Usually it’s politicians that can’t answer a question when asked. But Twitter users rarely answer the simple question “What are you doing?” I’ll admit it wouldn’t be quite as useful if everyone stuck to the initial question, in fact it’d be mind-blowingly boring. Sorry, but I don’t care that you’re having scrambled eggs for breakfast or that you’re hopping in bed. Start doing that and I’ll find my way over to the “unfollow”. Alright so those people are the “Sticklers” of Twitter, what other types of Twitter users are there?
The Perpetual Re-Tweeter: For those of you that are unfamiliar with Twitter a “re-tweet” is the reproduction of someones Tweet you found interesting, useful, or funny via your Twitter. Some take this to the extreme by re-tweeting everything they find clever from a celebrity or a link from those with exorbitant amounts of followers.
The #followfriday Fiend: These folks are borderline obsessive, so much to the point that I almost want to hit the “unfollow” again. Follow Friday’s purpose is to tell others about users that you find value in following or are related to your industry. I’ve participated in a few “Follow Friday’s”, but always in moderation. Combine this person with a Re-Tweeter on a Friday and well, you’ve been forewarned.
The Spammer: If your avatar is focused between your neck and waist, I’m probably not going to follow you. Sorry, and no I do not want to check out your pics. Unforunately these spammers are an unavoidable part of the internet.
The Newbie: We’ve all been there, usually a Tweet consists of “tryin to figure this out” or “not sure about this”. They’re really uneasy about this whole idea and keep it safe by letting us know that they “had a good wknd”.
The Hopelessly Inept: Unforunately the Newbie can soon become a lost cause. They either continue with their short updates or never really find a niche on Twitter.
The Celeb: Case in point: Miley Cyrus. I don’t think I need to say a whole lot here. About 15 minutes ago she blessed her followers with this: “Good morning everyone. Life is good. I am laying in bed with my mommy right now scratching her bug bites.” Good morning Miley! Yeah we know your life is good, and thanks for all the information. (Full disclosure here at Lessing-Flynn- To MY knowledge, none of us follow Ms. Cyrus)
The *MUST-READ!!!* guy- In an attempt to garner attention this user places those eight letters in all caps prior to their tweet. Now I may find some of their updates and links interesting but they’re certainly not all “drop what you’re doing and read this now!!” types of tweets.
These are some of the more negative stereotypes I’ve seen on Twitter, and I know there are more. I encourage you to develop your own role and place in the Twittersphere. Check out some of the more successful Twitterers and see what makes creates their faithful following. I’ve previously wrote about Shaq’s success and others I try to model are my favorite fast-food restaurant Culver’s or the Twittering Nebraska farmer who was featured on cnn.com. Contact me on my Twitter account or comment on this post and let me know what other types of Twitterers you can think of and some that influence you.
Author: Spencer Anderson
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, as the twittering farmer, thanks for the mention. Glad to see I am on the good side of your article!
Hey Tucker, Thanks for the read! We need more people like yourself representing agriculture positively in social media!