Seven Things that Influence Whether or Not I Engage with Someone on Twitter
I spend a lot of time focusing on the people who follow me on Twitter. They’ve given me the gift of their attention, so it would be disrespectful to do otherwise.
Everyday, at least once, I peruse my new followers to see who they are, and to engage a bit with each of them. Below are a few observations about that, and some tips on what might cause someone like me to engage more with someone like you.
1. Twitter is social which by definition means it’s about human interaction. If you don’t look like a human, it’s unlikely I’m going to feel compelled to interact with you.
- Your avatar should be a picture of YOU. Not your company icon or some random photo.
- Preferably, your Twitter username should be YOUR name, or a nickname, as opposed to your company name or something generic.
- At least ONE of these these things need to be about YOU. Let me show you some examples:
GOOD: 
GOOD: 
GOOD: 
BAD: 
From these, I know at least one thing personal about @micah, @davemcclure and @pistachio. But, I’m not sure who this person @breakingnoose is, so as a result I’m not really inclined to try to engage with them.
2. Along those lines, let’s talk about your bio:
- Use your real name, or at least pseudonym. If you don’t want everyone to know you’re Samuel Clemens, then go by Mark Twain. But, remember, Mark Twain was Mark Twain to everyone…he was the person, just using a different name.
- This is especially important if your Twitter username isn’t your name, or at least a human name. For example, @pistachio puts her real name in her bio.
- In your bio, you MUST have a link to a web page. Ideally, it would be a web page about you–a blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Profile, etc. A company is okay too…just something that is going to tell me something more about you. If there is no link, then my engag-o-meter sinks quickly.
- As far as your actual bio text goes, I don’t pay that close of attention, although I prefer a sentence as oppose to a listing of buzzwords. “Social media marketing productivity coach guru ninja rockstar,” is pretty bogus and you know it too. Be authentic.
GOOD: 
BAD: 
3. Say something. I’m more inclined to respond to someone who tweets their thoughts as opposed to simply retweets what other people say. This is not a strict rule. Retweeting does give me some insight into who you respect and what thoughts you value. Same goes for people who tweet quotes and links. However, just like in real life, people who don’t occasionally have an original thought aren’t very interesting. Again, make it personal and human.
4. By looking at a) one page of tweets, b) your bio, and c) your background image I can tell if you use Twitter to engage with others or simply to promote yourself. I’ve written before how the fact that Twitter is yet another broadcast medium isn’t very interesting to me. What makes Twitter transformational is the two-way conversation that it enables, and I find people who use it that way interesting.
5. Speaking of background images, to me this is one of the easiest ways to tell if you’re a self-promoter. If you have spent a lot of time making a beautiful background that promotes all your virtues then I feel like you’re in it more for you and less for the community.
6. Tweet reguarly. If you only tweet once ever few weeks or months, that tells me you’re not really engaged with the community. Now, that’s completely fair because you may be a listener. But, if you are only a listener, then you’re also a lurker and that’s sort of creepy. To a degree, you have to be part of the conversation.
7. Unlock your profile. If your tweets are protected, it’s really hard to engage with you. If you link your bio to a web page about you, then it gets easier, but lots of times people who protect their tweets don’t do that. That just sends me a message that says, “I’m not interested in letting you know me,” which is fine, but understand the implications of that.
Are any of these hard-and-fast rules? No. But, as I participate in the community, these are things that I’ve noticed influence whether or not I engage with you.
Rule #7 should be hard and fast. While I understand the need for Twitter to offer this feature. Locking your profile flies in the face of Twitter. How can I know anything about you if I have to gain entry to your kingdom first.
Jason Berman
9 Oct 09 at 2:16 pm
[...] I’m Engaged! To Twitter! I’ve just finished reading Scott Porad’s blog post: Seven Things that Influence Whether or Not I Engage with Someone on Twitter. [...]
I’m Engaged! To Twitter! « Brave New Girl
9 Oct 09 at 3:38 pm
i’d have to say i pretty much agree with everything here. guess i don’t have to write this blog myself now…
peckenpaugh
10 Oct 09 at 5:09 am
Thank you, Scott!
I bump into lots of people who really need this information. I will definitely look forward to sending you some readers.
~@kim
Kim Sherrell
10 Oct 09 at 6:05 am
Scott,
For the most part I agree, however I believe it makes perfect sense for a company to use thier logo as their Avatar and here are two great examples why:
1. It builds brand recognition which I beleive should be a part of a companies mission on Twitter. A company should want the public to identify with their logo as opposed to trying to link a random face (that few will ever really see) with the company.
2. A company may truly have more than one person acting as the voice of the company in the Twitter community and then it gets (in your word) creepy when you have a guy answering women because a woman thinks she is connecting “woman to woman” with someone at the company due to the Avatar. It would only get worse if he said something like “oh, I am George… by the way.”
