30 Twitter tips hath September: @ikepigott’s 10 commandments

September 13, 2009

tags: 30 Twitter Tips, @ikepigott, Ike Pigott, Twitter

by Wade Kwon

In September, we’re offering a Twitter tip a day. Send us your thoughts and suggestions.

[Tweet this tip]
Day 13: @ikepigott says: Be human. Be humane. Be yourself. Be interesting.
Be brief. Share. Laugh. Listen. Learn. Repeat.

With Ike Pigott’s blessing, I’m reproducing most of his post, “Twitter’s Ten Rules.” I’ve tweeted it before, but it’s elegant and powerful and worth repeating.

Let’s take a closer look at each of them, which apply not just to Twitter but often to life.

Be human. I don’t want to read robots. Marketers, pay attention. Don’t write me short ad copy; write like you’re flesh and blood.
Be humane. An Internet comment fight? Yawn. Take the high road when having a conversation, especially among strangers.
Be yourself. Those with personality are the ones to whom I pay closest attention. If I fire off a one-liner, it’s because I do so in real life.
Be interesting. Some people cannot pull this off. I feel sorry for them.
Be brief. By nature of Twitter, it’s 140 characters or the highway. (Ike suggests 120 characters for retweetability.)
Share. If you find something useful or interesting, please please let us know.
Laugh. If you really want to stand out, be funny. (Oh how I struggle …)
Listen. You can’t really have a good dialogue if YOU’RE SHOUTING ALL THE TIME. Breathe, and concentrate on others’ thoughts.
Learn. We’re all new at this. Learn from others’ tweets.
Repeat. Or retweet. It’s common courtesy.