6 Easy To Use ReTweeting Tips - How Do YOU ReTweet? Share Your Tips!

This is a guest posting by Matt Singley (@mattsingley). Matt is a Social Media Strategist, Web Designer, and Business Process Consultant. He has also been known to guest write for Mashable, a great social networking blog.  See original post on Matt Singley Social Media here

ReTweet Defined

One of the fastest and most effective ways of spreading information through Twitter is to retweet somebody. When you see “RT” followed by a username in an update by one of your friends, that means they are retweeting someone else…taking that person’s post and redistributing it to their own followers.  It’s rampant on Twitter, and one of the most common questions I get asked is, “what are some guidelines for retweeting, and how can I get retweeted more?”  I want to address both of those with some simple guidelines and suggestions.

Retweeting someone’s thoughts, links, or pictures is the one of the ultimate compliments on Twitter.  It says that you think enough of what they have written to share it with your followers, a pool of people that may be completely different than those of the original tweeter! It is a fantastic way to share information and ideas.

How To ReTweet 

Of course you are free to retweet whatever you want, but here are some general guidelines that I think make it easier for you and those that follow you:

  1. Keep it short. No need to write out “retweet” when RT will do just fine and most people will understand it.  The etiquette for this is “RT @username: the content of their original tweet”.  I very strongly recommend using a 3rd party app for Twitter as most of them let you retweet in just one click, you won’t have to retype everything like you do in the web interface.  My favorite desktop application isTweetdeck, my favorite iPhone app is Twittelator Pro, and my favorite mobile browser “client” is Dabr.  
     
  2. Read what you share. Truly, this is one of my greatest annoyances…it’s very obvious when people don’t read what they retweet.  The two most painful cases of this are, first, when a person tweets a link to an article they liked and somebody retweets them within a minute or two; this isn’t nearly enough time to actually read the article! Second, I see a lot of people retweet others for#followfriday and they often are “recommending” people that they themselvesdo not follow.  It happens to me almost every Friday.  Please, read what you retweet, otherwise you are adding too much noise to the already busy Twitterverse.
     
  3. Know your audience.  You should have a good feel for what your followers are like…chances are, they are like you.  Naturally you are going to want to share things that are interesting to them, but in a global sense.  If all of your followers are your close, personal friends then this probably doesn’t apply to you; have at it and retweet whatever you want.  A lot of people have a mixed bag of followers that include personal friends and acquaintances online, as well as work colleagues and potential employeers.  Keep it real, keep it relevant.  Don’t retweet your 11 year old cousin’s rantings about the Hannah Montana movie just because you think they are cute…chances are nobody else will. (Confession: I saw the Hannah Montana movie this weekend and liked it.  Don’t judge me!)
     

HOW TO BE RETWEETED

  1. Write good content.  This is the number one rule for being retweeted, everything else can be worked around.  If you want to be retweeted, then write things that matter to the people that follow you.  Think about what you are interested in, what you are an expert at, or something that you have read that would be helpful to others. Short life updates, although they keep your followers informed about your daily goings-on, don’t make the rounds too often. “I just took my dog out to poop” probably isn’t going to get much retweet time.
     
  2. Include links. Earlier this morning I saw a tweet that interested me, it was about a marketing survey. The problem, however, is that the tweet did not include a link to the article, only a vague reference that wasn’t even enough to Google.  If it had included a link I probably would have retweeted it, I think my followers would have found it very helpful.  As it is, I don’t even know if the statistics included in the tweet are true…a citation would be good.  Make sure you include links when referencing something that includes numbers, or is just interesting.  The best way to include links, since you are limited to 140 characters per update, is to use a URL shrinking service.  It takes a very long URL and makes it short.  I use Cli.gs the most, but also use TinyURL and Is.gd. 
     
  3. Know your RT character count.  What do I mean by this? This is imporant, so please pay attention.  Since Twitter updates are limited to 140 characters, it only makes sense that if you want to be retweeted you will need to write shorter updates than that to accommodate for “RT @yourname:”.  For example, if somebody clicks one of my post to retweet I know that it will take 17 characters (including spaces) to write “RT @mattsingley: “, so I need to keep my updates to 123 characters or fewer (quick math for you if you’re new around here: 140 (character max) - 17 (my RT count) = 123 (length of my posts)).  Just to test my theory about this, some time back I put up similar tweets with content and links, but with one set I exceeded 123 characters, and in the other I stayed under the limit.  I was retweeted 60+% more with the sub-123 character updates!
     

