MarcLucas

According to my last Twitter search this revelation has been going around the Twitterverse for the last 9 days.

The majority vote seems to be going with 120 but  Iconic88 has suggested that “100 is the new 140 for massive retweetlove”, I tend to agree with the “Chief Happiness Officer on Twitter, Friend, Ideas Evangelist, Relationships Engineer & Foodie” that 100 is the way to go.

“What are you babbling on about?” I hear you say.  “Retweets.” I say.

Retweets: the act of forwarding an interesting, inspiring, useful or downright embarrassing Tweet to all of the wonderful people who have taken the trouble to follow you.  Here is the thing: if you use your full quota of 140 characters to write the most witty and potentially bandwidth-breaking viral Tweet, you risk having it ruined by well meaning Twits (meant in the nicest possible way) who have to edit your prose to allow for the “RT @GeniusTwit” that is added to the front of the Tweet (and think about what then happens if their retweet is then retweeted again . . . and possibly again!**).  Not forgetting that your followers may also wish to use a few characters to share their praise and adulation for your words of wisdom.

A message sent to a friend this morning sums it up I think, “I just found out something new about Twitter: I can’t send a direct message to someone who isn’t following me.  Anyhow this is what you would have had via Twitter if you were following me: “Re: request to retweet – 120 is the new 140 . . . have to allow for the “RT @xxxx . . . “”  I don’t mind doing a quick edit but I bet many others are less sweet natured and for those that will edit you risk having your copy mutilated.” *

So, if you want to feel the love from having your Tweets passed from Twit to Twit throughout the Twittersphere . . .

Keep it short,

keep it sweet,

give your friends the chance to Retweet.

Or as a well timed Tweet from tewy that just arrived on my TweetDeck says, “say less, do more“.

Best,

Marc.

* For those interested in how the conversation continues I attach it here:

[11:41:50] Wise Friend: I am following you!
[11:42:25] Marc Lucas: Twitterdeck must be playing silly buggers – I’ll turn off the paranoia now.
[11:42:37] Wise Friend: ha ha
[11:42:40] Marc Lucas: Tweetdeck
[11:46:06] Marc Lucas: Whilst I’ve got you here: do you have anyone you could recommend to adjust a couple of WordPress templates for me?  No favours involved, cold hard cash paid for services rendered – not a big job but might include some messing about with graphics files as well as the template code so may need two different somebodies.
[11:46:44] Wise Friend: are they big fixes or minor stuff? i can take a look if you want
[11:46:52] Wise Friend: I accept payment in beer only

I’m sure you can see why I like this chap!

Sources:

“100 is the new 140 for massive retweetlove“: Iconic88.

“120 is the new 140“: Stephanie Wonderlin @ Socialite Marketing.

“How To: Not Suck At Writing Tweets“: Diana Adams @ Bit Rebels.

“With Twitter Think 120, not 140“: Sara Bonert @ active rain.

**Correction:

Having just retweeted a retweet I notice that the list of retweeters is not added to the front of the Tweet, only the original author is credited with the love.