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With Twitter going mainstream and gaining masses of newcomers on a daily basis, I see more and more senseless messages floating around. To be completely honest, it’s not only the new guys, but some seasoned twitters as well. People say “Social media is 90% common sense”. In regard to that, the “rules” I will list in this post, you have probably already figured out on your own, I hope. Apparently not all did, tho’.

In this article I will try to explain you some basic principles that you use when you socialize.  Think about what you tweet – on the other side is a person and not a Twitter account. Unfortunately, some people on Twitter and online in general, do things they would not do in person. For instance, when I search on Twitter for a specific topic, I get so many spam like tweets that have nothing to do with the subject. By doing that, you waste your and other people’s time.

The following is a list of 7 common sense rules you should use on Twitter

1. Get rid of useless ReTweets. Remember #followfriday recommendations? They used to be cool, but these days all you see is people retweeting list of names that has no meaning. I usually ignore these huge RTs. Sometimes people greet multiple friends at once – OK I understand this – but why do ten people have to retweet this?
2. Don’t be pushy. Don’t know how to exactly explain or name this one, but I will try my best. Sometimes people try to promote their product, which is fine by me, but they take wrong approach. I have seen they send their tweets (with the link to their product) to many users at once, usually those who have many followers, with the tweet containing no real information what the link is about. It is annoying and most of us just ignore such tweets.
3. Be nice. I think this one is self explanatory. People enjoy pleasant conversations. Say hi sometimes or thank or reply to a question – not every tweet has to contain a link to your website. If you only post information your followers will feel like you don’t care about them. Also, don’t ignore it when people tweet you, take time and reply to them.
4. Do not repeat yourself. I know you want your blog or product be seen by everyone, but if you repeatedly tweet that link to your followers, they might just ignore or unfollow you. Try to limit that to a few times a day.
5. People have names. It feels good if people actually address you by your real name sometimes and gives you a feeling you interact with a human being. You don’t have to do it every time, but once in a while is nice.
6. And they have short memory. Since Twitter lacks threaded conversations, it is sometimes difficult to know what a certain tweet was a response to. Try to include some sort of indication what question you are referring to. I sometimes RT the message in my reply to make it obvious to what I was replying.
7. Give credit and share. If you find something you like, share it and tell where it comes from. If someone tweets something interesting that you want to retweet, thank him and mention him in your retweet. Again, I know this is hard to do every time, especially if you follow many people, but once in a while is nice.

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1. How to get More People to Retweet You on Twitter
2. What should you tweet about

If you use Twitter search, you probably noticed that all tweets do not show up. That is because Twitter started filtering out certain tweets from Twitter search. And there are not many worse things than your tweets not showing up in the search results, especially if you use Twitter for business. Being filtered out is not good for your social presence either.

What kind of tweets are being filtered you ask? Recurring tweets, meaning if you post same sentence a few times in a row it will only show up once among the search results. Tweets from people who are often blocked by others. And of course, tweets sent from accounts marked as spam will also be filtered. And believe me people use Twitter search a lot, I do on a daily basis. Being filtered out, you will have a hard time connecting with other people.

A few tips to not get filtered from Twitter search

1. Don’t spam. That one’s easy.
2. Don’t post the same thing every few seconds. If you want to promote your website or whatever, better do it over a couple of hours. It’s also annoying to see your product or blog linked five times in a row.
3. Don’t retweet spammers. You’ll have to learn how to spot spammers. Check out people’s profiles, watch their tweets.
4. Mix the words. If you really have to tweet about the same thing many times in a short period of time, you can mix the words to avoid filtering.

Oh, there’s one more thing you can do. Check if your profile is showing up in Twitter search. Go to Twitter search and type in your username without the @. Or better yet, type in from:yourusername. Make sure your last tweets are shown. That’s about it. If you have any more ideas, post them below in the comments.

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What’s the first thing you look at when you check someones profile? Most of us read the bio first and that is one of the decisive factors when deciding whether to follow or not follow that person. If your bio is not filled out or is not very descriptive, you are missing out on potential followers. Unlike the 140-character limit for tweets, Twitter gives you 160 characters for your bio. Use them all! In this post I will focus only on the bio section of your Twitter profile.

