Antair Games An independent game developer blog

I’m not a social media expert, god forbid. I didn’t like Twitter at first, and I probably break some of the guidelines that big time Twitter users would give… so take this as you find it. It’s just some of the things I’ve picked up since I started to enjoy and use Twitter on a regular basis. Some things I’ve misunderstood at some point, some things I’ve seen others struggle with. It’s not an in-depth guide either, so I’m sorry if you don’t know some of the terms or the basics.

The first rule of Twitter happiness is: http://twitterisntemail.com

Don’t read Tweets the way you read blog posts or emails. The stream is there, but it’s for watching trends and for having conversations. If you’re looking and you see something interesting, join in. Otherwise, don’t worry about it.

The opposite also applies, don’t expect other people to read all of your tweets… just because they’re following you, doesn’t mean they’re on the edge of their seat watching your stream. If you want to get a specific persons attention for a Tweet, there are ways and means to do it.

DM?

You can only send Direct Messages to people who are following you. Don’t ask people to DM you without following them first. Also, sending generic DMs to every new follower is kinda spammy.

Aside from that, I find DMs pretty handy.

Notes on @replies

You can address a message to someone by starting it @theirname. They should see it then, even if they aren’t following you.

They probably won’t see your message if you don’t start it with the @name, you can’t stack several names together, and you can’t just put the @name anywhere. 

If someone is online when you send a message that includes their @name, even if it’s not right at the beginning of the message, they should be notified of it… but if they aren’t around they’ll miss it, and it won’t be shown in their replies list.

Some clients are getting smart now, the latest version of Twirl treats any message that includes your @name as a message to you. It’s a big step forward, but not everyone will have that feature.

Another thing about @replies is that most of your followers will not see them. Don’t write “@somedude hey everyone, check out somedudes new site”. The intention is good, but most of the people following you will not see that message, and all the goodwill you were trying to send to that dude is wasted. If you want to share the message with everyone, don’t start it with an @name. 

Can I get an RT?

Retweeting (RT) another message is often the best way to pass on something you’ve seen to the people who are following you. Remember that everyone’s stream is different, so if you see something cool that might slip under the radar of your friends, click the RT button. Most clients make it quick and easy to do.

Unlike @replies, everyone will see your RT messages, and if it’s done with moderation, it will add emphasis and new attention to the original message. Just don’t spam the hell out of that RT button, and you should be cool with most people.

If you want your message to get Retweeted, sometimes the best thing to do is ask. It feels wrong to me somehow, but it seems to be an acceptable part of Twitter life. Just put “- RT?” at the end of your message, maybe someone will help you out.

Make sure you think about the length of a retweetable message. Twitter only allows for 140 characters. For your message to be RT’d intact, you need to leave enough space for “RT @yourname: ” to be added to the beginning… otherwise your link might get truncated and it’ll all be a big waste of time for everyone.

What if I want to read every message?

Everyone has a few people they want to follow more closely than the rest. I’ve been using FriendFeed to track and group some people. That’s working reasonably well for me, but it’s not ideal. Various clients might offer better ways to do this, apparently TweetDeck’s groups feature will do it.

Followers

Yeah, it’s a horrible term… but that’s beside the point.

Talking about followers all the time on Twitter is like talking about money all the time at dinner. It just ain’t good. If you’re only on there to acquire followers like some kind of collector, you’re missing the point. Spend more time connecting with the ones you have, others will come.

Oh, and follow people back. And don’t be afraid to unfollow people later if they’re clogging up your stream with nonsense, or for whatever other reason you might have. Maybe they’re spammers, maybe they didn’t follow you back, maybe they don’t speak your language. Whatever, it’s cool and easy, just unfollow them, it’s amazing how different your Twitter stream can feel after you take a few people out. Remember they can still @reply to you, and you can always follow them again later. If anyone tracking unfollows gets offended or whatever, they need to get over themselves.

Don’t follow people to get them to follow you, and then unfollow them, though… that’s like some major scumbag action right there.

And remember those follower/following numbers don’t mean anything, it’s all about the quality of the connections and conversations you’re having.

Understanding Notices

This is one of the most important things in this post: There’s an @replies option in the Notices settings page of your Twitter account. You almost certainly don’t want it set to “Show all @replies”. That means that you will see every @reply that everyone you’re following sends… to anyone.

It’s a great way to find new people to follow, but it’s stupid noisy once you’re following more than a few people. Change it once things get too hard to keep track of. You can either restrict it to @replies to other people you’re following (which is handy and manageable), or just to yourself (which will probably cut you out of a lot of conversations and isn’t really recommended).

Timing is everything

Everyone tweets at different times of the day. As I’m writing this, I know all the Kiwi iPhone developers will be wrapping up to go to bed, and the east coast US folks will be starting to wake up. Bear this in mind when posting a message if you want it noticed, and don’t feel too bad about repeating or retweeting an interesting message later for a different timezone… just don’t overdo it.

Warp Factor 9

The best thing about twitter is getting to follow @levarburton, @brentspiner, and @wilw. Yes, they are real, very active, and awesome.

Be a real person

Apparently people prefer to follow other real people… it figures. I’m probably losing followers because my twitter picture is a cool nerd Sneezie that Craig did for me, rather than a boring and probably horrible photo of me. But that’s the Antair Games brand I’m representing right now, so that’s what I’m using… plus it seems cooler and more fun.

But you might want to think about using an actual photo if you want to maximize follow backs.

Follow Me

Add me if you like, I’m @antairgames, I usually follow back.

That’s all I can think of for now, if I think of anything else I’ll come back and add it. I hope it was helpful to someone.