Credit: Sociable Boost
Twitter is not a one-way street. Your content gets retweeted by a follower, and they get crickets? Thanking followers should be something you incorporate into your daily tweets.
Some folks think “thanks for the RT” is just noise and clutters the stream. Others think it’s a hassle and are on the fence about whether it’s good practice or not. In my blog post last week “How Not To Use Triberr,” the issue of thanking followers popped up in comments.
Adam Toporek who writes Customers That Stick and Ralph Dopping, the Canadian architect who writes The View From Here, both suggested that acknowledging followers for a blog post retweet was not a practice they thought they should engage in.
So, I politely disagreed and thanked them for the idea for today’s post and hope they come back to lend a few cents below (and you, too, of course!).
Two Caveats
Before I share my reasons below, let’s review a few things…
- There are MANY ways to thank someone for their acknowledgment. You can comment on their blog in return; you can RT their RT with a thanks at the end; you can follow them on Twitter and say thanks; you can introduce them to someone else in your stream to ensure they’ve met; you can #FollowFriday; you can make up your own way to show appreciation!
- Peeps like A-lister bloggers and authors who have tens of thousands of Twitter followers are unable to thank or acknowledge mostly anyone. The stream is so unmanageable especially when you’re publishing top-quality content. I get that, and I don’t expect community leaders to attempt to do a one-off thanks; not possible. Thus, what’s below is for we who are in building mode – newbies, mid-tier and less-than-12-month bloggers, and peeps who are growing their Twitter stream.
8 Twitter Tips
Here are my 8 reasons why I believe you should thank peeps for their engagement, acknowledgment, and ‘raderie on Twitter:
1. Twitter helps you build community. When you thank someone for an RT, a comment, a compliment, a supportive gesture, etc. it shows you’re paying attention, listening and appreciate someone for their time to engage.
2. When someone engages with your blog by sending along your content, that means they’ve taken time to either read, comment, share, and take the first step to build a relationship. Isn’t a “thanks for that” peanuts when you think of your content being shared by a relative stranger?
3. When you don’t know someone who has RT’d a post of yours, it offers you the opportunity to address them by name, say, “nice to tweet you,” and thank them at the same time. You just accomplished a trio of good community.
4. What profession are you in? If you’re in a specialty niche, customer service, like Adam is, then you ought to be building community with like- minded customer-service peeps. If one happens to find your blog and you speak the same language, then all the more reason to acknowledge them and say thanks.
5. Your stream can never be littered unless you’re spamming it with rotten content. Who is the judge of what litter looks like in a Twitter stream? Has anyone told you that you put out garbage…that a “thank you for acknowledging me with an RT” is trash? Absolutely not. Gratitude is not litter; it humanizes your brand and makes you personable.
6. Why would you regard “thanks so much” as noise? Noise and clutter…hmm. I mentioned that I was choosing not to re-tweet posts from bloggers writing about Halloween family dinners and baby products. These topics are not for my brand or my community. Were I to consistently retweet these to my followers, this would be regarded as noise and a dilution of my brand.
7. Are you self-employed and building a company? If Ralph is an architect blogging for some fun and not to boost his business (because he works for a firm), and I’m in B-to-B social media marketing and PR, then absolutely you betcha I’m going to thank people for acknowledging my content. When someone RTs my content, I recognize immediately if they are new to my stream. That’s how tuned in I am to my followers. Because my followers are organic I have had measured growth, and that’s enabled me to monitor the stream well.
8. What are your goals as a blogger? If you want to be an influencer, thought leader, earn more comments, build a community, monetize and sell products, earn credibility, get ranked, etc. then you need subscribers, right? A thank you to those who pass along your content seems minimal when it comes to these larger goals.
What did I miss; do you agree or disagree?
In general, I agree with thanking people who share my content. The one time I didn’t thank people occurred in conjunction with Triberr. I had a guest post hit Triberr and received well over 100 tweets of the thing. At that point, I no longer knew if the person tweeting the post actually had read it or simply had approved the post. I gave up on thanking everyone who shared the post. I don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but there you have it.
