Recently, I have been asked a lot of questions about how I use Twitter, and how I connect with people. So here is my general Twitter policy and philosophy:
1. Privacy
I will respect your DMs. Please respect mine.
2. Content and Subject Matter
Your screen time is valuable. I promise to make my tweets as interesting and non-boring as possible. I am a news junkie and read about a dozen websites and blogs from around the world on a daily basis. I will regularly post content from sites that I am not affiliated with, because I find the content interesting, and think that you might too. I will also periodically post things that I am working on and I will strive to post valuable content over self promotion as much as possible.
I am very interested in many topics and have strong opinions about politics, government and religion. I will restrain my opinions as much as I can, though I am only human and reserve the right to jump into any debate if I feel I can add a salient point. However, I am here to make friends, not to argue with people on a daily basis. When I am asked, I will be honest.
For the record, I am an independent politically, and sometimes will feel obligated to discuss the failings in the current two party system. I am not religious or an atheist. I have a strong belief in God, however, I feel God belongs in church, not the schools, my doctor’s office or in government. Conversely, I think government should stay out of churches, doctors’ offices and bedrooms. I think that is fair. You can find out more about my background on the Rob McNealy Bio page.
3. Responses, Replies, and Pitches
I will do my best to respond to all @ replies and direct messages. However, due to my limited bandwidth, I may not always get to them, and sometimes, a few will slip by and I may not see them. Please do not take it personally if I do not respond.
I openly accept all pitches for Startup Story Radio, but please use the Startup Story Radio Contact Form to send them to me.
4. Following/Unfollowing
I am very Libertarian when it comes to following people. I look at Twitter like a large cocktail party, and the more people at the party the more interesting it is for me. Therefore, I will periodically follow people based on common interests, mutual followings, and areas of expertise. I regularly use the search function of Twitter, as well as other available tools to locate people that I may want to follow.
There is a debate in social networking about quality versus quantity of connections, followers and friends. I think there is quality in quantity and therefore like to grow my online networks. The more people I can connect with, the greater the content will be and more varied the prospective I learn from.
I reserve the right to unfollow you at anytime, for any reason. I regularly unfollow people that do not follow me, are rude, or not active on Twitter. It’s hard to dialogue with you if you aren’t listening. I also respect your right to unfollow me at anytime.
5. Spam, Self Promotion, and Commercialization
I am not big on Twitter spam. I will unfollow and or block you if you are DM spamming me or just keep following me to get me to follow you. I am pretty open to following most people. If I don’t follow you, there is a reason.
I don’t mind if you promote your content and are reasonably self promoting. I followed you to get to know you, and your business is part of you. However, if you go over the top, I may unfollow you. If you are close to me, I will tell you ahead of time.
I have no moral issue with you using Twitter advertising services such as Magpie or TwitAd, just as long as you provide valuable content as well. If you are only on twitter to run ads, I most likely will unfollow you. Again, I am here to make friends.
This policy is subject to change at anytime.
Oh, and if you’d like to connect with me, I’m @RobMcNealy on Twitter.
Tags: rob mcnealy @robmcnealy, social networking, twitter, twitter policy
Sounds good brother.
Rob, agree completely. Some self promo is ok but that is not what twitter is primarily for. I think over promotion will, in time leave the tweeter impotent…
I like it. It’s honest and it’s respectful.
I think it’s good to have a policy on how to use Twitter as people do it in different ways. I use twitter to find out about things I’m interested in. I try to make interesting and relevant contributions back. And am aware that sometimes they’re random and silly. But that’s because I’m human and not an android.
I like getting your tweets Rob. Policy is working.
Well said! Fair and reasonable!
Dude, where’s 3? Are you saving it for later?
Wow, you have really thought about it a lot.
I guess I just see it as an interesting way to watch the world in a sort of real time stream of consciousness.
I don’t have any product or service to sell, it is only polite to tell people about the blogs, so I do that.
And I say things I am thinking, if I happen to be thinking anything that I think the world might think is interesting.
