The purpose of posting anything online, especially on a social network such as Twitter, is to either provoke thought or a response. NICK LEWIS, AUTHOR, “7 THINGS THAT MAKE FOR A GOOD TWEET ON TWITTER” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STYLEBOOK
Keep your tweet short, about 100 characters by using active verbs and valuable information.
Use a hashtag to make your tweet easy to find.
Twitter A microblogging platform that allows users to post updates of up to 140 characters to their followers. They can also share photos or video as well as links to outside content. The verb is to tweet, tweeted. A Twitter message is known as a tweet.
Include a high-quality visual to make your tweet stand out.
reply On Twitter, an @ reply is a
common technique to speak to other people directly. A tweet that begins with @username can be seen in Twitter feeds by people who follow both parties though it can also be viewed on an individual’s profile page. Example: @APStylebook I need help with a style question. retweet The practice, on Twitter, of sharing a tweet by someone else to your followers. Users can either click on a retweet button to simply relay the tweet exactly as written and labeled as coming from the original tweeter or use the informal conventions of “RT @username”: at the beginning, or “via @username” at the end, to share the tweet, which allows the user to edit and/or add comment. tweet A public message of up to 140 characters on Twitter. Also usable as a verb: to tweet.
Link to a story on your website for more information.
Wording matters “Helpful wording heuristics include adding more information, making one’s language align with both community norms and with one’s prior messages, and mimicking news headlines.” • • • • • • • • •
Ask people to share. Be informative. Be like the community, and be true to yourself. Imitate headlines. Use words associated with successful retweets. Include positive and/or negative words. Refer to other people (but not your audience). Generalize. Make it easy to read.
From conference proceedings: “The effect of wording on message propagation: Topic- and author-controlled natural experiments on Twitter” by Chenhao Tan, Lillian Lee, Bo Pang, May 2014
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SUMMER 2016
Tips for top tweets •
Keep tweets conversational. Be professional without being overly formal. Talk with people, not at them. The tone of a tweet should vary, depending on the situation from serious to sympathetic and concerned.
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Use imperative words that encourage readers to take action: see, get, look, visit.
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Incorporate humor, inspiration and newsworthy content to attract followers.
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Incorporate photos and video.
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Use hashtags. Choose your hashtags carefully.
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Reply to mentions and direct messages in a timely fashion. Address both positive and negative feedback. Don’t keep followers waiting for a response.
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Timing is critical. Analyze when your tweets are best received based on your audience.
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Tweet as often as you have content to support it. Space your link posts throughout the day.
Use a hashtag to make your tweet easy to find. Include a high-quality visual to make your tweet stand out.
Link to a story on your website for more information.
GLOSSARY direct messages Direct messages are private messages between the sender and recipient. Tweets sent over Short Message Service become messages when they begin with “d username” to specify whom the message is for. hashtag A hashtag (the # symbol) is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. Tweets with the same hashtag are bundled together for easy subject-specific browsing, accessible by clicking the hyperlinked text. @username The @-sign is used to call out usernames in tweets. When a username is preceded by the @-sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile. trends A trend is a topic or subject algorithmically determined to be one of the most popular on Twitter at the moment. tweet A tweet is a message posted
via Twitter containing 140 characters or fewer. retweet A retweet is a tweet from a third party that has been replicated in another user’s Twitter timeline, retaining original attribution. Verification A verified badge is placed
next to a user’s Twitter @username to show that a legitimate source is authoring the account’s tweets. SOURCE: “Twitter brand assets” from twitter.com Quiz: Can You Tell What Makes a Good Tweet? http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/01/upshot/twitterquiz.html?_r=0 By Mike Bostock, Josh Katz and Nilkanth Patel July 2014 SUMMER 2016
A Scientific Guide to Writing Great Tweets: How To Get More Clicks, Retweets and Reach https://blog.bufferapp.com/writing-great-tweets-scientific-guide By Courtney Seiter May 2014 COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY | a publication of the Journalism Education Association | 13