Will having a bio and website link in your Twitter profile really make a difference in the number of followers you have? The answer is yes. I’ve found an interesting research post on whether having a Twitter bio will get you more followers. You can read it here. Statistics in this report show that Twitter profiles that contain a bio will attract eight times as many followers as one without a bio.

While writing a good bio in 160 characters can be quite a challenge, keep in mind that you don’t have to tell us everything about you. Focus on a few critical keywords that really describe you. These keywords will also be used when people run a search on Twitter. Think about it as SEO (search engine optimization) for Twitter. Just as you would when optimizing a website for search engines, when you write your Twitter bio think about what kind of followers you want to attract.

My recommendations when writing a Twitter bio:

Be you and be real, and tell us what you do and what you like. Do not rush, take time to create the best bio you can. Describe yourself, mention your hobbies or interests. And finally, think about your niche and what kind of followers you want to attract – so select your keywords wisely.

If you haven’t taken the time to write a proper Twitter bio, now is a good time to do so. And for the love of god, please do not tell us that you are an expert or guru. Really, just don’t.

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Guest post by Ryan from AdMazing. Check out his blog, and follow him @admazing.

The Twitter invasion is here. True, Twitter has been here for a while now, but the hype is finally topping the scales. Everybody who’s anybody has entered the exciting world of microblogging and is expanding their network. Many are professing to be that expert or guru in order to increase their follower block. Outrageous “get rich quick” schemes are becoming commonplace. Spammers have found a new haven.

Or have they?

True, Twitter is a groundbreaking communication technology that is here to stay. But from personal observation, far too many tweeters are missing the point.

At the turn of the century, many people were so intrigued with the rise of the Internet that they granted it the status of mysterious, almost magical. The possibilities seemed limitless. Open up any kind of online store, become a millionaire. Easily.

And then…the bubble popped.

Don’t get me wrong–I believe Twitter definitely has the potential to grow with stability and avoid the bubble-popping madness that followed the rise of the Internet age. But for that to happen, Tweeters must recognize that Twitter has no inherent fairy dust. The same business rules apply that have always applied. Don’t just be there to be heard. Interact. Provide real value. Help others (and that entails more than simply mentioning it in your bio).

If you want your brand (either personal or corporate) to have a significant and growing presence on Twitter, send occassional direct messages that aren’t automated. Retweet interesting tweets. Thank others for their retweets. Be human, and don’t profess to be the all-knowing expert or guru that everyone else is professing to be. And for pete’s sake, don’t promise people you’ll help them earn $20,000 from one tweet or help them double their followers in an hour.

Speaking of increasing followers, don’t get caught up in the hype. Most of those 20,000 followers other people have are either spammers or “experts” seeking nothing more than to increase their own pool of followers. You want an audience, not followers. Quality will trump quantity every time. Look for those who have a few hundred followers or less. Those are the people who will actually read and appreciate your tweets and will be much more likely to retweet them.

Just like any successful business practice, a successful Twitter campaign is focused on relationships, reciprocity, and respect. The rules really haven’t changed.

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Whether you use Twitter for personal or professional use, most people recommend that you use both your first name and last name in your Twitter username. But using your name isn’t always possible. What if your name has already been taken? Or if your name is too long? Don’t worry, read on.

If you have chosen a bad name when you signed  up with Twitter, change it as soon as possible and if you are new to the service, I suggest you take some time and get a good username. With Twitter’s rapid growth it’s probably already too late to get the name you want for your Twitter profile. But don’t give up and settle for some crap name. As I will show you below, there’s always something to come up with.

If your preferred username is taken or you don’t want to use your name, be creative. Make it meaningful. Make it funny. Make it easy to read and remember! Do something that interests us. It will pay off. But don’t use any bad words in your name.