I like the policy. Is it open for adoption by others?
Sounds perfectly logical to me. I try to keep up with everyone – and I am to lazy to unfollow anyone (that’s a character flaw I am destined to change in 2009). But what you outlined here, seems to me common sense.
- Bill
Rob,
I’m a fellow news junkie. Twitter is slowly becoming my first source for updates on the tech I love.
I follow @rails, @techcrunch, and any number of tech folks that consistently give me hot updates, opinions, and the opportunity to participate.
I also love the way I can keep up to speed with my business partners, customers, and the “co-opetition”.
Ads are bound to come but the joy of Twitter is that I can chose to ignore those who wish to spam me. To help guard against spam, I don’t auto-follow anyone that follows me. It may not be quick to have to manually filter followers but that also forces me to be fully engaged.
p.s. I’m @jonreid if that wasn’t already obvious
Phil-
#3 is super secret . . . Actually, @kristiemcnealy said she proof read this thing for me, so go blame her!
Hello Rob,
Thanks for putting in words my thoughts on how I use Twitter. It is a simple and sensible policy. I’ve found, in the short time thatI’ve been on Twitter that its a great way to connect with new people and gain perspective on how others think and what interests them.
I’m not religious however I am spiritual. That is my understanding and I embrace everyone regardless of religious affiliation. I am also independent politically , and find it hard to believe that we in here in America do not have a strong 3rd party based on the Constitution, fairplay and common sense.
Thank you for the time it took you to write this policy down!
Sincerely,
Robert Mulle
Esp liked the part about following and unfollowing – just went an “un-ed” a few and amazingly felt a ton better. Thanks from a twitter-newbie.
It seems to me that people use Twitter in three very distinct ways.
There are those who use it as a reading service – i.e, they want to find people and link to them, but just a few top people whom they read like magazines. Twitter keeps them updated on new ideas and posts from top Twitterati. For these people it’s important not to link to a whole bunch of people, but create a focused, quality list so they can actually review all the tweets that come in.
There are those who use it as a social service – they want to follow a group of friends and basically chronicle their day. “I’ll be at Cyran’s tonight having a beer, join me if you feel like it.” For these people it can be a bit unsettling having people they don’t know start following them, unless they are looking to make new friends. Or they use Twitter in the way to mix and mingle socially.
Then there are those who use it as a kind of broadcast platform – they try to follow as many people as they can and get them to follow them back, creating as large as possible a network of people to broadcast to. They skim tweets from their expanding network like skimming signs along the highway, and pick interesting nuggets until they can become a sub-twitterati themselves or at least a niche creator. For these people I think the idea is to link to as many people as possible and have them link back, and surf lightly on the wave of constant tweets.
I was a bit perplexed by Twitter as I was first using it as method number two – but since I’m a bit of a hermit and don’t do spontaneous things with a lot of acquaintances, I was rather unsatisfied. And I already have plenty of sources for method number one. Until I suddenly discovered how to use it for method number three, then realized its real power.
twitter.com/martinschecter
Hello Rob:
Thanks for the post. As a Twitter newcomer, posts like these are helping me to form my own roadmap for using and contributing to Twitterville. @LynnMcFarlane
Hi Rob,
I appreciate your policy ad fully agree with it. I have accepted you as a friend on facebook, too, but I am not really present on it. Twitter and my tech blog toplien.net are taking most or my computer time.
Regards,
René
@infogere
Enjoyed reading this and more or less reflects my view of behaving on Twitter. Apart fromt the spam there is only one other thing that makes me turn the other way- this not being your case- but people asking me to look at their websites- for heaven’s sake why should I? Maybe I will be spending precious time with my “slow” internet connection (as it’s not possible to get any other) just to see jazzy grafics that take forever to download. Such people should at least give me a reason for seeing their website and I will weigh up to see if it will be worth my while. If ever I ask to come and see my website, it is not for the clicks, but because I believe I have put there something worth their while to see.
