The fourth Twitter commandments states, “Thou shalt not re-tweet without reading content”. In a recent poll, my dear friend Lilly asked, “Do you re-tweet someone without checking the link they provided in their tweet?”- only 53% said a definitive no! The other votes were divided between Yes (8%), Sometimes (13%), and Depends on Whom I am re-tweeting (25%). While you might be looking at the impressive 53%, I’m shaking my head at the disappointing 47%.
RT is about Thoughtful Sharing
When I re-tweet something on Twitter, I am telling people that follow me that I think this piece of information is worth sharing with them. I am also giving credit to the person that initiate the tweet (or re-tweet). When you RT a message, add a piece of YOU to the tweet (own a piece of it), this distinguishes thoughtful sharing from bot-like behavior. Typical format is:
RT @mention title + link > comment Or reason Or sentiment
Examples:
- RT + Comment > “I agree with the logic behind it, but not necessarily with the steps used”
- RT + Reason > “a very useful guide to people that are just getting on board the social media train”
- RT + Sentiment > “great informative post”
This provides my friends on twitter with a more plausible reason to explore the “message” and push it further …
RT is about Trust
In the previous poll results, the most alarming group is the one that re-tweets based on historical trust. This is just like you telling me, I always agree with everything you say (all the time) … as much as I’d like to feed that to my ego, that is simply absurd. Where is your voice in any of this? You owe it to the people that follow you to “share responsibly”.
The story of the boy who cried wolf comes to mind – if the people that follow my twitter stream notice that I am spreading useless info one-too-many times, they will stop hearing my call and I will lose their trust.
RT is about Personal Brand Building
Ideally, if you were re-tweeting a link that you followed through and read, I would recommend leaving a small comment on the post. This helps you in building your brand. Personally, I connected with many people on Twitter after reading their comments on posts. Furthermore, many people have linked back to my blog because they found my comment on a particular post intriguing enough to make them want to know more about me.
Re-tweeting is not rocket science, but it does have its code of conduct. If done correctly, re-tweeting is an act that benefits all parties involved – the message owner, the forwarder, you, and your receivers. The figure attached to this post describes the circle of trust that the act of re-tweeting encompasses. The next time you’re about to press the re-tweet button, consider what the message you’re spreading says about your brand, and its promise of value. Think About It!
This is why I don’t like the “new” retweet function in Twitter and prefer to prefix with RT. I also use MT (for modified tweet) when I’ve edited the original (not just spelling/grammar, but perhaps only taken a part of it). Then there’s via for crediting sources who put you onto a tweet, but you didn’t RT them.
Twitter etiquette gets complicated, doesn’t it!
It certainly has it’s road maps! I agree with you re the new retweet function, i’m suffering from the same problem using Hootsuite – the latter does not allow me to add my personal comment on the RT – so i’m being forced to copy the whole thing and adding the RT and the @mention …
By the way, i think the MT is a great idea – never thought of it that way! Might use it 🙂
Great topic John,
I’ll admit I do the auto-retweet from time to time, but I’ll only do it from two or three people, because I know the type of content they usually post/link and usually the title is dead on. For example: A branding person that I trust tweets 10 Best ways to Efficiently Promote your Personal Brand…I’ll auto-retweet that, and THEN click to read. It’s a pointless risk, but I’ve built trust with them so essentially there is no risk.
One thing I’ve always wanted to do, well not always, but for a little while now, and if I was more “influential”, was to tweet something like above, and have it link to a post that is completely unrelated. Sort of like being Rick-Rolled, I’d be able to see how many people retweet without actually clicking the link.
John, we seem to be thinking along the same lines in recent days – I’ve posted about this very topic today. I took a different angle though (spoiler alert: it might upset some) but I think a great deal of Twitter etiquette is in fact self serving promotion, disguised as politeness or good deed. I identified 5 truisms or commandments on Twitter etiquette and wrote in support of bad manners. They are:
1. Not Following Back
2. Not Thanking For The RT
3. Not Attributing Content
4. Not Thanking For The Follow
5. Not Responding to DM’s and @Replies
See here for the reasons why:
http://wisemansay.co.uk/2010/09/24/twitter-etiquette-crock-sh1t/
Appreciate your thoughts.
Best wishes
Hung
PS: 100% agree with the reading the RT content, had I read your post before writing mine, it would have featured as point no 6!
As always, great point. I think the scary part of the RT is that you aren’t just possibly diluting what you show your followers, but you are, in essence, vouching for what the article is saying. This could get you in trouble, in a variety of ways. I only RT if I have at least skimmed the entire article, and even then I get nervous doing so. Generally, if I want to RT it, I make myself read it word for word. Sometimes an article is just too long and I quit half-way through. I feel bad that I didn’t share the great content (in the first half) with my followers, but I feel better this way than just RTing without complete knowledge of what I’m vouching for.
This article really resonates with me! I’m constantly re-editing my follow list based on the quality of content. No follower wants to constantly have random retweets & spam. I think in the long run it could mean the death of twitter to say facebook because people typically are more selective on what they say & share. Admittedly, I do hide 1/2 the feed of my friends on fb 🙂