Category: Twitter

Learn about Twitter strategy, Twitter Tools, and Twitter Ads.

How to turn off retweets on Twitter & should you?

How to turn off retweets on Twitter

Earlier this week, the question was raised on if you should turn off retweets on Twitter and if this was common practice among other Twitter users.

If you’re unfamiliar with this feature and are scratching your head on why someone would want to turn off retweets on Twitter in the first place, you’re not alone.

Most users don’t even know this feature exists, so why would they want to turn off retweets?

The overcrowded Twitter stream

If your Twitter stream has gotten overrun with too many retweets from specific followers, you can simply reduce the number of retweets that you’re seeing in your stream just by turning off retweets.

When you turn retweets off on Twitter, one thing to remember, you’re not turning off all of the retweets that you see in your Twitter stream. What you’re doing is turning off retweets for specific users that you follow.

This means that in your Twitter stream, you’ll still see all of the normal tweets from a specific user, just not the ones that they retweet from others.

Should I turn off retweets on Twitter?

One thing that puzzled me about turning off retweets is that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to begin with. Why would someone want to turn off their retweets?

Most sites on the web are teaching you different ways to get more retweets. There’s even the Twitter list feature, which was recently expanded to allow you to create 1,000 Twitter lists with 5,000 members in each.

You can also create a Twitter retweet link to include in your content to encourage people to retweet and share it more!

So should you turn off retweets on Twitter?

Personally, I don’t see the point of turning off retweets. Sure, my Twitter stream may be full of retweets, but that’s a good thing, because normally, that’s how I discover new people to follow.

To discover or not to discover, that is the question

When you go to turn off retweets on Twitter, remember, there’s no magic switch to automatically turn off retweets for specific users. You actually have to go to each profile and turn off retweets for that user.

To me, that seems like a waste of time. I could avoid all of this by creating a Twitter list for people that retweet too much (make sure you make it private so they don’t see the name of the list) and consume my Twitter stream this way.

One other thing about turning off retweets is that you are turning off the discovery side of Twitter.

Retweets are a great way to learn about new content, but also to find new people on Twitter that your followers follow, but you don’t. This means you’re going to need to spend more time finding new users to follow.

Overall, it seems like you’ll need to also find more time in your day if you choose to go this route and turn off retweets.

I like to give the following example when talking about turning off retweets.

Turning off retweets on Twitter is like turning off likes, comments and shares on Facebook. (tweet this).

How to turn off retweets on Twitter

If you’re still not convinced and want to turn off retweets on Twitter, here’s how.

1. Sign in to Twitter

2. Visit a Twitter users profile who you want to turn off retweets for

3. Click the dropdown menu next to the “follow” button. Select “turn off retweets”

How to turn off retweets on Twitter

Question: Do you find your Twitter stream overcrowded with too many retweets and would you consider spending the time to go through your hundreds or even thousands of followers to turn off retweets for each? Let me know how you feel about turning off retweets by leaving a comment below.

How to Contact Twitter

One thing I love about Twitter is how open and accessible the social network is. I especially like how you can choose to follow someone or just view their tweets without connecting with them. This makes it a lot more friendly to use and removes a number of barriers to enter unlike with other social networks like Facebook that require you to be connected in order to view someone’s updates. Like most social networks though, learning how to contact Twitter for help has proved to be challenging.

There are either too many forms to remember or it is not clear on how you contact Twitter. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of all of the best ways to contact Twitter for help. Simply bookmark this one page and you’ll have every form you need to contact Twitter.

How to contact Twitter

How to contact Twitter

Contacting Twitter shouldn’t be so difficult. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best forms to use when you want to contact Twitter for any issues. We’ve also organized them based on the types of questions you have for Twitter. This way all you need to do is select the category and click on the form.

If you find this list of forms to contact Twitter helpful, be sure to pin it, share it, and bookmark it to helps out who want to learn how to contact Twitter.

Account questions

Lost Password

Use this form if you have lost your password and need to reset your Twitter account password.

Deactivated account

If you have deactivated your Twitter account and need to restore it, this form deals with restoring a deactivated account.

Hacked account

Was your Twitter account hacked? Use this form to contact Twitter and report it.

API’s, Apps, and Mobile devices

Twitter’s mobile site

This form is for contacting Twitter when you have issues with their mobile website, apps or API’s.

Twitter mobile apps

If you have specific issues using Twitter on a mobile app, use this form to contact Twitter and let them know about it.