Nicely put Rob. As for my own use of Twitter, I’d concur with just about everything you have there with some exceptions. For the most part, your policy/philosophy uses common sense and golden rule. Hard to go wrong there. But I suppose like many I’m being careful juggling personal and professional content. Many of these newer social media tools have started blurring some lines that used to be fairly clear.
As for #5, you don’t like spam. Hmm.
Is #3 still sitting in your clipboard?
Like you, and like most, I have strong personal views about topics that involve money, politics, sex, and religion. As long as I’m using Twitter primarily as a professional networking tool, and to some degree am representing my employer, I must admit that any personal content I include carefully filters away those hot button topics so as to not damage my professional relationships or otherwise detract from that content and those discussions. Could my more benign personal content offend too? Perhaps, but I’m controlling the odds.
I expect that one can be an interesting twitterer and provide productive content and at the same time assume pretty safely that no one’s going to miss any attempt by me to push my personal hot button beliefs on them.
- Jim
@JimBarry
Well said. And after writing that little phrase, I have re-read your writings and found that I agree with pretty much all of it. Even the stuff about God. =]
Interesting post! Most of the people I see on Twitter practice similar behavior; those that don’t should consider really consider adopting it (especially the companies and websites that only use Twitter to share a feed from their site — a little interaction goes a long way).
I agree Lynn, this is a great read for us twitter newbies.
Thanks for putting this together
Especially with the mysterious #3.
@harrisonpowers
I appreciate your articulating operating norms that make good sense, and would seem to be obvious or implicit, but obviously benefit us all by stating them.
Appreciate the Twitter policy. I am new to Twitter and this helped lay some further basis to Twitter responsibly.
I was about to become a Twitter Quitter, have decided to keep trying it keeping you’re guidelines in mind. Thanks! (I think)
Rob, thanks for writing this! As a twitter newbie, I’m having trouble with the “etiquette” so I really appreciate this.
John Corcoran
twitter.com/johnhcorcoran
Omni Law Group, LLP
http://www.omnillp.com
My own twitter “policies” have been on my mind lately, so thanks for a good and timely food for thought.
@jon_aston on twitter.
Great ideas on Twitter policy. Good common sense usually saves the day. Let’s hope it catches on somewhere.
Merry Christmas,
Alan
twitter: @alanlhammond
Maybe fleshing out a policy would have helped me not have to go cold turkey on my other account. I use the one I have now primarily as a newsfeed and follow/unfollow as such.
Good stuff Rob! This is why I go to the cocktail party–to find people like (but not too like me!) and socialize. Sometimes that means just quietly listening to what others say, sometimes contributing when (I think) I have something stimulating or different that enriches the conversation.
It’s been a pleasure meeting you. I may wonder off to meet others, but it’s great to have a familiar face to whom one can return from time to time. Now, can I buy you a drink? What are you having?
@CLeyerle
Rob,
I like how you made your twittering more official by creating this policy. It definitely shows a professional mind set and I am happy to be following you. I plan on checking out your site and look forward to learning something new.
Thank you , Matt
Looks like Twitterian Half-Decalogue ))
Great to follow for anybody though.
I read your twitter policy, and don’t have a problem with any of it. I follow people I find interesting. If they are someone like @copyblogger, I don’t expect them to follow me back. Sometimes I follow people that I want to me follow back. And I may unfollow them after a week or so if they don’t. I figure it may take people a few days to catch up with all their new followers. This brings me to my point. You followed me, them unfollowed me after only one day. I find that to be annoying, rude, and disrespectful of my time. It’s like tapping someone on the shoulder in a crowded social, and then walking away just as they are about to turn around and talk to you.
Thanks Rob some great tips here about Twitter extensions and a good insight into the dilemma’s of the new friends on Twitter. Happy New years.
Twitter is very great service.
My friend, Guykawasaki has written this very interesting post on his blog about getting more followers on Twitter. I recommend You to read and follow his advices! I got 10 followers just in one evening!
