Earlier this month, I reviewed who I was following on Twitter and reduced the number by roughly forty percent. In the process, I was shocked by how many talented and accomplished professionals had allowed their tweets to descend into a chronic state of irrelevancy. As an example, the vast majority of tweets from one highly regarded startup CMO were boasts of his accomplishments in an online game. Another senior executive’s Twitter feed was a litany of delight without any detail about how many interesting people he was meeting at various conferences.
Used wisely, a Twitter account can be a powerful tool in one’s professional arsenal. But too many otherwise business-savvy people tweet with little insight into how they appear to those who read those tweets. On the one hand, the guidelines below are merely common sense. But on the other hand, there is clearly significant confusion over how to leverage this social media juggernaut. Too many professionals seem to be following the guidance or behaviors of others without fully understanding what they are actually doing or why. The eight “rules” below provide basic guidance a professional needs to get back on track and to stay relevant.