Agree? Disagree?
~ Anthony
@oldschoolseo
Anthony Kirlew
10 Oct 09 at 6:18 am
Oh yeah, and one more regarding how not to build your bio (after returning to Twitter). You forgot the people with “10,000+ followers” that only follow 99 people. Isn’t that just saying “it’s all about me?”
Anthony Kirlew
10 Oct 09 at 6:21 am
Great list. I’m not sure if I understand #5. Feels like too much emphasis on backgrounds. And lots of people are trying to add more info so you can get to know them. That’s not a bad thing.
#3 & 6 are HUGE. #7 essential.
I would add #8: Follow people back who engage with you. And try to keep # of people you follow vs. those who follow you in the same ballpark. Anyone who uses Tweetdeck or Seesmic knows how to handle large #s of follows. Otherwise, you look a little full of yourself. Unless you’re @badbannana.
Katjaib
10 Oct 09 at 6:57 am
thanks for a lovely opinion
thedenver234
10 Oct 09 at 8:32 am
Anthony–
You make two good points.
My general point of view is that social media (including Twitter) is valuable in the sense that it connects people, and for humanizing online interactions.
That being said, I don’t have a good answer for how companies that want to establish their logo and identity can reconcile that with the human aspects of Twitter.
One instance that comes to mind, however, is @comcastcares. They’ve done a great job of humanizing their presence on Twitter. However, there are many people who respond on that account.
Scott
scottporad
10 Oct 09 at 9:07 am
I’m on the fence about that.
Just because 10,000+ people think Jerry Seinfeld is funny and want to listen to his jokes, doesn’t mean that Jerry wants to listen to their jokes.
On the other hand, some people think it’s rude to not follow back. It’s like someone introducing themselves to you, but not introducing yourself back.
Personally, I follow people who say things that I think are interesting, and/or whom I have a relationship with, and then I use my follower list to look at what the people who follow me are Tweeting about.
Quite honestly, I think it’s a deficit in tools: and I’m really eager for Twitter to implement lists because then I can follow everyone and have two lists of followers: “people I followed”, and “people I followed back”.
That being said, after this post, and a few other conversations I’ve had, I’m thinking of changing how I do things…I’m thinking of just following everyone back who either follows or mentions me.
What do you do?
scottporad
10 Oct 09 at 9:12 am
Great list, but stick to your guns. Your impulse regarding Seinfeld was RIGHT ON! Follow only people you are interested in. It’s lame to follow back people just because they follow you. I tried that and it doesn’t work. Plus it will just invite spammers and bots into your life and that will pollute your work stream and, worse, make it uncomfortable for anyone who really wants to deal with you.
You tell me a LOT about yourself based on who you follow. I’ve followed people just because they follow interesting people. I do look.
And one thing that will get me to engage with you on Twitter? If the people I’m following engage with you. That means you need to be interesting to the people I’ve already followed. That’s hard!
Robert Scoble
11 Oct 09 at 4:24 am
Fantastic tips! Great Blog Post!
Engaging is a HUGE part of being successful on Twitter. People who say they don’t get it or that no one talks to them are really missing the boat. I have met and become friends “IRL” with quite a few people I’ve met on Twitter. They were all engaging, interesting, were who they said they were and weren’t pushing an agenda.
Sandra McKenna
11 Oct 09 at 4:34 am
You hit the nail on the head & I totally agree!
Toni lamb
11 Oct 09 at 5:03 am
This is GREAT, Scott (no jokes about “great scott!”) Lots of good advice for people who’re just starting out, or who, for whatever reason, can’t get into the swing of things.
The background image thing is one that I actually kind of enjoy. Often times, when people have gone to great lengths to customize it, it can offer yet another insight into their personalities. No different than having an engaging web page, I suppose.
The one that REALLY gets me, though, is the locked account. I don’t know how I’m supposed to engage with people whose activity can’t be seen. Makes no sense to me. It’s a social network. Be social.
Thanks, Scott!
@startabuzz
Melissa DelGaudio
11 Oct 09 at 8:10 am
Thanks for taking time to comment on my blogpost, Scott! You wrote:
“Regarding #1: I agree that an auto-DM to new followers that says “thanks for following me, buy my…” is lame. But, what would you think of this:
Thanks for following me, here’s my contact info, feel free to call me any time: http://scottporad.com/contact.
Is that just as lame? Or, do you think followers would value someone who is opening the door for them?
Thoughts?”
I actually called up someone who provided a phone number in his DM. I guess I’m naive. I actually thought he was letting me know he was interested in helping out on the project I was working on at the time.
Turns out he had no idea what I was working on, didn’t know who I was and that he sends that DM to everyone.
