A recent article in CIO Magazine describes a key aspect of Twitter: etiquette. The article says, “the Twitter community has its own set of unwritten guidelines – or etiquette – that dictates good (or bad) behavior on the service. Some people call it Twittequette.”

For newcomers, learning the right way to engage the Twitter community is an important first step. While it was designed as an open community, the fact remains that many of your colleagues are likely already on Twitter, and you don’t want to risk offending them – or the larger Twitter community – by ignoring etiquette. Here are a few guidelines about “Twittequette” to get you started:

As a general rule, if someone follows you on Twitter you should also follow them, but you can be still be selective. Make sure that you only follow people who you trust and can learn from.

Remember that a tweet is only 140 characters long, and it can easily be misinterpreted if you’re not clear. You may want to pare down sarcasm to avoid being misunderstood.

Tweets are public because they can be picked up by Google or Twitter’s search tool. If you don’t want it to show up on a Google or Twitter search, don’t tweet it.

Make your objectives and identity clear. You might also want to publicly identify what organization you represent.

Make sure your tweets are personal. Remember that your Twitter followers want to hear your personality and views, not the blatant corporate messaging of your employer.

Don’t be selfish. Just as you would want people to respond to a question you ask over Twitter, make sure to respond to others.

Direct messages are a great way to send personal information, but don’t use them for spam. According to the CIO Magazine article, “some marketing and PR professionals have been criticized for sending direct messages that say “thanks for following me” accompanied by a blatant product pitch.”

With these tips in mind, you’re on your way to leveraging Twitter to learn, connect with others and share your story.

Twitter has also spawned new terms that can be confusing to a newcomer. Here are a few commonly used terms, compliments of the Twitter glossary:

Tweet – Not only a message on Twitter but another term for a Twitter user.
@reply– a tweet that is directed to a fellow Twitter user.
ReTweet – to re-post something that someone already posted to their Twitter stream. Usually proceeded with “RT” and “@username” at the beginning of the post to give credit to the person who originally posted.
Tweeter – A user of Twitter (compare: Twitterer).
Tweets – Posts on Twitter by Twitterers.

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