What kind of Twitter User are You?

02. Dec, 2008 2 Comments

You load up your new tweets for the day, you might lay down a few tweets, reply to a few, read a few, click a few links, or whatever it is that you do.

The point is, I think there’s a different Twitterer in all of us.

So why type of Twitter User are you?

When I asked this question on Twitter, here are a few of the responses I got:

I think it’s important to know this. With the power that is behind Twitter it is important to continue your social interaction with Twitter. If you’ve setup an account and you’re not using it then you’re missing out.

Here’s my take on the different Twitter Users

The Observer

You tend to sit back and watch the conversations take place. You occasionally update a new tweet or even reply to someone. This is not effective and of course, it’s not social. You’re wasting your time by doing this. Get in the conversation and make some new friends. You’d be surprised how many cool people are out there.

The Socializer

This is the type of Twitter Follower everyone loves. They’re responsive, always have great tweets throughout the day and for the most part they are a good Twitterer. Just beware, you give your fellow Twitterers some breathing room. There are some Socializers that update and reply so often, that they begin to take up your first 2 pages of your tweets. All in all the socializer is a great Twitterer.

The No Follower

The Twitterer that wants everyone to follow him/her but doesn’t feel the need to follow you back. I understand it to a certain extent. Once you get to a certain amount of people you’re following it can be difficult to maintain your profile. This is your “Results not typical” Twitterer. Unless you’re some amazing human being or have a huge brand don’t count on this happening to you. You’re fellow Twitterers will eventually start falling off and you’ll regret not following them.

The Replier

I enjoy having “The Replier” as a follower. It’s nice to be able to ask a question for genuine feedback and know you’ll get some answers. If this is you, just don’ forget the either side of it. Are you leveraging Twitter the same way. Don’t be afraid to use your Twitter followers as your feedback team. In fact, if you are a replier, chances are your fellow followers will be more inclined to “return the favor” for always being social with them.

The Automated Robot

Now, there are 2 scenarios how the automated robot twitterer interacts with his/her followers.

When you follow him/her you get the automated message right in your inbox. Usually it’s something like this. “Hey thanks for following, now check out my blog. (Insert Link to blog)”
You know what their tweets look like. The ones that take the 140 characters of the post and add the link to the rest of the post. They didn’t take the time to write out an interesting title to have you click the link. If you don’t have time to write 140 characters and paste a link then you need to really look at your schedule.

Why do I care what type of Twitter User I am?

The truth is, there is no right or wrong way to use Twitter. I think all of the different types of Twitter users are great in their own ways. If you can focus on all the different ways to leverage Twitter as a “Twitter User” then that is when you can get the full power out of Twitter. You become intriguing to follow, you provide feedback, you get feedback, people enjoy reading your tweets, etc.

So possibly taking a little bit of all the different types of Twitter users is a good thing.

It’s good to observe, but don’t forget to join in the conversation
It’s good to not take on too many followers but still be curtious
It’s good to reply but don’t make that all that you do.
It’s not good to be automated. This is a social network, knock it off and start being social.

I know there are plenty of different variations of how people use Twitter but I think this post covered a big portion of them.

What are your thoughts? Don’t you think it’s important to work on being a better Twitter user?

2 Responses to “What kind of Twitter User are You?”

emapey Reply 29. Mar, 2009 at 11:38 am

Just wanted to let you know that I have linked to this post from my blog Onlinesapiens Blog. I wrote: JR Farr blogged the best post I have found about the different types of Twitter users
JR Farr Reply 29. Mar, 2009 at 1:03 pm

Thanks again for the heads up and the link back to my site!