audience that suits your target market. That’s a great example of a tweet that embeds Media, link, location and hashtag – the full package:

Via dev.twitter.com

• If you are tagging someone, you don’t know personally, add an explanation or a reason why – if not, you will be consider rude and intrusive.
• If your business name is being tagged or hash tagged in a negative aspect, try to direct the conversation to a private outlet. The Twitter inbox or your e-mail address.
• If you are after “Re-tweets”, make sure your tweet is shorter than 140 characters, to allow users to re-tweet with their own comments on it.
• If you share a content, that is not yours – don’t be what the web calls a “Twitter thief” – tag and give credit!
• Keep it personal and differentiate yourself from spam bots and automatic content users with. People are always looking for this personal touch online!

Last and not least – Join me on Twitter on @IBLcode – don’t be shy to introduce yourself!