It definitely turned me off. We spoke for a couple of minutes but had no common ground whatsoever to establish any real connection. In my opinion that’s marketing gone bad. It’s like a cold call where the caller hasn’t done their homework on a prospect.
If you were to take the idea three steps further (which would require more work, yes) by:
1. visiting my site, finding out my name and my interests/current projects
2. decide if you actually want to offer help in regard to my interests/current projects and if so
3. send a DM that references both my name and my interests/current projects
then you will have made it very likely that I will call that number and that we can have a reciprocally valuable relationship.
Again, I feel it’s not about the quantity and breadth of “relationships” it’s about the depth and quality of them.
@BraveGirl
11 Oct 09 at 12:22 pm
A great post for inspiring discussion Scott!
I just want to add that it’s a well known sociological fact that human beings can only fraternize with a small number of people. Everything else is just noise and it’s no different in the online world either.
Cheers,
..BB
BLOGBloke
11 Oct 09 at 6:23 pm
[...] finalized my remarks yet, but I’m going to talk about my recently popular post about what influences engagement on Twitter, and about how I believe the Twitter clients currently being produced are lacking in listening [...]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements at Scott Porad
13 Oct 09 at 8:04 am
Scott,
I agree that better tools or better organization of followers would make management easier.
My strategy is to view the profiles and associated URL’s of those that follow me and I will generally follow them unless they fall in one of the following categories:
1. Spam/Porn/Fake profiles.
2. Promoting Get Rich Quick or MLM programs.
3. Promoting “Get More Twitter followers” program. I have to say when they’ve got like 18 followers, it’s even funnier to see these.
4. Have profiles where the URL links to items 1-3.
5. If the profile is 100% non-English. While I am honored that someone who is in another country is interested in connecting, if their profile is 100% non-English, I am very limited in my ability to communicate.
~ Cheers!
@oldschoolseo
Anthony
13 Oct 09 at 2:40 pm
Hi Scott:
Great article on managing Twitter and getting real online. I love to share info about being a VA (Virtual Assistance) and I hate it when I get spam followers. I try to read as much as I can from all my followers and to RT and/or respond appropriately. I think it’s great to mention others, and help them build their network up,too. I’m going to use your tips in my next training and will give you the credit of course! :>)
Ana Lucia Novak
27 Oct 09 at 12:32 pm
[...] Below is my presentation (very brief…sadly, my time was cut short) at #140conf LA about Seven Things that Influence Whether or Not I Engage With You on Twitter (including a bonus 8th item from Robert Scoble!) Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this [...]
#140conf Presentation: Seven Things that Influence Whether or Not I Engage With You on Twitter at Scott Porad
4 Nov 09 at 10:09 am
So I stumbled across your post in my Twitter feed and enjoyed the read, but the thing I’m caught up with is disclosing info you may not want out there if you’re holding down another job. Do I want my current employer to know what I’m cooking up on the side? Twitter is open to anyone to gander at, how do I best mitigate that while still interacting/promoting a second identity until it gets rolling?
andy
4 Nov 09 at 3:06 pm
Andy–
I have a friend who is a criminal prosecutor in Seattle. Her job is to send really, really bad, evil guys to jail.
We had coffee a while back and were talking about this very issue. After considering the issue for awhile, we concluded that for her, to stay safe, the fact is that living a life out in the open–through Facebook, Twitter, etc.–is just not something that is possible. Or, at least, it’s not a risk she’s willing to take.
So, the same goes for you…you have to weight the pros and cons and decide if the risk is worth it. I know that’s isn’t an answer, but as we move in to a world where life is lived more out in the open, these are the types of issues that every individual is going to struggle with.
Scott
scottporad
4 Nov 09 at 7:07 pm
Thanks for the reply, and believe you me, I have weighed the pros and cons and the cons far outweigh the pros now. We’ve been running in quasi-hidden mode but it is not like we don’t interact from the Twitter account – we follow the other rules quite nicely I think and we’re garnering a decent following and interaction throughout the community.
I think it does take a bit more work to garner someones respect/following when hiding behind an icon, but if you’re helping out your niche community and twitting in your genre, you’ll start to pickup some loyal followers; it may take a bit longer, but can certainly be done.
andy
4 Nov 09 at 10:01 pm
Great post about engaging with people on Twitter. I’ve passed it on to Sodexo’s Talent Acquistion Team – we hav 50+ recruiters who are using Twitter to engage with candidates. What are you thoughts on engaging with people who are trying to pick a fight? Our approach is to ignore – what do you think is best?
Kerry Noone (Sodexo Careers)
9 Dec 09 at 9:30 am
I think it depends. I tend to engage with people, but if they’re just being obtuse I back off. There’s no upside in arguing with people who don’t want to be reasonable.
scottporad
9 Dec 09 at 9:34 am