@Erin F. That happened to me once, too, Erin. And, I thanked them all. When it was my birthday on Facebook, I sat there 1.5 days answering everyone with something; Gini Dietrich did too (said it took her 3 days).
Would you thanks peeps on Facebook instead because they’re “friends?” Or, is Twitter just getting short shrift because you don’t know the people?
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Erin F. Gini Dietrich I’m with you – when I got birthday wishes, I responded to each one individually. If people are going to take the time to do that, I think it’s important to respond. Just my two cents.
@lauraclick @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Gini Dietrich I respond to all birthday wishes, too. Does that mean I’m playing favorites with Facebook and Twitter? Maybe. I’ve never thought of it in that manner, but I can’t figure out how to explain my thought process.
@lauraclick @Erin F. Gini Dietrich I wonder if it’s b/c FB “Friends” are truly that…except now, I’m getting more friends requests from “strangers” not IRL friends? That may be the difference.
So, Erin! You got a double standard going on eh? LOL
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @lauraclick I get a lot of friend requests from strangers, too. I rarely accept them.
I don’t think that is the difference. I try my best to be kind and grateful. I feel awful now. 🙁
@Erin F. @lauraclick Wait…Erin! This is NOT about making anyone guilty about how they engage. This is to offer up other perspectives and show different ways! There is NO right or wrong answer.
Didn’t I suggest above “where do you work?” Is this your hobby or is this your profession? It’s MY PROFESSION! Bit of a difference, and it all depends on your interests/goals.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Yes, well, you’re dealing with a perfectionist. I still feel awful. I want to treat people the way I would like to be treated.
Is what my hobby or profession? Are we talking about social media or something else?
@Erin F. Are you my daughter? She puts so much pressure on herself, and It kills me. You’re killing me…I never wanted to make you feel badly about anything! Sorry, Erin…please don’t!
I was more alluding to a profession outside of social media and PR; you’re smack in it…you’re working for a company now? Or are you doing this for your own company? I thought you got a new job in Texas?
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Haha! Despite my claim to be a recovering perfectionist, that part of me sometimes rules and ruins the day.
I don’t write about social media practices at my company. I can talk to social media and how it plays a part in telling one’s story, but I rarely get into the nitty-gritty. It dilutes my aims, and I have enough content fodder without adding social media to the mix.
My day job has nothing to do with social media. There isn’t a lot of buy in at the job or from anyone in the industry (technology hardware) for that matter.
@Erin F. XO, Erin! #That.Is.All.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @lauraclick @Erin F. Gini Dietrich I haven’t met any of you in real life, but I believe that, with the exception of lauraclick, we all follow one another on FB, too. I’ve found that some of my Twitter friends are more engaging that my IRL friends, because they just don’t have the time. IRL friends are mostly not into Social Media, like Twitter/blogger friends. IRL friends don’t read blogs, or tweet, or BlogJack.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Erin F. I’m a big fan of X’s and O’x, but I never remember which one is kisses and which one is hugs?
@ExtremelyAvg @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Erin F. Gini Dietrich Brian – consider that officially fixed! Following you now. 🙂
@ExtremelyAvg @lauraclick @Erin F. Gini Dietrich You’re so right! I now get texts at 10 p.m Saturday night from long-lost friends, and I laugh.
@ExtremelyAvg @Erin F. I think they are backwards. The X is a kiss but I think it should be a hug.
@ExtremelyAvg @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing X’s are hugs. 🙂
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @ExtremelyAvg Oh, maybe I’m wrong. X’s are kisses? I thought they were hugs because the arms of the X’s are like the arms of people.
@Erin F. @ExtremelyAvg Oh, good.
@Erin F. @ExtremelyAvg Wait, I thought you knew? You don’t? I always thought an X was a kiss…I am NOT going to Wikipedia to find the answer, darn it.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I don’t have a good answer to your question.