Ideally, if your name is John Smith, your Twiter username should be @JohnSmith. But, if you desired username is already in use, Twitter allows underscore, characters and numbers in your username, if you need them. I will use the name John Smith to show you a few different ways of creating a Twitter username. Keep in mind that a Twitter username can only be 15 characters long.

A few ideas to create a good Twitter username

• Put last name first: @SmithJohn
• Use underscore: @John_Smith, @Smith_John
• Middle name initial: @JohnFSmith
• Use “I” or “I am”: @IamJohn, @iJohn
• Use a title: @DrJohnSmith, @MrJohnSmith
• First initial and last name: @JSmith, @SmithJ
• First name and last initial: @JohnS, @SJohn
• Name and description of what you do: @ReporterSmith
• Add a question to your name: @WheresJohn
• Nickname and your name: @JonnySmith, @JoSmith
• Name and a number: @John75
• Use a modifier to imply authenticy: @TheJohnSmith, @RealJohnSmith
• A combination of the above: @IamRealDrSmith, @Jo_The_Reporter

Do not use underscores at the start or at the end of the username (@JohnSmith_), it looks suspicious. People may think you are pretending to be that other person without the underscore.

Do not look like a bot. Don’t make a name such as @Free_eBooks. Most people will think you’re a bot or a scammer. And it doesn’t tell us anything about you.

It’s worth mentioning that your username is also your web address on Twitter, so if you change your username any links from other websites to your old messages will stop working. So, if you have thousands of followers and have built a good Twitter brand with not so perfect username, it would probably be better to keep it as it is.

I hope these ideas helped you with creating a better Twitter username. If you come up with any more tips, please do leave a comment.

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Yesterday, Twitter was hit by a really nasty exploit. A worm, apparently originating from the owners of the website StalkDaily.com (even tho they claim they did not do it, do not visit this site for the time being), that can infect users simply by visiting a friend’s profile on Twitter.com.

Twitter said they have taken steps to remove the holes that allowed this worm to spread, but I have still seen some of the affected accounts after that.

The code for infecting Twitter accounts resides on Twitter pages themselves. The malicious code is apparently hidden somewhere in the bio section of the affected profiles. You don’t have to click anything to get infected, simply visiting the compromised profile can get you infected with this worm.

BNOnews reports: 17-year-old claims responsibility for Twitter worm.

What to do if your account has been hijacked?

• Turn off Java in your browser and clear out your cache and cookies.
• In your Twitter account switch your bio back to normal.
• As a precaution, change your Twitter password.

To prevent infection in future

Avoid visiting Twitter profiles until the issue is fixed. Both StalkDaily and Mikeyy are spreading by visiting user profiles on the web. You can’t do this in a Twitter client, so I suggest using a Twitter client like TweetDeck or similar.

Affected Twitter accounts tweet stuff about Mikeyy and StalkDaily.com. Don’t click on anything to do with either Mikeyy or StalkDaily.com.

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If you are new to twitter, let me first explain you what retweeting is. Retweeting is a process where people copy your message (tweet) to their followers. If somebody likes your tweet, they will retweet it and share it with their followers, so that more people can be aware of it. Retweeted posts are usually marked with a “RT @username” in front of the original message, or “via @username” after the original message.

Getting retweeted is great for your personal brand on Twitter and for your blog if you have one. If your tweets get retweeted, your Twitter name will be shown to many Twitterers and you will most likely get more followers, which is always a good thing. Also, retweeting can bring big ammounts of visitors to your blog, especially if the retweeted message contains a link to your site.

Well, you can’t really force people to retweet you on Twitter, but you can increase your chances of being retweeted.

Remember, you can only use 140 characters for a single tweet. That’s why you should keep your tweets short. Don’t use all 140 characters for your tweet, leave space for at least a “RT @yourname”, so they can retweet you. For example, my maximum tweet length would be 128 characters in order to allow space for someone retweeting to pre-pend it with “RT @markotu”. But keeping your posts even shorter allows for multiple retweets.

But only making your tweets short will not help, if they are not interesting to your followers. Tweet interesting stuff! Instead of answering the question “What are you doing?”, you should tweet about stuff that is interesting to your followers. Posting links to useful guides, news, funny or bizarre things and other informational topics is more likely to get retweeted.

