Don't Let Twitter Ruin Your Life

As someone who is hyper aware of identity construction and branding, I spend a good deal of time thinking about how I present myself online. I'm extremely cautious about what I post, carefully weighing the pros and cons of every sound bite of my life. If something doesn't feel right a few moments after I posted it, I'll delete it. While we all know that the internet is forever, at least I have a chance to alter posts that don't fit with my vision or image.

However, not everyone has this same luxury. Jon Ronson of The New York Times wrote an article that examined the lives of people who were"ruined" because of insensitive and poorly thought out tweets. Justine Saccos is Ronson's primary example of regrettable tweets gone horribly wrong. After tweeting a racist comment that was intended to be satirical, Saccos's tweet was picked up and retweeted to a larger audience, basically going viral. As a result, Saccos ended up losing her job and becoming a social pariah.

In an effort to prevent this sort of conundrum happening to others, I thought I'd share my rules for posting content online while maintaining and be true to my constructed identity.

1. Audit your content: My first thought after reading Ronson's piece was to audit my own Twitter feed. Although the good deal of my tweets are industry related, I do include my personal musings and things related to my hobbies (e.g., fashion, British Royal Family, etc.). In theory, potential followers will often look at your past tweets to develop an understanding of the content you're posting. While you can't permanently delete a tweet from history, you can certainly audit your content to more closely align with your brand or personal identity, hopefully engaging more like-minded followers in the future. 
2. Don't use polarizing hashtags: This may be one of Twitter-related problems I struggle with most. Certain hashtags such as #superwhitegirlproblems or #basic have the potential to be offensive to whomever is reading your tweet. While hashtags such as these are generally meant to create a conversation about stereotypes, these phrases or terms have the potential to be offensive or discriminatory to others. Unless you intend to brand yourself as someone who engages in hot button issues, avoid topics that may be misconstrued even if they're socially popular. 
3. Ask yourself if this is what you want to be remembered for: Such as was the case for Saccos, her one tweet essentially has defined who she is and her relationship with the world for the rest of her life. I think it's important to realize the potential of your tweet being picked up and circulated to a massive audience that could define you and measure your future actions by this tweet. If you're worried that a tweet may negatively affect your image in the future, refrain from posting it. 

For more ideas on identity creation online, leave a comment or tweet me at @Sarah_M_Walsh. 

When You're Not The Cinderella of Twitter

I love hearing stories about social media accounts that have become famous overnight or "gone viral." It's like the Cinderella story of the modern world: Person posts cool content, a few awesome people and one particular opinion leader see her at the Internet ball, and poof! instant internet fame with thousands upon thousands of followers, leading to happily ever after.

Photo Credit: Andy Sabis "Cinderella and Charming"

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to think of what I could do to have my Twitter or Instagram account go viral. What hashtag will get X famous person to read my post and suddenly I have tens of thousands of followers? Admittedly, I haven't quite given up this dream yet (maybe this will be the post that goes viral!), but I've also started thinking up more practical, sustainable ways to grow my following.

So far my plan has been working pretty well. I'd been hovering between 110-120 followers since October, but at the end of January, I started making tactical and thought-out decisions to increase my follow rate. I'm happy to say that in the past 2-2.5 weeks I've increased by followers by 100 with minimal effort.

As you can see from the chart I pulled from Twitter analytics, my following has skyrocketed. Since I'm having a good run at this, I thought I'd share my tips that have worked for me so far.

1. Post at least 5x a day: For my internship, I was asked to come up with a social media guide for our alumni volunteers in order for them to learn how to be most effective in getting event attendance. I knew from my experience what works best for my sites and accounts, but I was curious to find out what actual studies had to say about the frequency of social media usage. I found this cool tip sheet that recommends posting to Twitter at least five times a day. At first I didn't think I would have enough to say, but between retweets and engaging in conversations with people I admire online, five posts a day is nothing.
2. Find your niche: When I first started tweeting and developing my online presence, I was really hesitant about limiting myself to a specific type of tweeting. I wanted to be able to talk about everything, but I think this initial fear was based on the fact I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to share my random musings that are quintessentially me. A week or so ago, I was able to let go of this fear after listening to Amy Porterfield's podcast on Instagram usage. She mentioned how she often had more interaction with her personal posts on her various platforms, and this sort of reassured me that if I post good, meaningful content regularly, my followers are still going to be interested in the "life behind the business," so to speak. Basically, I think if you tweet about your passions and throw in quick sound bites of your life, you'll find a lot of success online. 
3. Start a conversation: This piece of advice may have had the most profound impact on me and am so thankful that my new mentor decided to share this tip. He explained that in order to get noticed on Twitter by various accounts you follow, it's imperative that you start a conversation with them. At first this sounds like a no-brainer, but I've always felt awkward about the appropriateness of jumping in on a conversation that's not specifically directed at me. However, my mentor told me that whenever someone posts a link, they're generally asking you to join in on the conversation. Now whenever I see that someone I admire on Twitter posts a cool link, I'll tweet back and add my two cents, hopefully opening a dialogue (and a lot of the time getting a follow back!)

Tips for Grammar in the Digital Sphere

As a die hard grammarian and Oxford comma enthusiast, I initially had trouble adjusting to social media and the confines of 140 characters. I didn't want to be cheated out of appropriate comma placement and mellifluous word choices with too many letters.

Recently, I took to my Twitter account to ask some of my followers what their thoughts were on using correct grammar in tweets and other social media related posts, and I received answers on the opposite ends of the spectrum. My friend Nate, a recent grad from York College's Professional Writing program, doesn't believe in the need of using correct grammar for posts.

@Sarah_M_Walsh Dig. writing is about speed, not accuracy. Reader pointed out errors can be fixed in a second. Errors =/= lack of ethos now.

— Nathanial Alexander (@NaterXander) February 5, 2015

On the other hand, the writers behind The Refined Side, who I've been fortunate enough to develop a digital relationship with, feel the importance of using proper grammar online.

@Sarah_M_Walsh There is a terrible lack of grammar online! Will look forward to reading your surely great piece 😘
— Refined Side (@RefinedSide) February 5, 2015

At first I thought I would disagree with Nate's assertion that posts in the digital sphere don't need to be accurate, but the more I thought about it, I realized I've taken many opportunities to delete a tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram post if I've belatedly noticed an error. The fact that you can easily remove or edit text does take the pressure off when quickly shooting of a tweet.

So far in my social media career, I think I've done a good job at navigating between my grammarian side and the part of me that wants to use social media as effectively as possible. I have a few key rules I stick to:

1. Always, always, always include the Oxford Comma: I'll either re-craft a tweet or not post it at all if I can't include my favorite piece of punctuation. The editor I am at heart requires it!
2. Don't sweat the small stuff: I outwardly cringe when I notice an error in something I've written, but there comes a point when you're in the middle of a conversation and it's just not worth it to delete your tweet. 
3. When in doubt, consult the Chicago Manual of Style: I think Nate makes a great point about any errors being easy to fix, but from my experience, I would rather take a few moments to double check anything that I'm not 100% sure is the correct grammatical form. Although your ethos as a writer might not be affected if you post something with a few grammatical errors, I'd rather not take the chance.