How long does a tweet live before it gets buried in the scroll line? Someone told me less than 60 seconds. Is that accurate? –Paula Cappa, @PaulaCappa1

I like this question because I see more implied here than is stated. On the lines, I read: “How long does a tweet live?” Between the lines, I read: “Does anyone actually see my tweets?” I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m projecting, Paula, but for the sake of this column I’m going to answer that projection as much as I’ll answer your literal question.

So, how long does a tweet live? Technically, all tweets last indefinitely, because anyone could do a search or otherwise come across any old tweet at any time. They can still read it, which means they can still “like” it (used to be “favorite”) or retweet it even if it’s five years old. To find the permanent link to an old tweet, click on the time stamp beside it, circled in red here:

This will open the tweet on its own page, like so:

Once the tweet is opened in its own page, you can copy the permalink URL from your browser bar. For the tweet screenshot above, the permalink is: https://twitter.com/AnnieNeugebauer/status/675078988612661248

(This is useful if you want to imbed a tweet in a blog post or link to it on other sites; there are also options for “copy link to tweet” and “embed tweet” under the “more” dropdown, which looks like an ellipsis under your tweet.) The permalink will last until you delete the tweet. Or perhaps until Twitter deletes it, someday, in some sort of anarchist housecleaning fit. Who knows?

But “forever” is a frustrating answer, isn’t it? How long will the tweet show in the actual timeline, or scroll line as you call it, Paula?

Why not open your timeline and see? Go ahead, open another tab to Twitter and take a look at the top tweet. Depending on what kind of device you’re on, you might have to click the “show new tweets” bar or tweets might automatically refresh. For me just now, at the time of writing this, it only took 35 seconds for the top tweet to disappear below new ones. At that rate, 60 seconds sounds generous.

Nobody panic. [Read more…]

Last time I shared the first half of my two-part answer to this question:

You’ve covered a lot of policy and etiquette in your blogs, but I was wondering if there are any pitfalls you commonly see writers making on Twitter? And if so, what should we do to avoid them?

—Anonymous

Today I’m going to finish it off with my second half. Thanks again for this great question, Anonymous, and best of luck!

6. Complaining about your WIP.

Look, everyone has low points. We get that. But generally speaking, they’re not great to read about. You never know what potentially interested agents, editors, or future readers you could be turning off by talking smack about your work in progress. If you feel the need to be candid about a serious issue once in a while, do that.

But if you feel like ranting about how much trouble your WIP is giving you, use that private support group we talked about last time.

7. Comparing yourself to other writers.

It happens. We’ve all measured ourselves against the success of others. What do you do when you find yourself playing the comparison game? [Read more…]

You’ve covered a lot of policy and etiquette in your blogs, but I was wondering if there are any pitfalls you commonly see writers making on Twitter? And if so, what should we do to avoid them?

—Anonymous

Hi Anonymous! I love this question, not just because you’re eager to avoid the pitfalls but also because you specified that you want to know how to do so. I appreciate that focus on positivity and taking action.

I have so many answers to this one that I’m going to break it into two parts. This post will cover my first 5 and my next one will cover 5 more. Thanks so much for your question!

1. Tweeting word counts.

You know what’s not interesting? How many words you wrote today. Ouch! I’m sorry, but if I don’t tell you, who will? It doesn’t matter if you had the best day in history or literally only typed one word; most people don’t care. They’re not trying to be mean, but unless we’re directly affected by the outcome of said word count, it really isn’t interesting.

“But Annie, tweeting my word count keeps me accountable. What am I supposed to do?” The answer: find a source of support – and take it off Twitter. Every writer needs fellow writers with whom they celebrate and commiserate. Lots of writers need an accountability buddy – no shame in that! The trick is taking that connection off Twitter, to a private place. Even if you find your buddy on Twitter, Twitter isn’t the place to tweet said numbers. Better options include email, texts, a group forum, a private Facebook group, etc. Keep your followers happy and yourself accountable; it’s the best of both worlds.