@Erin F. @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I was talking about hugs with my friend Sherri, she has started going to the left while hugging, because then the two hearts are closer together.
This seems to me to be on the cutting edge of hug technology. Hugs for all!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Birthdays are so much fun now with social media. Why wouldn’t you want to thank everyone?! It’s FUN!
Thanks for the tips Jayme and thanks for singling me out. I hope only good things come from both. I do have to clarify a few things. First, I am an Interior Designer working in an Architectural firm as a leadership professional. Whew!
Second, as much as I suggested that as your stream grows it becomes increasingly difficult to thank everyone I do thank people for sharing my work but not always. How do I decide? Well, so far, if I know the person I do and if don’t I usually do as well and up to now THAT has worked. As my stream builds this is becoming increasingly more difficult and I am equal opportunity kind of guy. I am struggling with who I should include or not and that is not in my DNA. What’s a boy to do?
At some point things have to change and we need to become a little more strategic about our stream, right? I love your suggestions about engaging a respondent via other ways and to m the best way is to visit their world and engage there. The dilemma is time and committment. So, there I am. Stuck. I WANT to acknowledge everyone but I can’t. Call me a whine if you want. Wouldn’t be the first time.
I will plodded along and find my way surely and if I miss someone off I will do my best to fix it. I just hope I don’t miss YOU off. 🙂
Awesome post.
@rdopping Had to pick on you guys, but’s a valid topic. And, when I went looking for a graphic, there was that woman’s post in 2011 about the trend for people NOT to thank for content. Call me old school Ms. Manners…some sort of acknowledgment is critical.
Was just speaking with my mom last night about the fact that neither of my teenage nieces say hello when we appear at a family function. Ever. It’s mind boggling.
If someone takes time to RT WITH a special comment? You bet they deserve something in return; that’s huge…especially in this day and age. Want me to adjust your title above? Guess I ought to be accurate, eh?
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing No need to change the title. We will see if anyone reads my comment (other than you)….;-)
BTW, I don’t mind being picked on. Rather enjoy the attention (as long as it isn’t negative, per se).
I’m way more likely to continue following someone on Twitter or reading their blogs, if they interact with me in some way. When they choose not to even notice someone has taken time out of their day to like/RT/favorite their content, it seems as if they simply do not care or might be above a simple thank you (reactionary? Sure. But I’m human). It’s understandable when one receives hundreds of RT’s or even 10s of RT’s, but even an occasional thank you to someone who continues to support you online, well, it makes all the difference in the world.
Great post!
@DesignSpikeUSA Good Morning! Thanks for the validation. I have to say, though, coming from someone who thanks more than 25x per day, it’s manageable! You can easily develop a system without analyzing who you’re thanking. EVERYONE is deserving of a little love in return…now, if I keep getting RTs like last week b/c of that power sharing tribe…ohmygoodness.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I hear what you are saying but I also believe that varying the way one thanks and the frequency encourages repeat behavior. Your followers would not attenuate to your thanks rather they would be noticeable. But that’s just me and perhaps I am feeling cantankerous this Monday???
@DesignSpikeUSA Maybe you’re not being cranky enough? I didn’t take that as crank at all!! Try harder next time, LOL!! Thanks for coming back! (How’s that?)
@DesignSpikeUSA On occasion I’ve written guest posts for Spin Sucks and have received between 35 – 75 RTs. At that level, I was still able to thank everyone. Some of the thank you tweets may have come an hour or two after the fact, but I still made sure they knew how much I appreciated them spreading the word. Getting numbers greater than that, though, and I could certainly understand where it could become a problem.
@ExtremelyAvg I applaud you. There are times one simply can’t get all the thank you’s in. What has more weight (for me, let me own that) is the genuine response even if I do not get a thank you each and every time. It is the disingenuous tweeter/thanker that gets on my last nerve; someone who is just going through the motions.
@DesignSpikeUSA I try to write something unique to each person, but I’m sure that within the 75, there were some that were close to being repeats.