SMS / text messaging

If you use SMS and text messaging to update Twitter and have problems, be sure to use this form to report your issues to Twitter.

API Policy support

If you use Twitter’s API to develop apps or you come across apps violating their API, you can report them to Twitter using this form.

Settings and features

Tweets / messages

Use this form to contact Twitter about issues with sending tweets, direct messages, suspended accounts and more.

Profile / settings

Have issues with your Twitter profile, such as updating your email address, changing your profile photo, working with protected tweets, etc? Use the Profile / settings form to contact Twitter about these types of issues.

Photos

If you experience issues with photos in your tweets, use this form when you want to contact Twitter and let them know about the issues you are having.

Account restoration

The Account restoration form is there for when you want to reactivate an account, deactivate an account, or need help with a suspended Twitter account.

Search

Did  your Twitter profile disappear from Twitter search? Use the Search form to contact Twitter about search related issues with your account.

Trends

If you find something inappropriate in Twitter trends, contact them and let them know about it using the Trends form.

Usernames

Is there a Twitter username you would like, but it isn’t available? Use the Usernames form to contact Twitter to request that a username be released to the public.

Report a violation

Impersonation

If you have been impersonated on Twitter, you can use the Impersonation form to contact Twitter and let them know about it.

Trademarks

Did someone violate your trademark on Twitter? The Trademarks form can be used to report violations to Twitter.

DMCA copyright

Use the DMCA copyright form when you want to contact Twitter about copyright violations that happen on Twitter.

Harassment

If you receive threatening tweets or messages on Twitter, report this abusive user to Twitter using the harassment form.

Report spam

Come across spam on Twitter? Be sure to contact Twitter and report spam to them so that it can be removed. This form is also useful if you have trouble tweeting a link that Twitter thinks is spam.

Suspended account

Having issues with a suspended account on Twitter? Use the suspended account form to contact Twitter about an account.

Report self harm

If you come across a tweet where someone is looking to hurt themselves, report it to Twitter. Use the report self harm form for this situation so that they can have someone reach out to this user.

Report an ad

The report an ad form on Twitter should be used if you come across ads that are offensive, violate a copyright, are misleading or deceptive, etc.

Feedback

Send feedback about Twitter’s new design

Give Twitter feedback about their new design. If you love it, like it, or want to see new features, use this form to contact Twitter and let them know about it.

@Twitter

If none of these forms help answer your questions, you can always contact Twitter @Twitter.

They are pretty quick with responding, but will most likely redirect you to one of the forms listed above.

What to submit when you contact Twitter?

When you’re ready to contact Twitter with your issues, be sure you have the following information ready. This helps expedite your issue and lead to a faster response.

  • Identify your issue
  • Choose the proper form from the above list to contact Twitter
  • Provide detailed instructions on how to reproduce your issue on Twitter (if asked)
  • Include the right links to any content

If you have a lot of issues and need to contact Twitter, space them out over a few days instead of submitting your issues all at once. Fixing one issue may result in fixes to other Twitter issues.

What to do after you contact Twitter?

While everyone considers their issue to be the most important one for Twitter to respond to, make sure you give them ample time to review your issues.

In my experience, Twitter has been very quick with their response times. Most of my issues have been answered within 24-48 hours. Some issues have taken considerably longer, depending on the nature of the issue.

Question: What are some of the issues you currently have and need to contact Twitter to fix? Leave a comment below with your issues. 

 

Twitter Line Breaks – Break It Up

Today, Twitter announced a new feature. No, it wasn’t Twitter music (that is rumored to be coming soon). Instead, they added Twitter line breaks. 

Twitter line breaks

What are Twitter line breaks?

Twitter line breaks are a way to spread your Twitter message across a few lines. As you can see from the above photo, you can break up your tweets character by character.  If you want to, you can also break up your tweets word by word until you’ve used up all 140 characters.

While the former case is a little extreme for Twitter line breaks, it’s still useful.

Caveats to Twitter line breaks

While I see a lot of benefits to using line breaks – for example, you can now break up Follow Friday tweets to make them much easier to read. Twitter line breaks don’t work with third-party apps like HootSuite at the moment.  For people who rely on third-party apps, you’ll have to wait to get your Twitter line break on.

While Twitter line breaks have a lot of usefulness in your Twitter campaigns, I expect to see a lot of tweets like the one above. There’s nothing wrong with displaying your tweets in a vertical line, just make sure you don’t go overboard.

How can I benefit from using Twitter line breaks?

