| A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide Posted: 01 Aug 2009 02:36 AM PDT  I love Twitter. I think the service is a wonderful tool that permits a whole new way of communicating. The thing is, it’s also a place where newcomers might often make some mistakes in their choices that will likely be taken in a negative manner, and will likely result in an unfollow or a block from other Twitter users. The idea to write a brief and informal twitter etiquette guide came from my new friend Zaven, who asked whether, in some cases, people might just be behaving in a social structure that makes sense to their culture, but not mine. He might be right. With that as a motivator, here are some guidelines for Twitter to consider. NOTE: these come with the You’re Doing It Wrong seal of “don’t take anyone’s word for law, least of all Chris Brogan’s.”
Maybe, as this is fleshed out, you’ll have some ideas to add or subtract to the guide, and we can update it accordingly. Fair? A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide - It’s okay to follow people you don’t know on Twitter. They can choose whether or not to follow you back.
- It’s okay to unfollow people on Twitter. Unfollowing doesn’t automatically mean “I don’t like you.” There are many other reasons.
- It’s okay to @reply someone a question or comment vs direct message, especially if it’s an idea where others might weigh in or add a perspective.
- It’s better to direct message someone if you’re making 1:1 plans or having a very focused, personal conversation.
- It’s not polite to direct message people you don’t know well with your automated quiz results or similar. It’s great that YOU like those quizzed, but others see it as spam.
- Some people are not a fan of auto reply messages that are sent in direct messages when someone follows you on Twitter. They (and by “they,” I also mean “I”) consider these robot behavior.
- Promoting others and talking with others is a great way to show your participation to the community.
- Only blurting out your information and links doesn’t usually come off as friendly or community-minded.
- You don’t have to read every tweet.
- You don’t have to respond to every @mention.
- You aren’t obligated to reply to every direct message.
- However, the more you can respond, the more people tend to stay with you and build relationships.
- When retweeting other people’s works, it’s okay to truncate a bit to be able to retweet. Please preserve the link and also the original person’s Twitter name. (ex: RT @mackcollier “Twitter lives and dies on retweeting.”)
- When retweeting someone else’s retweet, it’s sometimes okay to drop the secondary source and just retweet the original poster of the information. (example showing a change to a retweet): “RT @chrisbrogan RT @mackcollier Twitter lives and dies on retweeting” turns into “RT @mackcollier Twitter lives and dies on retweeting.” (make sense? agree?)
- and what else?
What else would you want to tell people who are new to Twitter? Do you agree or disagree with my ideas? What else will we do to help new people get acquainted? Your thoughts are important. 
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| Too Small a World Posted: 31 Jul 2009 08:01 AM PDT I saw these books side by side in an airport bookstore:
 It’s too similar to be coincidental, which means that one of the book jacket designers accidentally (or intentionally) ripped off the other design. But we see this. We know about it. We point it out. It’s too small a world to copy other people. If you’re rehashing other people’s points, it comes out fairly quickly. It’s great to draw inspiration, but be wary of copying versus “drawing inspiration.” You’ve got better things to do. Build on other people’s works some times, but more often, use them to inspire your own ideas. I’m always on the lookout for new stuff from you that will blow my head off. Share some of your big thinking? What’s got your head occupied these days? Let’s talk about it. 
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Keep a civil tongue.