Totally agree, Jayme. If someone takes the time to share my content, I want to let them know I appreciate it. I think it’s a simple, yet important thing to do.
And, as you mentioned, there are plenty of ways to acknowledge people. If you can’t get around to thanking every tweet, you can certainly respond in the comments, which also means a lot to people. And, if you can’t get around to thanking EVERY person because you’re getting hundreds of tweets, I definitely think you should thank first-timers so they’ll be encouraged to come back and share again.
@lauraclick AGREE! This power sharing tribe I’m im and now another (b/c it’s SEO and social media) has so many new people sending out my content. I have to make the effort to greet them and say thanks and then follow. I am guilty if I don’t…taking 10 minutes to say TU in a few tweets w/ multiple peeps in the same content is not difficult. Great seeing you!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @lauraclick Do the people in the mega sharing tribe read the posts they are sharing or do they just share?
@ExtremelyAvg @lauraclick It’s a little of both; I can only use myself as an example…
@lauraclick I think it comes down to how much time you have. I try to be nice to everyone too but lately there are just too many to thank everyone. It’s a nice problem to have but also a management issue.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing BTW, the increase in shares has not done too much for my traffic. So, for example, last week Friday I posted and I got 40+ tweets up to now but my site traffic did not increase hardly at all which tells me I get approvals and shares to twitter but not much “real” engagement to the site.
A few new friends are great (like you @lauraclick ) and that what it is about for me but thought that most here should consider what the value is to them. For me it’s engagement in the comments and conversation. If Triberr brings that then I will put more into it.
Finding new and interesting people is a given for me but not necessarily from a singe source but more organically (i.e. through comments, on Facebook vs just Triberr). Anyway, there is no right way. Just your way.
Thanks for the share today and the tweet (proof in the pudding, that).
@rdopping It may not be immediately generating traffic, but it’s definitely helping build quality social links, which will slowly but surely help your search engine rankings.
@ScottAllen1 Thanks Scott. Lots to learn in this space…..as always.
I’m nowhere close to an A-list blogger, but I know some……….:).
Check out my twitter stream; I would like to thank all who share my posts, but it is ridiculous. First of all, I have over 1,000 tribe mates. Let’s say I share 1/2 of the posts in my Triberr stream…..and 1/2 of them acknowledge and thank me for doing so. Let’s take that original 1/2 and they tweet my posts; I already have in excess of 1,000 tweets potentially a day generated from my site. If I started thanking everybody it would be overwhelming (and some have dropped me already just for that reason).
I guess the solution is to get out of all those mega-tribes and just play in your own tribes, huh? I want to engage and acknowledge, but I haven’t figured out an effective way to do so and be in Triberr too.
Help me…….
@bdorman264 You’re not wrong. Since I joined that power sharing tribe a week ago, I’ve now been invited to 2 more tribes with more than 100 mates and about 3 other tribes. I am completely overwhelmed and know I shouldn’t accept … but what if there is really good content I should share?
Wait, WTheck am I talking about? We’re not in business to push tribes’ content; I get paid to deliver billable work, and, and, and…
Same sinking canoe, Bill!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @bdorman264 I want to join a Tribe, but not a mega tribe, a #BlogJacking tribe. That would be fun.
@ExtremelyAvg @bdorman264 I need to get Erica McArthur Allison to invite you to our tribe with Kaarina Dillabough . I don’t own it so I can’t invite you; it’s perfect for you. Meanwhile, have you joined, Triberr, Brian?
And, just sent you a Pinterest video…you’ll note you can add a PinIt button to your site and capture all the incredible images you’re taking!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @ExtremelyAvg @bdorman264 Hey, hey, hey from beautiful, sunny Vegas!!! Of course, I’ll invite Brian. Would love to have him. Bill, too if he wants. Just know that your fearless leader is now blogging once monthly (gasp) and rarely gets in Triberr to share, but her heart is still with you!!!
