How To: Not Be Boring On Twitter

Just like everyone else, when I first got on Twitter in March of 2009, I didn’t know what to tweet. I followed a few people and just watched them. I didn’t tweet anything for a few days because I was so nervous about it. Looking back, it seems kind of silly. A few weeks into my life on Twitter, I somehow stumbled across my dear friends @mistygirlph and @cheth. Through them, I found @ShellyKramer. Of course, everything just grew from there. We are all still friends today.

Now that I follow 45,000 people, my Twitter stream looks very different. I still spend time each day just watching it all and giggling at all the fun conversations. One thing I often see people ask on Twitter is how they can stand out from the crowd and get noticed. With as many people who are on Twitter these days, it can feel like you are just a small piece of sand on a huge beach. How does a person get noticed? How can you stand out from the crowd?

Please hear me from my heart on this because I mean no disrespect, but in my opinion, the way to do that is to learn how to not be boring on Twitter. Most people on Twitter are boring, or, perhaps a better way to say that is most people on Twitter type tweets that are boring. If you can just learn how to tweet in a way that isn’t boring, you’ll get noticed. Here are 5 tips for how to not be boring on Twitter.

1. Save The Drama For Yo Mama.

Tweeting all the time about negative things happening in your life is a sure fire way to get people to ignore you. You suddenly become like the annoying cousin who comes over to dinner and whines the whole time. Nobody wants to hear it, or in this case, read it.

Everyone has a bad day every now and then, and of course we tweet about it, and we are all here for each other. Our emotions are what make us human, and I’m not saying to take the human aspect out of Twitter. However, look at your own Twitter stream and read your own tweets. What is the overall tone? Is it positive or negative? Would you want to follow you? One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten was, “Run from negative people like you are running from a burning building.” You might also be interested in reading 6 Benefits Of Being Positive On Twitter. #enuffsaid

2. Strategically Use Retweets To Your Advantage.

If you don’t know how to craft a non-boring tweet, find some clever people who do and retweet them. We often think that when we retweet someone, we are doing that person a favor. However, it works both ways. Retweeting someone else also has a big benefit for you. When you retweet a funny and interesting tweet, you also look funny and interesting. Isn’t it neat how that works?

My friend @radiopotato1 sent a tweet today that read, “I’m not as witty as some of you, but thankfully that is what a retweet is for.” That is such a great point, and it’s a simple strategy for how to not be boring. There are a lot of people on Twitter who you can follow to find clever tweets to retweet. One way I do this is by going tweet shopping. It’s a lot of fun and way cheaper than real shopping. You can read about that at How To: Have Fun Going Tweet Shopping.

3. Don’t Tweet Crappy Content.

One reason people’s tweets are considered boring is because they tweet crappy content. What is crappy content? It’s links to articles that offer no value whatsoever to your followers. In order to know what your followers consider valuable, you have to get to know your followers.

I have almost 47,000 followers and I know that the majority of them are part of the Twitter geek community. My followers and I love everything about Star Wars, Lego, technology and iPhones. If I suddenly started tweeting links all day long that pertained to horse training (just as an example), I would probably become boring because that type of content wouldn’t offer much if any value to my followers.

You may wonder where you can find interesting content for your followers. It will take a few hours from start to finish, but if you just sit down and strategically subscribe to your favorite blogs, bookmark your favorite sites, join StumbleUpon, Reddit and other online communities, you can build a little power pack for yourself of content sources. Then, each day, visit those sites and tweet that content. You’ll slowly start to build a reputation for providing information. Tweeting content that your followers consider to be valuable instantly makes you not boring.

4. Get To Know People, Show Your Personality and Chill.

So many people who join Twitter are so worried about whether or not they are doing it right that they censor what they say to the point where they don’t show their personality very much. Chill out, have fun and relax. Twitter is a happy fun place.

Twitter is like a rockin cocktail party 24/7 that you don’t even have to get dressed up to attend. Just walk in the room, find a few fun people to talk to, and let it evolve from there. Be yourself and relax. If you are shy, use Twitter as a tool to build your confidence. Twitter is all about who you follow, so if you are looking for some non-boring people to have fun tweeting with, look at whom your friends are talking to. Follow them. It’s really easy.

5. Above Everything Else, Be Kind To Your Followers.

Being kind is such a simple thing we can all do; yet so many people choose not to be kind. Simply treating your followers with kindness and respect is a sure fire way to not be seen as boring. My friend @Lotay often tweets about how important it is to be kind. If you aren’t used to this concept, it may seem silly to you, but believe me, it can change your life and your Twitter stream.

If you are unsure about how to show kindness to your Twitter followers, you might want to read 7 Ways to Bring Sunshine To Your Twitter Followers and 10 Acts of Twitter Kindness. That second article is my favorite article out of all 4,401 articles we have on this site. It’s a #BitRebelsClassic.

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