2. Over-promoting your work.

This is so tempting. The busier we get, the harder it becomes to even get on Twitter, much less to post idle chit-chat. Some days I find myself hitting only the “important” things in my tweets. Read: self-promotion. It’s a necessary evil. The problem comes in when promo takes over and you become spam. No one likes flyers on their car, remember? So how do we keep from becoming nothing but promotion machines when we have so little time to dedicate to Twitter? [Read more…]

Today I’m only tackling one question, because it’s slightly involved and also because I feel it’s an incredibly important topic for writers on Twitter. The submitter has asked to be kept anonymous, so some of the details of the writer’s specific situation have been changed or omitted to maintain privacy. Anonymous writes:

Hello Annie,

Thanks so much for the informative blogs on Twitter. Do you have an example of a line not to cross in self-promotion?

My publisher stipulated up front that they expect their writers to help with marketing, etc. No surprise there, but it’s a big job. I’m feeling a bit desperate in a way. I’ve been reaching out on social media, but I got my hand slapped the other day by a blogger/writer I’d made contact with on Twitter.

Here’s what I had sent her: [Includes a promotional image with a book review quote.] “Look what my publisher sent me today! Almost a month away!”

She said: “Please don’t spam people about your book. It results in exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve.”

To be fair, I have sent her other stuff from time to time re: this novel, but I always try to make it at least interesting – with a catchy quote from a review or saying where it’s available… I hadn’t sent anything to her within the past 2 or 3 weeks…

The gaffe included the @ addresses of 3 others in the industry along with hers. Wanh – wanh. I’m so embarrassed to be called out.

I have gotten it right with some relationships, but you can’t really have a ‘relationship’ with as many people as NEED TO KNOW about my book. (Reviewers, bloggers, bookstores, distributors, libraries, etc.) So…?

Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

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[pullquote]Do: Tweet your news occasionally from your own profile into the general timeline.
Don’t: Tweet your news at people by tagging them.[/pullquote]First of all, Anon, let me say that I feel for you. I really, really do. Pressure and isolation and desperation: What writer hasn’t struggled with these things? It’s a crowded marketplace out there, and how is one lone writer supposed to market themselves amid the din? Not to mention that each social media platform has its own set of standards, cultural expectations, and nuances. It’s tricky to master any one of them, much less keep up with them all. We all make faux-pas sometimes.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s what you’ve done here. I do think that your attempts at self-promotion have crossed that invisible, subjective line into spam. [Read more…]

 

@AnnieNeugebauer WU Twitter question. Writers “meet” each other on Twitter. How? How do people “hang out” with Tweets? I’m a noob. :)

—Abigail Welborn ‏@AbigailFair

This is a great question! The answer is simpler than it might seem: they tweet to each other. If you don’t include a handle (a person’s username following the @ symbol) in the beginning of a tweet, that tweet goes “public,” meaning it will appear in all of your followers’ timelines. (Do keep in mind that all tweets are technically public, and that if someone wants to find them they can.) If you open a tweet with someone’s handle as the very first thing, that tweet goes to that person specifically, and only people following both of you will see it in their timelines. (There’s a brush-up of @ mentions here.)

So how do people meet and hang out? They have conversations by tweeting back and forth! That’s really it. To “meet” someone on Twitter, you usually follow someone who looks interesting and tweet to them to say hi, introduce yourself, or comment on something they’ve tweeted. If they’re interested in socializing, they’ll usually follow you back and answer your tweet(s) with their own. A conversation can be slow and ongoing, where each person responds every few hours or days as they happen to get on Twitter, or it can be concentrated and brief if both people happen to be online at the same time.

It might sound overly simple, but that’s really all there is to Twitter. You find people, connect with them, and maintain that connection by occasionally having conversations. Thanks for the question, Abigail, and welcome to Twitter!

 

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What is a good way to get discovered on Twitter?

— Barbara McDowell Whitt, @BarbaraMcDWhitt

[pullquote]The most reliable way to get discovered on Twitter is to do the discovering.[/pullquote]Hi Barbara! Thanks for this question. I’m going to assume you mean “get discovered by people who want to follow you” and not “get discovered as a writer (by agents and/or editors, etc.).” If you mean the latter, my answer is: I have no idea. (If I did I’d be famous already, jeeze!) But if you mean the former, here are my thoughts. [Read more…]