@ExtremelyAvg @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @bdorman264 Hey @Erin F. ask Mr. Meeks to join the mutineers! Send him an invite. THAT boy is as cool as school.
@EricaAllison @ExtremelyAvg @bdorman264 Thanks, Erica! Business or pleasure? You’re very missed in these here parts. When you coming back? Literally!
@EricaAllison @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @bdorman264 Yes, I’ve joined Triberr. 🙂
@ExtremelyAvg @EricaAllison @bdorman264 Looks like you should have a few invites coming, Brian! Stand by, and if not, please advise and I’ll ensure you get in somewhere soon!
@ExtremelyAvg There you are. An invitation to the Merry Mutineers. We’re about creativity and collaboration and thinking. Basically, a crew that serves my self-centered wishes. I’m the captain even if Jack Steiner says he’s one, too…
@Erin F. I’m very excited to be on board, Captain.
@Erin F. @ExtremelyAvg I’d take issue with Jack too.
@thejoshuawilner @ExtremelyAvg Hahaha! I’m in for it now.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @bdorman264 What do you mean sinking. 😉
@thejoshuawilner @bdorman264 You be the judge, Dude.
I have always believed in thanking people for RTs. It just seems like the friendly thing to do. I also like it when someone acknowledges my help with spreading their word, so I figure other people might like it, too.
@ExtremelyAvg I agree! And, I am working on getting you invited to our tribe…Thanks for coming over, Brian! i love your insight, humor and imagery!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing On Triberr I’m Brian D. Meeks, if that helps anyone find me. 🙂
I strive to thank people for RTs/sharing, but I don’t always bat a thousand. I think it’s courteous to do so, but if time doesn’t permit for each and every one, I know I’ll get around to it in a next go-round. I often like to add a little extra comment when I can, as well. Sometimes it’s a simple, “thanks: I appreciate it!” and sometimes I’m able to tie it into something else. For example, today someone RT’d my “do you give good voice” post, and I knew she was getting over laryngitis, so I was able to add “thanks, and I hope your voice is back in the pink!”As we get involved with more tribes with greater reach, I agree with @bdorman264 (ooooh, did I say that out loud?) that numbers can become unwieldy, and I think saying “thanks” without putting any thought into it is foolish. Like everything in life, it takes judgment, timing and sensibility to decide when and with what frequency we’re able to thank. My goal is to thank people far more often than not. Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough Dear Kaarina, You are a wise, wise woman. #ThatIsAll
@Erin F. #Thatmakesmyheartsing:)
@KDillabough @bdorman264 When there are fewer thanks to share, it’s simpler, easy and more genuine to go the extra step to personalize. I don’t agree that not putting thought into a thanks is foolish; heck, the step was taken to show appreciation in the first place, wasn’t it? And, I have to defend myself, here; I’d rather say thanks to many than thank you to none. Hmmm, maybe an empty thanks is because of multi-tasking? LOL
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @bdorman264 I think I need to elaborate: I mean when someone simply pushes a button without any thought, THAT’S foolish. And as far as the thanking many rather than none…we’re on the same page. I don’t think your thanks are empty, Jayme, otherwise you wouldn’t even be talking about it. A foolish or empty thanks is when it’s given with no thought, no meaning behind it. A simple “thanks” is more than sufficient when given with intention. We’re saying the same thing girlfriend:) Cheers! Kaarina
I’m thinking you haven’t been on Triberr very long. :-)My last post got 68 shares on Triberr, plus about double that from non-Triberr peeps. 200 retweets? Where would I even start? At about 7-8 names per tweet, it would take 25 tweets to thank everyone, and that seems excessive to me.
I’m thinking about maybe just doing a once a day, “Thanks to @Person1 @Person2 @Person3 and the other 96 people who RT’d me today.”
@ScottAllen1 Au contraire, Scott! Since the very first months…I haven’t been in power sharing tribes and for good reason! My Twitter stream has always been manageable as I’m on all day, but this morning I gave up doing a good job…I have a feeling I’m going to revise my thinking. It’s been 8 days only…
@ScottAllen1 Oh, P.S. thank you for coming over!