Besides a lack of third-party app support and the fact that some people might consider this more of a nuisance than a feature, Twitter line breaks are still very useful in your Twitter strategy.

Here are a few ways you can use Twitter line breaks in your tweets.

  • Promote new followers with Follow Friday and make your tweets easier to read
  • Break up important numbers in your tweets
  • If you’re a sports team, I can see lots of team chants combined with a list of Twitter handles
  • List out the features and benefits of your product
  • My personal favorite: Combine a Vine video with a tweet using line breaks for the ultimate tweet

Question: How would you apply Twitter line breaks to tweets for your business or would you? Leave a comment below. 

Search Twitter Using Google For Faster Results

One of the questions I often get asked about is how do I get more followers on Twitter?  Gaining followers on Twitter is a two way street. For starters, it’s something that you have to work at.  You cannot just join Twitter and expect to get a lot of quality followers overnight.  So how do you build your network of followers on Twitter?  First off, you need to tweet good content. This means content that people will want to share.  Here’s an example. Second, you’ll need to spend some time searching Twitter for other users and topics you should follow. For this, I recommend that you search Twitter using Google.

Search Twitter using Google for faster and more accurate results

Why search Twitter using Google?

Twitter search isn’t broken. It still works. It’s just not easy to find tweets.  When you search Twitter using Google, it opens you up to a whole lot more possibilities.  Using a Google search also has a number of advantages. Continue reading Search Twitter Using Google For Faster Results

How Do You Get Followers on Twitter? [Infographic]

One of the questions I often get asked about is how do you get followers on Twitter? I’ll be honest, building and growing your network of followers on Twitter can be very challenging, especially if you’re new to Twitter.

Most Twitter newbies have grand plans to amass thousands of followers overnight.  The same can be said for people who have been using Twitter for years.  In most cases, you feel like you’re doing work, but not seeing the needle move.  Unfortunately, growing your followers on Twitter does not happen that quickly.

If you want to get followers on Twitter, you have to work at it. This means using Twitter search to find people you share a common interest with. In addition, one of the key things you can do to get followers on Twitter is to be interesting. This means tweeting about a specific topic, sharing an article you found interesting, or even a photograph you took.  There really is no wrong way to share content.  Basically, share what you think others might find interesting.

So how do you get followers on Twitter by sharing content? Sharing content is part of the equation. No one wants to follow an account that doesn’t tweet.

Once you have started tweeting, what you need to do next to get followers is to learn how to retweet.

For those of you who don’t know what a retweet is, it’s sharing someone’s tweet with your own network. There is also a science to sending a retweet.

How do you get followers on Twitter?

Take a moment to review this infographic on “The Art of Getting Retweets.”  By tweeting your own updates and retweeting others, it can help you get followers on Twitter at a much faster pace.

Continue reading How Do You Get Followers on Twitter? [Infographic]

Twitter SMS Commands

Twitter SMS

If you haven’t upgraded your mobile phone to a smartphone or you simply prefer text-messaging over mobile apps, did you know, you can use Twitter SMS to send out updates and to connect with other Twitter users.

Not only is Twitter SMS easy to use, but the SMS commands are not difficult to learn. I’ve compiled a list of Twitter SMS commands you can use to send tweets from your mobile phone.  This list of Twitter SMS commands isn’t just limited to sending tweets.  It can also be used to update your Twitter profile, change your location and more.

To start using Twitter SMS, be sure to first enable Twitter SMS by texting START to your shortcode. Example: Text START to 40404 (the US shortcode). If you’re outside the US, here’s the complete list of Twitter shortcodes.

Twitter SMS Commands

Below is a list of Twitter SMS commands and how to use them to update Twitter. Be sure to bookmark or share this list with other Twitter users.

Overall, I find it’s very easy to update Twitter via SMS. This is because I can focus on one task at a time. Try out Twitter SMS and let me know what you think.