Make your tweets seen by more people. Use #hashtags. This will make your tweets  seen even by those who are not following you, but are searching the hashtags. This way more people will find you and your tweets, thus increasing your retweet chance.

It may look desperate, but asking costs nothing and often gets positive results. Ask for a retweet. If there’s something you want to share with many people, simply ask them to retweet. To keep it short you can just add “please RT” to the message.

To summarize, keep your tweets short with interesting content and use hashtags. I usually get more retweets, if I ask for a retweet. What are your experiences when asking for a retweet?

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Many people who see Twitter for the first time ask what’s the point in that, especially after they see the big question “What are you doing?”. I must admit I was one of them for a long time. However, I have soon realised people are using it for so many other purposes, quite often as part of their business. I believe Twitter wasn’t originally meant to be something that people would use for business and make money from it, but that’s what it became. I don’t mind a professional tweet now and then, but users who are there only to make money usually don’t bring any value and are not even fun to read.

I use Twitter for many purposes. I use it as a tool to get valuable information, I use it for fun and personal stuff and I will not lie to you, I use it to promote my blogs a bit as well. But except a few tweets when I make a new topic on blog, I don’t really tweet for business. I’m not one of them super tweeters, who tweet all day long either, I simply just don’t have time for that. But I do get a lot of news and information from Twitter. I’ve got a few searches open up on TweetDeck all the time. So, could this be considered as using Twitter for business? Maybe.

I would like to know how do you use Twitter. How do you mix it all up? Is it mostly for business or pleasure or both equally? Are your tweets mostly professional or personal? Did your tweeting habbits change over time? What do you think is the right mix of business and social tweeting?

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Lately i have caught myself using Twitter search almost as much as Google. It has become an important tool for finding news and information in areas that interest me. If, for some reason, you are not familiar with Twitter search, you can find it at search.twitter.com, but they have already announced they were integrating Twitter search with the main platform, so it seems like a good time to learn more about it.

The basics

Twitter search works pretty much the same as Google or any other search engine, you simply type in what you want to search for and Twitter will find all of the tweets that contain that keyword. A really cool thing about Twitter search is that, you can subscribe to the results in your feed reader, simply by clicking the RSS button in the upper-right hand corner of every result page.

Advanced features

If you want to refine your search with additional options, you can use a number of different operators to get better results. There’s a nice list of all the operators you can use with the search at search.twitter.com/operators. If you don’t want to type the operators, or if you simply prefer filling out a form, Twitter has put up a really nice page where you can literally see all of the different ways you can search Twitter. You can find advanced Twitter search features at search.twitter.com/advanced.

I will not go into detail of every operator, but will show you the most useful ones you should get comfortable with.

The hashtag is probably the most important function of Twitter search, and the most used too. Hastags are tags used to identify tweets related to a certain conversation. You can either use the hashtag feature of the advanced search or just type #tag into a regular Twitter search. For instance, if you type in #FollowFriday, you will get all the conversations about this topic.

Search for @reply to find replies to you or to find out who is talking about you. Just put the @ in front of your username in Twitter search and it will show you all the replies and conversations that mention your name. You can subscribe to this feed as well, helping you keep track of who is retweeting and replying to you.

The minus sign is very simple, but useful. Works the same as in Google or any other search engine. If your search brings up irrelevant results you can filter out the irrelevant results by using the minus sign.

Local search is where Twitter really shines. If you’re looking for something at a specific location, let’s say London, just search near:london and you will get all the results nearby.

Another great thing is search in time periods. This lets you narrow down your search to a specific timeline. To limit results to a certain timeframe, use the operators since: and until:. Format the dates as YYYY-MM-DD.

Conclusion

Well, Twitter is not the best search engine, but is one of the best tools for keeping on top of relevant news. Even if you don’t use Twitter, it can be a very useful search engine. It’s great to get blogging ideas too. Oh, and one more tip – searches are case insensitive, so don’t worry about how you type it – just be sure to spell it correctly.

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