Good luck!  If you want to see some of the top retweeted info, my favorite site for this is Retweet Radar. It lists trends, links and people that are being retweeted, and I’ve found some good information there.  If you have any retweet tips or tricks, I would love to hear about them.

SHARE YOUR RETWEET TIPS AND RETWEET OURS!

  • What are some of the things YOU like to ReTweet?
  • What do you like to see YOUR FOLLOWERS ReTweet?
  • Any tips you’d like to share on the best ways to get YOU to ReTweet?
  • Do you find ReTweeting useful? If so, how?
     

This post, by Matt Singley originally ran on his personal blog Matt Singley Social Media, featuring numerous discussions for businesses and personal use involving Twitter, new media, and social networks. You can subscribe to Matt Singly Social Media here or follow @mattsingley on Twitter.

Category: Uncategorized

  • myneurotica
    Thanks for sharing that. I like your articles. You make it so easy to understand twitter. Thanks
  • I RT often. You listed great tips that everyone should follow when RTing. I am going to tweet a link to this article right now. :-)

    Teddi
    http://twitter.com/Teddi14
  • This is a great post for any newbie who doesn't understand the RT. I am keeping this post in my favorites!

    Thanks!
    @mmangen
  • This is great stuff mate. Thank you Matt.
  • Ivan Chong
    I was using Twhirl to retweeting those interest or useful info or guide, after read through your article, it's great article, that's always happening around us. Retweeting is useful to whose are do not know how to write his own article, no talent to writing and don't have own blog but happy to share what their get, this is me too, i like to retweeting, cheer's!
  • Great article, I'm gonna retweet it.
  • Nice post Matt! To answer your question, as a general rule if it is a blog post good enough to comment on, it is good enough to retweet. I write the comment, and then retweet it to my peeps. In some cases it is just a great resource, and there is nothing to add to what has already been said...so, in that case, just a retweet.
  • I use TweetDeck to RT posts to keep thinks simple. If I go over 140 characters, I try to abbreviate words, use "&" instant of "and" and maybe take out punctuation.

    I tend to RT posts about blogging and green living.
  • Your post is a definite retweet. Thanks.
  • If directly retweeing a post, don't put words in the originator's "mouth" by changing the tweet. It's a bit of a faux pas. Better to go back to the original source (blog, web site article, etc.) and create your own Tweet. This underscores you've read the information and "endorse" its concept.

    At your service,
    Denise Reed
    www.theconciergelevel.com
  • JenniferBongar
    Thanks for sharing your tips. Watch me RT this post.

    I retweet and usually include MY short comment, either before or after the following elements: RT@original poster / shortened version of the original tweet if it's too long / short URL / via @source (if my source is not the original poster)

    I have a mixed bag of followers so I retweet what I think may be useful or interesting to them. If it's just for a single follower, I DM.
  • Peter Sharp
    Yes, I agree that you should be be mindful of retweets to cut down on the "twitter clutter" and I think that people only add further "noise" when they send tweets and replies thanking people for retweeting their original tweets and so on and so on. It becomes a bit incestuous at that point and begins to resemble a teenage chat room containing nothing more than; "Hi Bill" "Hello Susan" Welcome back Fred" "Look Jill is here" "Hello everyone" Hey Bill and Susan, nice day to you" Yes, same to you Sally".....
    And please don't get me started on Follow Friday. Good lord, I don't even get on Twitter those days. If you want to see who is following whom or who you are following Twitter already lists that for you, albeit in a very clunky fashion that you need to scroll page by page. But this is kind of a neat site that sort of aggregates all your followers in one spot and is sortable as well as exportable to .csv. http://friendorfollow.com/
  • I usually retweet with my comment at the start, not end, so it's clear which bit is me.

    I highly recommend RT rather than via - to me, RT is a copied tweet retweeted, and Via makes more sense as a "I found this info through XYZ"

    I always remove the multiple RT's and credit only the original poster - I RT my main gang directly so often anyway, I can't waste valuable space crediting them again when it's the OP who deserves it.

    http://twitter.com/jackbremer
    @jackbremer
  • Jim
    Very useful article. Thanks.
    Btw, your link for Twitterlator Pro is not correct.
  • I pay a lot more attention to retweets than I do to follow-fridays. Retweets give me an idea of who the person is and what sort of stuff they tweet before I take the time to visit their profile.