Jayme you got me thinking – thank you! It’s true I don’t tend to thank Triberr tweeters – I figure the fact that we share each other’s stuff is thanks in itself. But other people, yes, I do. I simply don’t get so many RTs that I can’t do it.
I’m surprised Adam doesn’t think thanking is something he should do. I’m gonna go look at the previous post’s comments to find out why; I’m sure there’s a good reason.
I just know it bugs me when I take the time to share someone’s content in a meaningful way, and I get no reaction, I get peeved. NOW, I don’t need a note every time. I have relationships with some people and they help me when I need, or when I comment on their blogs I am acknowledged, etc., I just hate the crickets of it!
@jennwhinnem I wonder if we need to give the really really biggies a break on that note? I have to agree, though. If I keep sharing and pingbacking and literally writing a post chock full of the person and I get nothing? It feels REALLY bad.
@jennwhinnem Jenn, see my comment above for clarification. I think perhaps I wasn’t clear in my original comments — you know how commenting goes. I am just questioning how all of this scales and whether at a certain point the Twitter stream stops providing value to followers. I am glad @ginidietrich commented above. It is good to see how someone who has that kind of turbo charged tweet volume manages the situation.
@Adam | Customer Experience @jennwhinnem @ginidietrich Scale is a big part of it, as is value. Agree Adam it’ll get to a point it’s unmanageable and that it’s obviously being gamed (someone keeps RTing you, hoping for a mention). But then if you’ve already rigged your stream to tweet dozens, hundreds of links and shares – does it matter for a few more ‘thanks’ tweets at the end of the day? Again, I don’t know from having big numbers so I’m just typing out loud. FWIW.
@jennwhinnem Hey, Jenn? If you get a moment to come back? I just deactivated that annoying social sharing plug in and installed this really cool floating thing on the left that glides along with you as you scroll. Will you please do a user test with a tweet and see if that is more acceptable to you? Thanks for letting me know it was annoying.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I’m so glad you asked. I see the extreme right edge of that floater bar showing and that’s it. No way to click on them. I’ll tweet you a screenshot.
@jennwhinnem I am testing and have reached the extent of my ability to install a floating plug in. I’m thinking I need to deactivate it as I also think it’s added too much load time to my site. I’m going to keep searching and will query some peers on which they’re using. Thanks for the feedback.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I really like the one Gini uses on Spin Sucks.
I used to DM a thanks to every, single peson who tweeted our blog posts. I had to stop that practice earlier this year because of time, travel, and the book tour. And, Triberr fills so much of my stream and so many people have their brains on automate when they approve the posts in their stream, it seems redundant to thank them every, single day. But, I spent five years doing it and advise it to everyone starting out on Twitter. It builds relationships, helps you network, and is just a nice thing to do.
@ginidietrich Ditto that, Gini. You spent five years doing it…I’ve spent three+ or ish…what you said; your very last line is golden.
And, thank you very much for being here amidst your zany, zany. I’m gonna come calling soon to get a grip on this from you!!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I’m not sure I have the answer.
@ginidietrich Shoot…I really don’t know what just happened.
Jayme, a thought-provoking post. I just looked back at what I said, and I think my position is slightly different than your interpretation above. I come from the thank everyone philosophy (hey, I even wrote a blog post about the power of the handwritten thank you note!), but at some point, the numbers become unsustainable in certain mediums. Right now, I am still at the questioning phase — once someone gets to a certain number of tweets, is it actually worse to thank everyone for every tweet — especially things like Triberr tweets? At what point, do the thank you’s not only lose value but actually degrade the quality of the experience for everyone.
One thing that seems certain based on the comments here is that there is a dichotomy based on each person’s Triberr experience. I wouldn’t have even questioned whether thanking was a good idea until my Triberr reach exploded by inclusion in 3 large tribes. To Bill’s point, the numbers can be overwhelming at some point. If you thank everyone who tweets you, and everyone you tweet thanks you — what does your twitter stream look like and is there room for real conversations?