Here is the post: http://www.moneymakersportal.com/blog/how-to-pick-up-followers-on-twitter.html
Shane-
There was no rudeness intended. You simply don’t follow. If you read the above post, you will see that it is my policy. If you don’t listen, I can’t talk dialogue with you. If I was too efficient, I apologize.
-Rob
Matt:
I just think it’s fair to let people know where I stand.
Thanks,
Rob
@CLeyerle:
Guinness please.
-Rob
Sounds good.. I find that my facebook is for people I already know and twitter is a wonderful place to meet new people!
SK
Rob, Nice to know you better. Really appreciated this post.
love and peace
Louis
Being new to twitter, it is posts like this that help me know better how to ‘behave’.
I think all of us are still trying to understand twitter and use it to the best possible advantage. It is one of those things that because they are not bounded in any way or form, give space for many different kinds of interaction. I do not follow the same guidelines, yet it works for me in the way I need it to. I do agree strongly on one point; spam is outrageous in any medium, kind, way or form.
Hi Rob, great article! I’m redoing my own site and may follow suit in creating a Twitter Policy/Philosophy page. Well done. As you may remember, we somehow connected on Twitter (I’m @north100) and then on facebook. It’s still such a new and wild world to me but very fascinating as connections just seem to naturally develop. A bit of weeding now and then seems to be all that’s needed – for now anyway. Great analogy likening Twitter to a cocktail party. Good stuff. All the best to you in 2009! Cheers ~Lo
Thanks for sharing your policies, Rob. I think it’s a very creative and useful idea to have a Twitter policy. As a security awareness and management consultant, I am often asked about how to safely use social networking sites.
Since you have such a nice outline for your policy, I decided to create my own, based on it. Mine is more strictly business-oriented, since I don’t get into discussion of issues outside of my business. I’m also working on guidelines and training for businesses who want to empower their staff to work securely and efficiently, which will make use of this idea.
So, I invite others to view my Twitter Usage Policy and use any parts of it that they like by going to the link above.
Scott Wright
The Streetwise Security Coach
Wasn’t sure if it was okay to DM you! Just wanted to say thanks for the follow and I like your website, I’ll visit again!
If you have a minute visit me (I’m not selling anything:) at
All Things Home
http://robinrane.wordpress.com/
Have a great Friday
RobinRane-
Welcome, and thanks for the follow. It’s totally find to send me a DM when you have something to say! Looking forward to getting to know you on Twitter.
-Rob
Great idea to share your policies with your followers. It’s like setting boundaries which is always a good thing in building a healthy relationship. Thanks for the clarity.
I’m still feeling my way around social networking and am getting more comfortable with Twitter, but my philosophy refects my desire to be be a giver first and see where the relationship goes from there. Your perspective will be a help as I connect with people using Twitter.
I look forward to knowing you better. Wishing you the best in 2009
Very reasonable.
Krissy
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy
Rob
Good post
I am new to blogging and twitter too. I have never been one to socialize much at a party or in group settings. Blogging, using social media in my marketing and now twitter is a real stretch out of the comfort zone.
I look to the names that are recognized in social media as a model in all my online efforts.
I am using twitter right now as a way to announce my new blog posts, both to my readers and to my Facebook friends on my wall. I do tweet a few people and can see how I can do more.
Perry Belcher has a good video on his take on social media and how he uses it for business. I have it on my list as content for a post.
Thank you for this post
Mark
@MarkAyers
I’m brand-new to Twitter, less than 24 hours in. This very well-thought-out policy makes me wonder whether Twitter is a good choice for me. My purpose for being here is primarily for business, to find out whether using Twitter will be a sensible use of my time. That’s not to say that finding new friends with common interests wouldn’t be a delightful side benefit. It would be, of course, but that’s not my purpose.
I’ve been very puzzled by the number of people who have signed up to follow me. Obviously, I have a lot to learn about Twittering!
Good, common sense rules – my own ethics are similar!