In my book, Twitter Power, I describe a number of different kinds of tweets that twitterers are posting on the site. I talk about news tweets and customer service tweets, random thoughts and feedback, and a whole lot more besides. I explain how businesses are using them, why they work and how to make them work for you. You don\’t have to use all — or any — of those tweet models if you don\’t want to. But knowing about them should help to get any new twitterer up and running quickly.
I\’m going to make it even easier.
Step back a little and it becomes clear that tweets can be divided into two broad categories: broadcast tweets and discussion tweets.
Broadcast tweets are your thoughts shared with your followers. They can consist of a description of what you\’re doing right now, a note of what\’s going through your mind or even a link to a blog post or a retweet of someone else\’s post. They add value to your timeline and they help to make it unique.
Discussion tweets are your responses to other people\’s posts. They can be made by hitting the reply button or you can just mention the original poster somewhere in the tweet. Sometimes, they\’ll even be your response to someone else\’s reply to you.
It\’s now clear that many of the top twitterers\’ timelines tend to be about fifty percent broadcast tweets and fifty percent discussion tweets.
There\’s a good reason for that: both of those kinds of tweets are equally important.
When you first start using Twitter, you\’ll want to post a few tweets to show who you are and what you have to offer. But then you\’ll want to leap right in and join the discussions. When you reply to someone else\’s tweets, they\’ll reply to you. That will put your name in their timeline, bringing you new followers. It also gives you a new contact and makes you part of the conversation – and part of the community.
And it makes your timeline look interesting too, with plenty of responses and lots of comments.
A fifty-fifty ratio isn\’t a golden rule. I\’d be surprised if there are any golden rules on Twitter. But your timeline should contain a good combination of broadcast tweets that contribute to the party and discussion tweets that keep the party going.