Uploaded byLen Kendall
Be Interesting on Twitter
The document is a personal account by @lenkendall aimed at providing insights and tools for becoming interesting on Twitter. It emphasizes the importance of refining writing skills through practice, engaging with the audience, and treating tweets as a form of journaling. It also offers creative tips for generating tweet content and encourages experimenting with tone and style.
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Be Interesting on Twitter
- 1. Be Interesting On Twitter By@LenKendall
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- 3. What this is… •From the heart (my personal experience and observations) • Opinionated (offensive?) • My first shot at “teaching” this topic (be harsh on me)
- 4. What this isn’t… •Research focused (I'm lazy) • A Marketing tutorial (see mashable.com) • Me telling you what NOT to do (it's about giving you a tool box and inspiration, not a set of restrictions)
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- 6. Cut Cut Cut Try to never tweet the first thing you write.
- 7. Improv your writingskills Be cognizant of what people respond to. Do you get response/retweets about certain topics? Time of day that works best for you and your readers?Tone or personality people like to see you display? Sketch comedy shows tend to be the hundredth iteration of a storyline. They perform a base idea, see what gets laughs, see what doesn’t, then curate the components based on the reactions of the audience.
- 8. Have a sandbox Ifyou don’t feel comfortable practicing your writing skills at first. Or if you feel restricting in what you can say in public, create a “sandbox” of sorts. Anonymous characters can often as a perfect venue to flex your creativity sans social pressure.
- 9. Schedule interesting stuff (secret rss sauce) While you’re away, you may want to consider scheduling tweets in advance. There are many tools that do this like tweetdeck and hootsuite, but beyond the technology, have an approach. Diversify your sources of content. Filter based on your interests, and try to insert your voice/opinion to add color to the headlines you’re tweeting. Lastly, even if you’re away when such tweets fire, try to respond later on if people ask you about them. This helps make this practice less of a one-way broadcast.
- 10. Treat twitter asa journal A lot of us having a passion for the art of writing, but we often don’t have time to do it. Twitter is a tiny practice ground that lets us refine that skill. So write about what YOU want, not what you perceive other people are interested in. Most people aren’t going to see your tweets anyways…so might as well make the experience entertaining for yourself.
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- 12. Take advantage ofmetaphor
- 13. Offer windows intoyour life
- 14. Wikipedia is apowerful source
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- 16. Nudge people tosearch for context
- 17. Draw attention withconfusion
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- 19. Play with otherpeople’s words
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- 25. Let the readercomplete the story
- 26. Tap into newsand cultural memes
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- 28. TV is greatfodder
- 29. Recommended Reading @ConanObrien @RobDelaney @UmairH @ShelbyFero @FakeAPStylebook
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Editor's Notes
- #7 Try to never tweet the first thing you write out.
- #8 Be cognizant of what people find interesting. Do you get responses or retweets about certain topics? Is there a time of day that works best for you and your readers? Is there a tone or personality people like to see you display? Sketch comedy shows tend to be the hundreth iteration of a storyline. They perform a base idea, see what gets laughs, see what doesn’t, then change what didn’t hit and amplify what did.
- #10 While you’re away, you may want to consider scheduling tweets in advance. There a bunch of tools that do this like tweetdeck and hootsuite, but beyond the technology, I’d like to share my approach with you.
- #11 I have no idea whether twitter is saving all our tweets or not, but I like to treat the service as a journal. 5 years from now, I’d like to go back and see what I was thinking, doing, and what was capturing my attention. Ultimately, regardless of everything I tell you here, write about what interests you! A lot of us having a passion for the art of writing, but we often don’t have time to do it. Twitter is a tiny practice ground that lets us refine that skill. So write about what YOU want, not what you perceive other people are interested in. Most people aren’t going to see your tweets anyways…so might as well make the experience entertaining for yourself.
- #13 Metaphors replaced a LOT of words. When you only have a 140 characters, that’s really important.
- #14 A lot of times people feel like Twitter is a place to present their best exterior face. To show people their professional knowledge and their interests. It certainly is that, but it also is an opportunity to share really wonderful moments in your life that photo-based social networks can’t. This really short quote tells a pretty humorous story about my fiance and I. Clearly, I’m ironing in this situation. I’m either not doing a good job, or I’m just not into it. Not only that, but I’m holding a phone in one hand and tweeting the situation. I’m not giving away all the details of what’s going on here, but this tidbit draws questions and conversations out of people as their minds start to fill in the blanks that I’ve left open.
- #22 There might be something that frustrates or inspires you. You could make a blatant comment about it, or you could be a bit vague. It’s good to be a bit unclear so that people can project their own context onto your point.
- #23 There might be something that frustrates or inspires you. You could make a blatant comment about it, or you could be a bit vague. It’s good to be a bit unclear so that people can project their own context onto your point.
- #24 Sarcasm isn’t always easy to read online, but it’s a great tool if you can get it right. My suggestion for sarcasm is to phrase things or say things that don’t line up at all with what you would ever say.
- #27 All the tech blogs were covered this new mobile reader that plugs into iPhones called Triangle.