What Your Twitter Page Says About You!
When you use Twitter on a daily basis you get to dig through A LOT of different profiles. Typical scenario: you see an interesting tweet that was retweeted by someone you follow, you click on the author’s name – voilà - you just stumbled on someone new that could be potentially interesting. That’s the moment when you scan someone’s Twitter page briefly and decide, if you want to include that person in your daily stream of tweets or not. And did you know, that you’ve only got about 3 seconds to impress with your Twitter page? So here are the categories I fit a Twitter page into quite quickly, along with the probability that I’ll add them (on a scale of 1-5, 1 being very low):
1. The Twitter newbie
Default background/layout, no profile picture, “hello world” as the first experimental tweet, 0-100 followers, almost no personal information added.
Probability of adding: 1
2. The common joe
Profile picture of a 40 something man/woman smiling, description says “full-time dad/mum”, background shows a sun-set picture taken during the last holiday trip; tweets quotes mostly. About 100-200 followers.
Probability of adding: 1
3. The Twitter addict
Created his account about 3 years ago, profile information fully filled out and mostly even containing the term “Twitter addict”. Most tweets come from a mobile Twitter client, a lot of them are direct conversation. Many self created lists. Has about 10k+ followers and tweets 6+ times a day.
Probability of adding: 2-3
4. The myspace migrant
Clustered background, flashy profile picture. Too much color. Direct link to Myspace profile. A lot of direct conversation including ASCII-pictures and exclamation marks. Shares a lot of pictures and videos. Doesn’t like to type out words and uses abbreviations instead (some of which don’t make sense). High tweet frequency; about 1000-3000 followers.
Probability of adding: 1
5. The self-proclaimed social media expert
There are over fifteen thousand self-proclaimed social media experts right now on Twitter. Usually their Twitter page includes the same profile picture you can find on their LinkedIn business profile and the description includes fields of expertise/professional achievments. Heavy usage of Hashtags, Twitter language and strong participation in events like Follow Friday. God forbid, someone could think they weren’t Twexperts! Usually 8k+ followers.
Probability of adding: 1-2
6. The fake millionaire
Either a dollar sign or a person throwing money bills up in the air as profile picture. Link to some sort of marketing scam site. The description screams “ADVERTISE BEING PUSHED IN YOUR FACE”. High tweet frequency. Only commercial tweets with a link in each of them. Managed to get about 1000-2000 followers by using auto-follow-bots.
Probability of adding: 0
7. The corporate blog extension
Profile which is integrated into corporate identity of an otherwise established company or site. Usually used in conjunction with the company’s blog, receiving updates automatically when a post is made. Low posting frequency and rarely engaging into conversation.
Probability of adding: 2
8. The Twitter celebrity
Either known as a celebrity in real life, or an account belonging to a very known site like Techcrunch or Mashable, or meanwhile established by participating in the network for a long time. Usually between 20k – 1 Mio+ followers with mid-high tweeting frequency. Check this list to see some of them.
Probability of adding: 3-5
9. The female zone
Pink. Pastel colors. Cute, nice, lovely background. Usually attractive profile picture. 500-2000 followers. Tweeting about their day and what they do currently.
Probability of adding: 1
10. The unusual guy
Doesn’t fit any of the above described stereo-types. Unique, with interesting profile picture and background. Description makes you read it twice and think about it longer than 3 seconds. Usually interesting or funny tweets that do not revolve around the person itself. Sometimes tweets make no apparent sense either though. Doesn’t try to attract followers.
Probability of adding: 4
11. The weirdo
Tries desperately to be like the above described type or simply gives you the creeps after you look at his/her profile picture. Usually less than 300 followers. Tries to engage into personal conversation a lot. Misspells frequently.
Probability of adding: -1
12. The established
Tweeps that use the network since quite some time, have a fully filled out bio with either a personal picture or a caricature of themselves. Tweet about 1-3 times a day and have managed to gather 2000+ followers over time. Nothing spectacular; sometimes a useful or interesting link shared. Sometimes funny.
Probability of adding: 2-3
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Girl Goes Tech (GGT) is about a 26-year-old, female tech-addict exploring her geeky side and writing about social media, mobile trends and applications.