    One question I have, and am still waiting for an answer from someone, is the protocol for multi-retweets. When you want to retweet something that has already been retweeted to you, how do you handle the multiple names? Who gets the credit for the tweet? Sometime there are several, so if you try to include everyone, you won't have room for the original text.

    Thanks for the tips. These are very helpful and I shall surely retweet.
  • Hezee
    nice said. let's RT! ;)
  • Really useful and great content.
  • I usually Re Tweet, articles which i found interesting e.g. latest technologies, blog tips, tweeter tips. But mainly i will definitely re tweet a good cause, a good deed some on on tweet did.

    I would like to see my followers re tweet my tweets, well at least re tweet humorous tweets and/or quotes.

    Re tweeting is a great way to spread a massage across the tweet sphere and to people whom might not be following you
  • Hi Matt

    Very interesting article, great tip about limiting the text if you want to be retweeted.

    My best way of getting retweeted is to cheat a little bit and create a message that starts with RT @andrewstark what I want tweeted, then a link

    I can use viral tweets, or my butterfly site is set up to automatically add the affiliate link as a tinyurl - see for yourself inside http://www.listbanditexpert.com

    Andrew
  • Very interesting. I never really gave any thought too shortening the original tweet. I usually end messing with it if I want to RT it. I appreciated the ideas.
  • Jennyjinx
    There's a few who use RT to reply by adding something at the end. For ex: "RT: @heyyou: Howdy!//Howdy, yourself!"

    That's unnecessary for retweeting, though adding very little commentary to the end of a retweeted link can be helpful in telling your followers if they'd like to read it, especially if your followers are mixed bag.
  • I agree with adding a bit to the retweet, I like to do that also if there is room.
  • I generally RT links that I have followed and find either interesting or of value to my Internet Activities. I also will RT messages, quotes and such that I like. Basically to get me to RT, I need to see value/interest in what is there. It is often related to what I am into, web development, social marketing, Internet marketing, personal development, or sometimes simple mindless entertainment.

    I like to use RT as a way to store tweets/links that I may want to revisit. When I RT another persons tweet, it is stored in my tweet history, making it easy for me to find these sites again. This also create a history for my followers as well. "What was that site again?? Oh yah @JeromyS tweeted about it".

    Twitter is very simple if you keep it that way. I also like to use an app, TwitterGadget on my iGoogle page. Keeps access simple and quick.

    Cheers!

    Jeromy (AKA Hillbilly)
  • momstoworkjp
    Length and quality make or break it. If tweet is already @ 140 character, it takes too much fiddling to RT esp. when you've to add in @momstowork
  • When you RT ... add something from YOU .... this show's you actually read what you are RT'ing, think it's worth RT'ing and have something to say!

    Links are definitely a MUST.

    http://twitter.com/franswaa
  • Nice one Frank! I include comments in retweets if I have enough characters left.
  • @Calvin I actually would recommend as short a username as you can get, but still keeping your identity intact. The shorter the name, the fewer characters used, the more likely you are to be retweeted (with good content of course) ;)
  • A good article. Thank you for the many tips. Best wishes.
  • Lawrence C
    Would you recommend shortening your Twitter username?

    Or is "getting you name out there" worth having a longer one - as in first and last name for name recognition?
  • I wouldn't recommend shortening your name, but it's definitely something to keep in mind. Twitter is set to make sure your username is 15 characters or less for SMS purposes. So even if YOU forget, Twitter's got you covered :)
  • Thanks for sharing this post, Matt, will tweet it immediately... :)

    I like to add my 2 cents: Given that some clients do not use the RT @[username but rather the (via @[username) convention I suggest to cut the 123 character length of a tweet to 120 – just to be on the safe side.
  • great tips! thanks
  • mingyeow
    Hey Ouriel, thanks for the comment! When r we interviewing you? :)
  • I am still waiting for your questions :) i promise you ll get fast answers!
  • I usually reTweet tech (especially Web Design and Development, like CSS) tweets or business tweets, ones that will be useful to many technical people.

    If I want to talk gardening, I do that on Fridays or Sundays. But I reply to gardening posts.

    Calvin of Mayhem Studio is an excellent person to reTweet. He is personal in his @replies and professional in his main tweets.
  • So you're retweeting habits are based upon your Twitter community's interest?
blog comments powered by Disqus

↑ Back to top