Twitter SMS Command What It Does
message Posts message as a tweet.
@username message Sends a reply to a username. Example: ckroks nice profile!
D username message Sends a direct message to a Twitter user.
FOLLOW username Configures your Twitter profile to follow a Twitter user.
UNFOLLOW username Configures your Twitter profile to unfollow a Twitter user.
LEAVE or L username Let’s you stop receiving SMS updates from a specific user without having to unfollow them.
RETWEET username Retweets the last tweet from a user.
FAV or FAVE or FAVORITE or * username Favorites the most recent tweet from a user. Example: fav ckroks
WHOIS username Returns profile information about a specific username.
ON username Turns on device updates from a specific user.
OFF username Turns off device updates from a specific user.
GET username Shows the most recent tweet from a user.
SET LOCATION placename Updates the location in your Twitter profile. Example: set location Washington DC.
SET BIO someinformation Edits your Bio information on your Twitter profile. Example: set bio Social Business Manager. Apple fanatic.
SET LANGUAGE language name Selects the language you want to see updates in. Example: set language English.
SET NAME your name Sets the name field on your Twitter profile. Example: set name Christian Karasiewicz.
SET URL yoururl Sets the URL field on your Twitter profile. Example: set url http://www.christiankonline.com.
OFF Turns off device updates for all Twitter users. To turn off direct messages, send OFF a second time.
ON Turns on device updates for all Twitter users. To turn on direct messages, send ON a second time.
STOP or QUIT Immediately stops Twitter from sending messages to your phone.
STOP, QUIT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, ARRET Deactivates your Twitter account if you are using Twitter SMS only.
INVITE phone number Sends an invitation via SMS to your friend’s mobile phone number.
SUGGEST or SUG or S or WTF Returns a list of Twitter users that you might find want to follow.
HELP or INFO or AIDE If you need help with using Twitter SMS, this brings up texting tips or help.
STATS Returns the number of Twitter followers you have along with how many people you are following.

Question: What is your primary reason for using Twitter SMS? Is it because you find it easier to tweet with text messages, because you don’t like the Twitter mobile app? Click here to leave a comment.

Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts To Save You Time

Twitter keyboard shortcutsTwitter keyboard shortcuts

Twitter keyboard shortcuts, they do exist.  In fact, they come in very handy when you’re navigating Twitter.  Twitter keyboard shortcuts can also save you valuable amounts of time during your day.

To use them, all you need to do is go to Twitter.com and hit one of the following keyboard shortcuts.

For example, if you hit the “N” key, it will start a new tweet.  If you want to send someone a direct message, all you need to do is press the “M” key and you’ll get a pop-up to send someone a direct message.  In addition to using these basic features with a Twitter keyboard shortcut, you can hit “G” and then the “U” key and you’ll get a prompt to take you right to a users profile.

Note: the letters are not case-sensitive so you can hit “n” or “N” to compose a new tweet.

Be sure to bookmark these Twitter keyboard shortcuts.

Continue reading Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts To Save You Time

5 Reasons Why You Should Unlink YouTube and Twitter

Joining both YouTube and Twitter (and I don’t mean connecting the two) can have tremendous benefits for your business:

So why am I giving you 5 Reasons Why You Should Unlink YouTube and Twitter?

Continue reading 5 Reasons Why You Should Unlink YouTube and Twitter

Make 2013 Your Best-Ever Year: A 12-Month Plan For Social Media Success [INFOGRAPHIC]

2012 was the year of social media.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest all experienced tremendous growth in social media.

So how can you as a business, capitalize on the success of these growing social networks in 2013? First, you need a social media plan.

No, you don’t have to get your calendar out and start feverishly writing. Instead, there’s a handy infographic that can help you figure out what you need to be doing each month to reach social media success in 2013.

A few of the key steps include:

  1. Assessing your social fitness
  2. Revisiting your social goals
  3. Becoming a better listener
  4. Integrating all of your social platforms, and
  5. Planning for the future
  6. ….

Continue reading Make 2013 Your Best-Ever Year: A 12-Month Plan For Social Media Success [INFOGRAPHIC]

5 FREE Twitter Analytics Tools

Everywhere you look these days, it seems someone is coming out with a Twitter Analytics Tool.  While I’m all for using Twitter Analytics Tools to help measure the success of your social media campaigns on Twitter, there is a lot of redundancy in the market.  As a result, a number of people (and businesses) are overpaying for social media tools they either don’t need or can get for free.

I’ve compiled a list of 5 Free Twitter Analytics Tools that I often recommend to clients or people who want to measure their success on Twitter. One thing to note, there is no all-in-one solution that can tell you how well you’re doing.  Instead, I prefer a bevy of different Twitter Analytics Tools – to help measure followers, Twitter reach, who to unfollow, and more.  Together, these Twitter Analytics Tools can help provide better insight into your Twitter account and the areas you need to address in order to continue growing your Twitter network.

In no particular order, here they are – 5 Free Twitter Analytics Tools that you can use to get better insights on Twitter.

Continue reading 5 FREE Twitter Analytics Tools