Don’t be a tweetjacker

In today’s world we are all being pushed to be “ninjas” and “rockstars” in our fields. One of the ways we are expected to demonstrate our knowledge is via social media, namely on Twitter. Credibility in the twitosphere is earned by having a large number of followers. Growing a sizable follow base happens organically through having a high number of tweet impressions.

To show anyone watching that we are actively engaged in our fields, a lot of us like to share interesting and thought stimulating articles that we read, and sometimes, author ourselves. When someone retweets something we sent out, there is a sort of self-validation. All of that fades when a tweetjacker enters the scene. You see a tweetjacker is that person who sees something super cool sent out by another user but rather than quoting the source where he saw that cool thing, he “repurposes” the message and sends it out as his own. Effectually the tweetjacker has taken all of the clout for himself, which is akin to taking credit for someone else’s work.

The ironic thing is, after a while, we know who you tweetjackers are. You see many of us actually follow the same sources you do and saw the original content. So while the tweetjacker might think that he is building himself up, the true effect is that real insiders begin to identify you as someone who is taking without giving back. What ends up happening is that the tweetjacker’s online reputation is more damaged than enhanced. It’s pretty sad when you consider that all of this could have been avoided.

There are several ways to share content that is not yours without being a tweetjacker. The most well know of course is the retweet. Its quick, easy and shows that you are invested in a topic without making it all about you. Another way is to use the quote feature. Quotes are great because they let you add a comment to the original message and they list the Twitter handles of both the original author and the commentator. The problem with quotes is that if the original tweet was long there may not be enough space to include the response.

This leads a third method of giving credit to the original tweet author, use the phrase “via @____” to cite that source. Using via will only takes up a few characters. In some instances it may even start a dialogue with the original author. The effect of using it is engagement with the community. That engagement is going to put you in a much better standing than you would be in as a tweetjacker.

Try to use these simple tools. Don’t be a tweetjacker.

What other methods do you use to give tweet creed? Feel free to share your ideas.