I still default to saying thank you, as it is my nature, but numbers are numbers, and I know that it will not scale long term. I’ve been thinking about this very topic for years regarding email as well.
Okay, so I think you might have inspired a blog post, especially since this discussion has relevance to customer service in the digital age. I will save the rest of my thoughts for then!
@Adam | Customer Experience Thanks for your input, Adam; particularly since I picked on you. But, I stand by my conviction that you can never litter a stream unless you’re spamming it. If you think saying thank you is spam…well, I’m gonna need to think on that one.
Also, it’s been 8 days…I will not be able to thank everyone because all of a sudden my stream has exploded, too, with many, many RTs of about 4 posts running in parallel. I have no idea how to manage this. But, thank you is word one.
The ‘thank for the RT’ debate has changed over the years. I know some who thank privately via DM, others who don’t and still others who’ll do a group thanks at the end of the day when tweets are less heavy. Some consider it noise, others showmanship. I don’t really considered it either but then, it’s all about how you do it. Do I RT myself to show that so-and-so RT me? No. Do I bombard my stream? No, I don’t have that many RTs.
The issue w/ Triberr and chiming in on what @Adam | Customer Experience and @Erin F. mentioned, that’s totally different. All the ‘thanks’ would border on noise ala commenting communities or even ‘do follow’ groups – you’re part of the group sharing each other’s stuff anyway, it’d almost be spam. It’s very autobot and not engagement. IDK – if a Tribe member went out of their way to write a custom RT, put their comment in – then maybe yes a thanks is in order.
FWIW I thank people; and like @jennwhinnem don’t expect it all the time, but also don’t like being ignored. So, healthy balance and as always, YMMV.
@3HatsComm @Adam | Customer Experience @jennwhinnem Some people from my tribes do write custom tweets (Where is @bdorman264 ?). I thank him for those, but I’m less responsive to the automated ones. I remember I kept thanking a person who was sharing my posts and never heard a word in reply. I finally figured out that the tweets were on auto-pilot.
Since I’m running a tribe (crew), I get to decide how things move. I know we share each other’s content, but I made it clear at the outset that sharing was a perk, not an obligation. I’m also hoping to have some lively conversation and to create opportunities for collaboration with my crew. Sorry; I refer to it as a crew because we’re going with a pirate theme.
@Erin F. @3HatsComm @Adam | Customer Experience @jennwhinnem @bdorman264 Again, it’s about the relationships. When I thank someone and they tweet back, for sure! then I know I have a new someone to engage with. The relationship building is more challenging now; you don’t know if it’s an auto-tweet.
@3HatsComm @Adam | Customer Experience @Erin F. @jennwhinnem With this new tribe, the thanking has become huge…I will not be able to sustain it; that I know.
Meanwhile, it’s great to see you; what’s happening? Can I invite you to my new tribe, We Are PR? I think it’s time you come back home!!! LOL.
Thanks so much for this encouraging post! I still get a total kick out of seeing my content shared. After all I pour my heart and soul into it! And I live on Twitter so it’s only natural that I express how happy and thankful I am if you share my content!
@Tweet4OK You’re absolutely 100% spot on! You do put your heart and soul into your work and when someone says something to acknowledge that it makes it all worthwhile; yet, we’re not really writing for that reason, right? I live on Twitter, too; my fave channel. Let’s be sure we’re connected there! Thanks for being here.
Thanks for writing this post. I love reading great content and RT often. Unfortunately, I don’t receive too many “thanks for RT,” but it does not discourage me from retweeting good content. You give good reasons as to why we should acknowledge those who acknowledge us.
@rodeenas You’re so welcome and appreciate you stopping in! This new tribe has pushed my thanks probably to limits for followers, but I really don’t want to short shrift anyone for sharing…I am going to have to change that practice soon, though. I can’t keep up! That’s good, right? LOL…enjoy your day!
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