Twitter Guide For Writers: Part 3 (ReTweeting & ReTweeting Etiquette)

(Updated September 25, 2009)

Many writers new to Twitter greatly underestimate the value that retweeting can add to their Twitter feeds, providing useful information for their followers, building their personal brands, increasing future traffic, and helping them connect with others in the publishing industry. They also underestimate how much bad retweeting can hurt their personal brands.

Read on to find out more about the Do’s and Don’ts of retweeting.

This is the third of a series of posts I’m writing with concrete tips, examples and strategies to help writers get the most out of Twitter. In case you missed them:

Twitter Guide For Writers, Part 1: Follower number obsession, why are you on Twitter?
Twitter Guide For Writers, Part 2: Picking a username, private vs public, userpic tips, profile, auto-DMs, following etiquette.

To see all my posts so far, please visit my Writer’s Guide To Twitter page. You can follow me on Twitter at @inkyelbows.

I’m going to assume you already know the basics; if you don’t, please read Getting Started on Twitter: A Quick Guide for Kid/YA Writers by Mitali Perkins (even if you’re not a Kid/YA writer, you’ll find these newbie tips useful) or A Writer’s Guide To Twitter by Gary Smailes.

What is an RT?

RT is short for “retweet,” which is the act of forwarding along someone’s Twitter post along with acknowledgement of where it came from.

What does an RT look like?

RTs usually begin with “RT @username” or end with (via @username).

Make sure you insert a space before the “@username” or the user won’t get a notification of your tweet.

Putting JUST the “@username” at the beginning of a tweet post is not an RT; it’s a reply. It will appear in the user’s Mentions/Reply feed, but anyone who is NOT following that user won’t be able to see it unless they go directly to that person’s main page.

I usually use “via” at the end of tweets, but that’s just a personal preference.

Why can’t I just go directly to the source and tweet it?

You could, and some people do. However, doing an RT has several benefits:

1. It’s polite to acknowledge where you found the info.

2. Networking potential. You’re paying the other person a compliment, letting them know that you find their post useful, funny or interesting enough to re-post. You’re also helping to publicize their feed.

Even if the post isn’t a true RT but rather a link to something I’ve found on the Web myself, I usually try to make the effort to include the Twitter name of the author.

If I RT someone, how will they know that I’ve RTed them?

If you correctly reference their Twittername in your post, then your post will appear in their “Mentions/Replies” feed. You can see what’s in YOUR Mentions/Replies feed by logging in, going to the main Twitter page, then clicking on the “@username” link in the righthand column (where “username” is your Twitter name).

I want to retweet someone’s post, but it’s too long. Is it ok if I modify their post to shorten it?

Some people may disagree, but I think this is fine as long as you keep the original context. NEVER abbreviate the tweet in such a way that it changes the original meaning or intent. I’d also advise against using too many abbreviations; it makes the tweet too hard to understand.

And proofread the abbreviated post! I’ve had people retweet my posts but with their typos added in — making it looks as if *I* was the one who made the typos. Not good.

What if the person is retweeting someone else? Should I include both their names?

Sure, if you can fit in both names, else consider leaving some names out. But ALWAYS keep the original author username: the person who originated the post. Don’t opt to include a “big name” author/editor instead of the originator just to get kudos from the former.

Here are a few solutions to including more than one name; I tend to use the first:

But PLEASE avoid multiple RTs like: “RT @gregpincus RT @rillajaggia RT @mitaliperkins RT @katefall …” etc. This would be sort of like saying, “I heard from Greg who heard from Rilla who heard from Mitali who heard from Kate etc.”

It’s a pain having to remember the proper RT format. Is there an easy alternative to manually typing “RT @username” every time

My favourite retweet tool is Tweetdeck because it enables me to retweet with just one click. Just hover over anyone’s profile picture and click the bottom left icon to retweet.

Right now, there’s no easy way to retweet in the Web-based Twitter site but happily, it looks as if that’s going to change soon.

How can I track who retweets me?

I use Tweetmeme, but there are many Web-based tools for tracking retweets. See the list of other resources at the end of this article.

Be a discerning retweeter.

Don’t retweet just for the sake of retweeting or in hopes of getting noticed by the people you retweet. Build up a reputation for retweeting quality material. What you choose to retweet becomes part of your brand, so retweet wisely.

Always check your links before retweeting. I made the mistake of NOT doing this recently and accidentally left off a character at the end of a shortened URL. Instead of taking users to a useful name generation page, the link to them to a white supremacy message board (!).

Fortunately, my followers knew that this wasn’t my usual retweet material and alerted me right away. And fortunately, I was checking my Mentions/DMs so was able to delete the bad post and re-post a correction quickly.

Aim for clarity, brevity and accuracy.

Differentiate between the post you’re retweeting and your own comments. If there’s a danger of confusion, I usually start my retweet with “RT @username” and might even add quotes. I’ll put any personal remarks at the end of the tweet.

Before you hit POST, read over the tweet carefully to see if there are any extra characters (extra hyphens or spaces, for instance)that aren’t necessary. The shorter your tweet, the more likely you’ll be retweeted.

Never retweet a link without actually checking the link first, both to make sure it goes where it’s supposed to (see my embarrassing mistake earlier in this article) and that the article is content you want to retweet. Be aware that if you retweet a controversial statement or link to a controversial article, people will assume you agree with it unless you add an editorial comment.

Should I keep hashtags in retweets?

If I’m retweeting something that was recently posted, I take out hashtags before retweeting since people who are searching for the hashtag have likely already seen the post.

If the hashtag is an essential part of the post, of course, you should leave it in! Example:

Using RTs to find topic trends

Tracking RTs helps me find out what’s been talked about in the publishing industry. I use Tweetdeck’s “Filter This Column” feature (bottom of the column, second icon from the left, looks like an arrow pointing into the ground) to search for “RT @” to see what kinds of things are being retweeted.

Because I follow mainly publishing industry types, I can get a much more focused search than I would using the general Twitter search or even a hashtag search. I can also narrow this search even further by searching within a sub-group I’ve created, like editors or agents.

Some people have asked me how I always manage to find such interesting tweets — well, now you know my secret.

Should I thank people for RTs?

You don’t have to, but I know when I retweet, I always appreciate (though never expect) some kind of acknowledgement from the person I’m retweeting. As your tweets become more popular, however, it may more of a challenge for you to thank every person.

To avoid cluttering up other people’s Twitterfeeds with reams of thank yous, I use a separate account for chats and replies.

Another reason I try thanking people: if I have time, I also try to check out each person’s Twitter page. This enables me to find out more about that person and possibly add them to one of my customized lists on SocialOomph.com (which I use to filter tweets) and to check if I’m following them or not, and whether I want to.

RELATED SOURCES OF INFORMATION:

How To: Retweet On Twitter: excellent guide from Mashable.com. Includes a list of some Web-based tools for tracking retweets.

A Complete Guide On Retweeting

Retweeting Etiquette, RT Spam, RT Flash Mobs, RT Linkbait

“Twettiquette” Lesson: The Retweet

How To Retweet: A Simple Guide from Blogging Bits.

The Science Of ReTweets: from Mashable.com. Analysis of what makes a tweet more likely to be retweeted.

Patterns of Effective Tweeting and Retweeting

Tagged as: twitter