Twitter Psychology: The Nitty-Gritty Scoop [Infographic]

For those of us who have been on Twitter for a few years now, the mechanics of how it all works and the tweeting protocol is second nature. However, for people who are just joining the site, it can be overwhelming to try to figure it all out. That’s kinda how I feel about Google+. There are so many new features and things to learn. I haven’t gotten the hang of it yet, but I know I will. It will just take a little time. If you feel that way about Twitter, I hope I can help you a little bit.

We’ve written hundreds of articles about Twitter, and if you do a simple search on this site, you’ll be able to access all of them. There is a lot of information in there to digest. Twitter has evolved and changed over the years though, so what may have been the standard two years ago is not the case now. It’s a much more relaxed anything goes kind of environment now, which I prefer much better.

There is a psychology behind Twitter (just like with all the social media sites), and the appropriate thing to do is not always black and white. For example, a follow-back is not something tweeps should expect. Each person on Twitter has the right to follow someone back or not, and it is his or her personal decision. People should not be pressured into doing that. I typically follow almost everyone back, but I get about a dozen tweets each week from people who tweet, “I followed you, now follow me back.” When I get those, I just roll my eyes.

Also, I agree with this infographic that adding “Please RT” to the end of your tweets is completely ineffective. Also, DM’ing strangers and asking them to retweet a tweet is ineffective. On the other hand, a supportive group of friends who RT each other’s content through DM is a fun way to engage and create an energetic friendship energy. So as you see, there is a gray area to everything, which is what I refer to as Twitter psychology. This little infographic created by Mitch Monsen from WhiteFireSEO and sent to me by @gupshupblog hits the nail on the head in a lot of areas. You can click here to also get the text version of this information. I giggled when I saw that about 36 tweets per day is considered oversharing. Hmm…. I send over 100 tweets per day. Opps! Hahaha :)

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