Twitterrhea

Apparently I'm not the first person to come up with this very apt word to describe the condition of Tweeting far too often.But I DID come up with it independently, without ever having heard it from anywhere else before. So there.

I've recently started a new Twitter feed under the name @PatMoranGraphic . It was as close as I could get to my actual company name without exceeding Twitter's character limit for IDs. I started it on the same day I attended the inaugural breakfast of the Ottawa Web Marketing Club. March 4, I think it was.

One of the speakers dropped an expression that really stuck with me. He said, "No more than four or five tweets a day, or your followers will go away." I've really taken that to heart, and deliberately limit my tweets (on the @PatMoranGraphic account, at least) to a maximum of five per day. But I see LOTs of the tweeters I follow breaking this wise guideline all the time, and in spades.

So far it hasn't really bothered me too much, but I think eventually it will. Once you reach a certain saturation point in the number of people you follow, it becomes impossible to keep up with it all. The more frequently each of your followed "friends" tweets, the more difficult it becomes to keep up with everyone else. Occasionally, I find the five-a-day limit frustrating, but I stick to it. I keep whatever it is that's so important in my head and post it the next day.

But most days, I find it difficult to think of things to say that people will find interesting, informative and maybe thought-provoking. My aim, when I tweet, especially on my professional stream, is to provoke a response from my followers. If they retweet me, that's cool, but I love it best when they reply with a comment, or even just a "me too!" When you can generate response like that with a professional Twitter feed, I think you're doing something right.

Another thing I've heard and read is that you should definitely not use your professional Twitter feed to share with your followers that you stubbed your toe or that your girlfriend left you or that your tummy is sore because you ate too many green apples. The purpose of a professional Twitter feed is to interact with fellow professionals, potential and current clients and, hopefully, to drum up a little business for yourself. You're not going to drum up business by moaning about your noisy neighbours or, worst of all, whining about clients or being vulgar or critical. Save that stuff for your personal Twitter stream (and hope that none of those who follow your professional feed also follow your personal feed!).

Yet, I see this type of thing happening a lot, and it really surprises me. I mean, I measure every word I say on that Twitter account. Could what I'm about to say possibly be taken negatively or shine a less than professional light on my business? You have to think about these things. Very few people out there know me yet. I can't rely on my great reputation to help deflect negative reactions that may come as a result of unwise tweets. I don't want to give people the wrong impression of me, either personally or professionally, before we've even met.

I'm not suggesting that professionals who tweet should behave like their necktie is too tight or they've got a steel rod up their bum. It's lovely to see professionals being bright and casual and humourous and even silly in their Twitter feeds. It makes them human, rather than just a logo in an ad or a pretty website. Being human is what Twitter's all about. I guess the guideline, for me at least, would be, "would I say this to a client I've only known for couple of weeks?" If not, I don't tweet it. And even if I *would* say it, I keep it to a maximum of five tweets per day.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go think of something thought-provoking, informative and amusing to post on my feed.