Three Ways To Join Twitter Without Looking Like A Latecomer

May. 25, 2011

By Eric Corpus info

Eric Corpus is a writer and web content producer in New York City

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Twitter shows no sign of slowing down as it spreads across the Internet 140 characters at a time. The service boasts 200 million users – including a growing cadre of Twitter celebrities, or twelebrities – and adds 460,000 users every day. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, you can join the party now and still look like a cool trendsetter. Here are three ways to get you into the groove:

1. TWEET AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE

The best way to not look like a Twitter noob is to build up your tweet count. That way, people can’t easily tell that you signed up this morning. Twitter veterans, or tweterans, have tweet counts in the tens of thousands, so you’ve got some work to do, newbie.

Social media users like real people just like themselves, so the more day-to-day your tweets are, the better. Everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time, so be sure to tweet that.

@ericcorpus left leg into pants
@ericcorpus and in goes the right leg!

Your tweets should be relatable to your followers and followers-to-be. Tweet about things that everyone goes through, like watching TV and eating. Take bed time, for example. Everyone sleeps, and people wait with bated breath for your announcement that you’re “calling it a night.” Especially your prankster roommates who plan to tar and feather you and put it on YouTube.

@ericcorpus nite tweeps
@ericcorpus left leg into bed
@ericcorpus right leg into bed
@ericcorpus i hear giggling

If you doubt whether you should tweet a thought, just tweet it. Or at least ask your followers whether you should.

2. RETWEET JUST AS MUCH

Tweeting every moment in your life will inspire your first hundred tweets, but tweeting every moment in everyone else’s lives is the sign of a Twitter Elite and Expert User, or tweezer. This is possible through the retweet.

The retweet is essentially forwarding someone’s tweet, like you would an email. It gives them props for the profound statement they just made, while you can also add your input. It’s a great way to encourage your Twitter friends and make new ones. Simply add ‘RT’ to the front of a user’s tweet and add any comment after a //, and you have a retweet!

@ericcorpus RT @6dfslover eatin a bagel // Awesome! With cream cheese?
@ericcorpus RT @horsegurl1998 at work now // haha
@ericcorpus RT @tweetfr33k just blinked // me too!

3. ENGAGE THE TWITTER CELEBRITIES

Celebrities exist every arena of life, and Twitter is no exception. These twelebrities include movie stars, professional athletes, royalty, and social media experts.

A twelebrity can give you a Twitter Expansion of Benefits and Reputation, or Twix bar, by including your username in one of their tweets. That tweet will be seen by their hundreds of thousands of followers, many of which might start following you. You can engage these twelebrities by both tweeting at them or retweeting their tweets.

@ericcorpus @ladygaga wanna play paintball this weekend?
@ericcorpus RT @aplusk (-;
@ericcorpus @thoughtcatalog can i rite 4 u?

AND YOU’RE ON YOUR WAY

These invaluable tips are like the back door to the Twitter revolution. You’ll show up late, but no one will notice. And who knows – you too may achieve twelebrity status. Just follow this advice and think of unique ways to stand out among the crowd, much like the Minnesota League of Twitter Innovators, or Minnesota Twins. TC mark

You should follow Thought Catalog on Twitter here.


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  • http://twitter.com/lukebourassa Luke Bourassa

    Not trying to be negative, but who cares if you “look” like a latecomer?

  • http://twitter.com/ward_hegedus Ward Hegedus

    So help me, if I go to twitter.com/ericcorpus and those exact tweets aren't in his timeline, I'm gonna call shenanigans.

  • fauxpinion

    http://www.twitter.com/maggie44
    Wanna be a twelebrity
    Working on it
    Getting there
    Right leg
    Left leg
    Right leg
    Left leg
    Steps to success

  • http://twitter.com/katieecc Katie EC Cochrane

    A latecomer is a newcomer and it is more difficult to get followers if you are new, have no existing followers and no tweet history. So you don't want to “look” like a newcomer/latecomer. It is a lonely twitter existence.

  • http://twitter.com/lukebourassa Luke Bourassa

    Twiends / We Follow

    Might not attract quality followers, but the numbers will be convincing enough to actually get real people in the course of a week or so.

  • http://twitter.com/katieecc Katie EC Cochrane

    I've been trying to not look like a latecomer for the past month… but real followers are hard to find.

  • Rob

    Serious-ish question, how do you do the RT reteweets?  When I retweet on the web interface it does its magic retweet.

    /latecomer

  • http://twitter.com/lukebourassa Luke Bourassa

    Well.. the mildly pathetic approach is one way to do it ;-)

  • http://twitter.com/katieecc Katie EC Cochrane

    um… Luke.. will you follow me on Twitter?

    I'm beyond the mild approach :)

  • http://twitter.com/VAMPARS Smokey Problemson

    I'm pretty tired of pieces like this, where any attempt to educate people about twitter (or any other internet fad) gets lost in a sea of sarcasm and self-important condescension. If you don't want to be on twitter, don't get a twitter account! But pieces like this just make one look like the internet-clueless fogies on tv we love to mock for saying “the facebook” or including the “http://” in every URL. Spending so much time acting too cool for something is tired, unfunny, and reeks of insecurity.

  • http://twitter.com/VAMPARS Smokey Problemson

    They changed the retweet format, I imagine because it was too easy to say things like “RT @SarahPalinUSA: Just hanging out with the family eating dead babies and smearing each other with poop” and fake retweets became indistinguishable from real ones. So just click “retweet” if you want to retweet the untouched message with the peace of mind that no one will think you're bullshitting, or click “Reply,” copy+paste the original tweet, stick a RT in front of it and add your comment or whatever.

  • http://twitter.com/VAMPARS Smokey Problemson

    I followed you.. I only made my account public recently so I don't have as many followers as a lot of my friends because I used to deny all the spambots and delete followers I didn't know or didn't want to see my tweets.. But recently the thing that's bumped up my followers the most (and I honestly don't give a shit, I talk to my friends on there and any other attention is incidental/ to be tolerated) is tweeting jokes and comments at semi-famous people. I've been going back and forth a lot recently with the hosts of my favorite local sports radio show for example, and they retweet me occasionally. I've also been retweeted by random followers-in-the-thousands accounts like das racist and some other bands. When someone famous-ish retweets you, you get followers. And if you stick to people that attract followers with the same interests as you (ie, dallas sports, indie/ underground hip hop for me), then you get followers you have something in common with, and interacting with them leads to more of the same.

  • http://twitter.com/Sscottie Scott Lewis

    ive been on twitter over a year and never tweeted a single tweet because why should i

  • Rans

    waiting for a published article about twitter that doesn't include “in 140 characters or less”

  • Sandra

    nice post on noobs

  • http://twitter.com/chandeeliers Ng Lay Peng

    This sounds like a “How to be a Twitter poseur” piece instead. Sorry.

  • Sam

    The article was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

  • ereuy
  • Girlfran

    Umm this conversation is too serious

  • http://twitter.com/VAMPARS Smokey Problemson

    Awesome contribution bro

  • marc

    are you kinda “dickish” in all of your replies?

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