Saturday, February 4, 2012

Are You Wasting Your Time on Twitter?

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!

Carole

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