Phil Lauterjung

Have you ever been to an event or party where you meet someone who only wants to talk about them?  And they really are deserving of a plural pronoun because it’s all about me, myself, and I.    I’ve had this come up a couple of times – well… OK a number of times; and mostly I start immediately looking for an “out”.  If you do too, this post is for you – at least if you use Twitter and other social media.

One thing is certain about social media – you WILL encounter boorish people; and those that want to make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.  Oh, you’ve already met them; and you’re not quite sure what to do about them?  It’s really quite simple, unfollow or unfriend them.  Here are some of the guidelines that I have found useful for Twitter, and they can be used elsewhere as well.

1. You don’t use a picture (also called an avatar) that tells me something about who you are.  And not some cutesy (creative?) photo of a lion or whatever.  The idea is for us to relate to each other and engage in conversation.
2. You don’t complete your bio with a location and a website.  See #1 – tell me something about yourself, other than you want to help me be a gazillionaire.
3. Your stats show you following lots of users but very few are following you.  Major red flag!  This shows a lack of interaction with other users.  A caution here is that some are on Twitter to simply listen, and that should be OK.
4. Your updates are purely promoting yourself and whatever you are trying to sell.  I use Twitter to find interesting people with interesting ideas and/or information.  If I want someone to incessantly push their product at me I’ll watch TV infomercials all night.  No, I don’t really do that.  I need my beauty sleep.
5. Closely following #4 is if your updates show you are only trying to get as many followers as possible; and you constantly send out updates as to how many you have now.  I’m as competitive as anyone else, but this isn’t a competition.  I don’t care how many followers you have.
6. If you are constantly arguing with your followers then I will unfollow you also.
7. If you do not engage your Twitter followers.  Although, there are some who send out useful content without doing a lot to engage others – and some have a smaller circle that they do engage.  If I can depend on you for useful content my feelings aren’t terribly hurt if I’m not in your inner circle.
8. I may get some push-back on this one, but if all you do is send out quotes of what other people say… sorry, but I want information I can’t always easily get somewhere else.  I have a copy of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, thank you.

So, go ahead, take control of your social media communication.  And, if you have some good content please feel free to send it my way.  Comment below, or follow me on Twitter.  I look forward to your thoughts and experiences.

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