You are wasting your time if you post the wrong kind of tweets. A 2012 study (Who Gives a Tweet?) found that those interviewed during their study viewed only a little more than 1/3rd of the tweets they followed as worthy of their time or deserving of a mediocre a thumbs-up. Here are some of the findings of Who Gives a Tweet?:
- 36% of the tweets received were worth reading.
- 39% of the tweets resulted in ambivalent audience reactions.
- 25% of the tweets were not worth reading at all.
- "Question to Followers" tweets are more interesting with an approximate 82% approval rate.
- The "Me Now" tweets (posts giving updates about a mood or activity) were the most disliked with only a 22% chance of being rated as worthy of reading.
Most of the study's participants complained that the majority of tweets are just plain boring. So, what makes a good tweet?
- The Twitter audience appreciates learning new information.
- Funny tweets are always a hit.
- Followers like links within tweets.
- The longer the tweet (120-130 characters), the higher the click-through rates.
- And, speaking of higher click-through rates, tweets with "via", "@", "RT", "please", and "check" had higher click-through rates compared to those without those words. However, many believe hashtags and @mentions are overused.
- Best times to tweet: weekend afternoons.
Now that you have some solid guidelines, you can be sure that tweeting isn't a waste of your time (or a waste of time to your followers).
Here's to better tweets!
