Don’t Just Retweet it – Personalize it!

Marni Weinberg - September 2, 2010

For many, Twitter has become the go to place to obtain real time information by people all over the world. If you like what you see and/or want to share it with others you can “retweet” it. 

Rather than just retweeting a link, blog post, article, etc. why not personalize it a little? In other words, what exactly about the item (you are about to retweet) struck you enough to pass it along? What facts, statistics, and/or data did you find to be the most helpful and informative? Was there a quote or paragraph that really stood out to you? If so, share that information with your Twitter world, as well!

I think it helps make you sound more like an actual person with real thoughts and feelings, rather than just an automatic responder (if you will) when you take the time to mention something specific in your retweet.

A few options I have seen as of late are:

• Including a hashtag within your tweet to ensure that those who are interested in the topic you are retweeting can actually find it. Most social media dashboards like HootSuite, TweetDeck, Twirl, etc. allow for you to follow any hashtags that are of particular interest to you.
• Try summarizing to indicate what you feel is the most relevant information to share with others.
• Provide your thoughts and feedback on the article. It might be that while you find it interesting, you do not entirely agree and it would be good to make that clear when you retweet.
• Reference a specific line or phrase that you feel is most important.
• Give a good ole’ fashioned shout out to the person who sent you the article in the first place, by simply saying “thank you for passing this along @XXXX.”

Retweeting is considered a compliment and in my opinion, personalizing the retweet makes it even more of a compliment. Twitter is a great way to stay current with anything and everything in real time. As Twitter states on their home page, Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.