Twitter Rules to Abide and Question

In the previous article, Linda introduced Twitter to designers, including some tools to use and some basic rules that you might follow for Twitter success. In this article, she will take you into the realm of Twitter Rule Meisters, or people who insist that you follow their rules. She offers some alternatives that, outside of Twitter's official rules, actually bring total freedom to your Twitter use.

Some Rules to Test from Robert Scoble

The following list was created by Robert Scoble – one of the most popular social media guys around. His Twitter account at this writing shows 95,812 followers. He wrote The 10 rules of Twitter (and how I break every one), but I have issues with a few of his comments. His rules are posted below with my comments:

RULE 1: Scoble states that a tweet should never be more than 140 characters, but that he breaks that rule all the time. You might wonder how he breaks it – is he special? No – he splits up his tweets into two separate tweets. Interestingly, Andy Piper states, "never, EVER, split a single comment across multiple tweets – 140 chars is enough, or you're saying too much at once."  So, who is correct? Neither one and both. Do what works for you.

Rule 2: Never Tweet more than five times a day, says Robert. He feels that if you post more than this that you are in danger of pushing other people's messages off the home page of your follower's Twitter page.  According to Robert's posts on Sunday, 21 June, he sent at least 14 messages within 24 hours. See? If Robert can break his own rules, surely you can, too.

With that said, you can post 14 messages or more – I know folks who use Twitter like they would use a phone – and I enjoy following them because their conversations, their links and their messages are entertaining and enlightening. You'll know if you're posting too much AND if you're posting too much of the wrong thing if Twitter taps you for spamming.

Rule 3: Robert suggests never following more than 300 people. This, while he follows 102, 501 Twitter users. You don't need to follow a lot of people, especially if you want to answer people who contact you. But, Nicholas Patten definitely answers people and he has 26,453 followers this week. Guy Kawasaki, while he says he reads all messages sent to him by his 130,292 followers, does not respond to people. I would prefer to be more like Nicholas Patten than like Guy Kawasaki, as responding to folks is one way to build bridges.

Rule 4: Robert demands that users never follow anyone who isn't your "real" friend. This will help you keep your friends' list down to less than 300. Yet, I doubt sincerely that he has 102,501 friends. Plus, I have found many friends through Twitter – if you cannot make friends on Twitter, then what's the use? I really don't understand this rationale at all.

Rule 5: Don't assume other people are having the same experience you are, says Robert. I'm going to assume this is a life lesson, not a Twitter rule, so I'll ignore it.

Rule 6: Robert says, "Don't post thoughts across multiple Tweets (see #1)." I've done this, but not often. Multiple tweets to say one message can be intriguing to some readers who may want to know more about what you said in the previous tweet or what you might follow a tweet with later...with that said, don't think your message is so special that people will hunt down previous or following tweets from you.

Rule 7: Robert thinks that the Twitter question, "What are you doing?" is the relevant question. But, he admits to breaking this rule and so should you. "What are you thinking?" is relevant, as is "What do you care about?" and more.

Rule 8: Ah – here we get to the real root of Robert's idea of friendship: "Me? I follow EVERY person who follows me, as Dave Winer points out. Why? Cause I believe that anyone who follows me is a friend and is someone I should listen to." As for myself, I cannot call you a friend until we've established a relationship. But, I'm a girl and Robert is a guy. Maybe that's the difference. Do what's right for you.

Rule 9: Robert states, "you don't need to follow people you think are jerks." I agree with this one. And, your idea of a jerk may be way different than mine.

Rule 10: Robert suggests using social media tools other than Twitter for photos, audio, etc. While I agree, I think it's interesting that Robert and others have posted to Twitter from Friendfeed, where you can post photos, audio and more. When your message arrives on Twitter from Friendfeed, it doesn't make much sense sometimes. If you're going to use another social media tool to post to Twitter, make sure it makes sense for you and for others – but, that's not a rule.