If you use Twitter and other social media platforms on a daily basis, you sometimes forget that the people out there might not receive the message as you wish. As with many other ways of communicating, there are always the risk that the message you want to communicate may back-fire on you.

That is why creativeboom thought it would be a good idea to create Twitter Etiquette so that you know what to watch out for:

Don’t just lurk
So you’ve signed up for an account, you haven’t yet tweeted anything but you’re hoping people will follow? If you don’t have anything interesting to say, how can you expect people to notice you? Start getting active on Twitter and engage with people.

Short and Sweet
Twitter allows you to post tweets that are no more than 140 characters long. It aims to keep things simple. Try to keep your tweets that way. Keep things clear and concise. Equally, don’t overuse the @ reply function. Get your message across without waffling.

Watch what you Tweet
Everyone can see what you tweet, including your boss, work colleagues, family and friends. And once it’s put out there – it’s there forever.

Don’t go overboard
If you’re tweeting all the time, people will just get turned off and stop following you.  Try to listen to what others are saying as well and go for quality rather than quantity.

Follow Me, Follow You
Don’t go mad and follow everyone you possibly can. Try to keep a balance between the number of those you follow and the number of followers you have. If you follow 1,000 people but only have 50 followers, people might think you’re a ‘spam bot’ and will therefore avoid you like the plague.

Accept the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Twitter is a public social network, so it’s inevitable that people will say whatever they like, whenever they like. Accept that not everyone will like you or your tweets and you will receive some negativity from time to time.

Spring cleaning can be good
Every now and again – go through the people you follow and review whether they are useful or interesting to you.

Don’t be selfish
Tweeting constantly about yourself and your business is just going to alienate your followers. Help others to grow their businesses and raise their profiles. Twitter supports the new business world of sharing and collaboration, so keep that in mind when tweeting.

Be Generous
Use opportunities like #FollowFriday to be generous to your followers and those you are keen to connect with. It’s an effective way of suggesting interesting Twitterers to others while gaining you brownie points in the Twittersphere.

Don’t Drink and Tweet
Twitter is so easily accessible, it’s no wonder many of us have tweeted when under the influence of alcohol. Not a great idea. Particularly as you’re tweeting to the world and your tweets could get embarrassing.

Keep certain things private
DMs or Direct Messages are perfect to retain a little discretion on Twitter. They’re great for those more personal tweets, ones that you’d rather the entire world didn’t see.

What’s rude in real life is rude on Twitter
Passive-aggressiveness has no place in the real world and the same applies on Twitter. Rude, sarcastic or underhanded tweets should be avoided at all costs.

Ignore the snobbery
This fascinating sub-culture has its own society and class system, meaning there are some real snobs lurking out there. Accept that some people will stop following you if they think your tweets aren’t ‘good enough’. Ignore the snobbery – it’s nothing to take personally.

Being vague is wise
If you’re going to a party, it’s best not to tweet about its time, location and dress code. Equally, be careful about revealing your location too often on Twitter. Twitter is public and that means everyone can see.

Celebrities are not your friends
Never address celebrities you are following as though they’re your personal friend.

Symbols, Smiles and Kisses
Not everyone will appreciate a kiss or smiley face at the end of each tweet, while others would expect no less. Think of the context and the person you are tweeting to. Make yourself a Twitter chameleon and adopt your tweets accordingly.

Corporate Stuff and Nonsense
Leave your suit and tie at home. Twitter emulates the new business world. Show your personality, have fun and engage. Keep things professional only in the sense of respecting others and following these etiquette rules.

So next time you are on your tweet-road, think before you click that "tweet" button!

For full article visit creativeboom

A while back the only way breaking news stories were conveyed, was through Newspapers or word-of-mouth. But lately, we communicate these stories through means of social media.

Applications such as Twitter and Facebook creates an informative environment where you can get up to speed on what is happening where. Twitter for example, has become a means of delivering breaking news stories.

An excellent example of this is when Julius Malema, ANC Youth League president, kicked out BBC journalist Jonah Fisher at a media briefing. Almost immediately Twitter was flooded with quotes and links. Jonah Fisher’s tweet “Forced out of ANCYL meeting and called a bastard by Julius Malema. What did I do? Pointed out that he lives in Sandton…” was retweeted numerous times.

Facebook also serves as an example after the death of AWB leader, Eugene Terreblanche. A series of groups and pages followed a day after this murder:

This is evident as to how social media affects society, by informing them of the latest happenings. One of the things my Media Studies lecturer taught me, is that an article has to be punctual. But in the world of social media, news has a relevant time span and reaches the audience so much quicker. Whether this is a good or a bad thing, is debatable.