It's incredibly easy to use Twitter. You can set up your account, follow others, and send your first tweet within a matter of minutes. But Twitter doesn't come with a handbook, which means you could be making some critical mistakes.Whether it's spamming your timeline or following too many people, some Twitter mistakes are worse than others. We're going to detail the top Twitter mistakes and how you can avoid them.
1. Starting a Tweet With a Mention
If you include someone's username in your tweet, they get notified that you mentioned them. If they respond, it begins a Twitter thread for the conversation. Nice and simple.
However, it gets a bit trickier if you begin your tweet with a username. In this situation, only people who follow you and the mentioned account will see the tweet in their timeline. Additionally, when browsing your profile, the tweet will only appear on the Tweets & replies section, rather than the main Tweets feed.
This is because Twitter assumes such messages are part of a semi-private conversation; it doesn't want the tweet to clog up your followers' timelines. If you require full privacy, you're better off sending a Twitter DM, which only you and the recipient can see.
If you want to include someone in a message, but also want all your followers to see it, you'll need to put something before the @ symbol in the tweet. Some people use a period for this purpose. You could also re-arrange the sentence; as long as the @username isn't the first thing in the tweet, all your followers will see it.
2. Overusing Hashtags
On Twitter, typing the # symbol followed by a word or phrase will generate a hashtag. It allows Twitter to categorize that message, aiding discoverability for people who want to find tweets related to a topic. Believe it or not, some Twitter hashtags have shaped history.
Here are a few ways to use hashtags sensibly:
- Posting updates about a live event or broadcast (#olympicgames)
- Posting about a specific topic (#pokemon)
- Adding to a running joke (#firstworldproblems)
While you can use as many hashtags as you like in one tweet, using too many dilutes the intent of your tweet; Twitter recommends no more than two hashtags. Secondly, don't hashtag a word that someone is unlikely to ever search for. Finally, and most importantly, don't #hashtag random #words in #the sentence—it serves no benefit and makes it harder to read.
As a final tip, remember that you can't use spaces or punctuation in a hashtag.
3. Following Too Many People
Someone follows you. You follow back. Common courtesy, right? Not necessarily. Unlike Facebook, which is based on two-way friendships, Twitter is designed for broadcasting ideas. It works best if you follow only those you're actually interested in, then make a point to read those people's tweets. Don't feel bad about not following someone back.
If you follow too many people, you'll soon find your timeline a chore; you'll end up missing out on tweets you might have enjoyed. Don't follow people based on one good tweet or because lots of other people do.
You should regularly go through the accounts you follow and unfollow those you no longer find interesting. You consume a lot of information and sometimes you need to cut back. Just because it's only 280 characters doesn't mean it can't get overwhelming.
4. Tweeting Too Much
It's all too easy to think that your words excite everybody. Sure, people have chosen to follow you, but that doesn't mean they want their timeline flooded with your tweets. That's a surefire way to be unfollowed quickly.
If you're tweeting more than a handful of times a day (excluding replies), it's too much. You especially shouldn't constantly retweet yourself to resurface tweets you felt didn't get enough engagement. If you have that much to say, you might be better off starting a blog.
5. Using a Twitter Bot
You're allowed to use bots on Twitter, providing it's not malicious. These bots can automate a variety of tasks, including tweeting on your behalf. Perhaps you're tempted to set up an auto-responder that greets new followers or tweets to announce when your follower count changes.
This is a terrible idea. People don't want to talk to bots, they want to talk to you. Don't spam other's timelines with automated nonsense. Make your tweets unique and personal; it'll benefit yourself and everyone who follows you.
6. Constantly Retweeting
A retweet is when you post someone else's tweet to your followers. Be careful not to abuse this functionality. Just because something interests you, it doesn't mean you should retweet it—that's what the like button is for.
If you constantly retweet, you risk frustrating your followers who are more interested in your words. Save retweets for those messages you think will have real value to your followers; take the same care with them as you would a tweet you craft from scratch.
7. Regularly Changing Your Profile Picture
Every once in a while, it's nice to change your Twitter profile picture so that your followers can see the more current version of you. But don't change it too often. This is because your profile picture is a quick way for someone to identify your tweets in their timeline; if that picture regularly changes, people might skip over your tweet because they don't recognize the sender.
If you want to make your Twitter profile stand out, consider switching up your banner or bio instead.
Maintain a Strong Twitter Reputation
Now you know the Twitter mistakes to avoid, you can set out to make your tweets the best they can be. While Twitter doesn't hand out rewards for its top members, you'd be sure to win one if they did. For now, give yourself a pat on the back.
With all of these mistakes banished, you'll soon establish a solid Twitter reputation, which means more people are likely to follow you and you'll gain respect within your communities.