Twitterspeak: Thoughts from a Relative Twitter Newbie

For those of us who get a kick out of trying to squeeze complete thoughts into 140 characters, Twitter is not only a great real-time communications tool, but a blast in which to engage. I also got a kick out of Grammar Girl's Strunk & Twite: An Unofficial Twitter Style Guide, which offers some linguistic tips on the best ways to Tweet. And, although they're not really grammar-related, I have some Twitter tips of my own I'd like to add:

• For the love of all things holy, enough already with letting us know you've got something great coming: "Finishing up my next blog post, you're going to love it!... Next post almost ready... Just put the last period on the last sentence of my new blog post -- it's going up soon!" Just let us know when it's there.
• And when you let us know, tell us once. Not over. And over. And over. Most of us don't have Short Term Memory Loss.
• If all your Tweets direct us to your website or blog EVERY time, it gets a little boring. As much as we all understand it, it still gets a little boring.
• When you're Tweeting a link, tell us why. Just having the link (even if it is coming from YOU) just isn't enough to get us to click with all the other tiny URLs we've got vying for our attention.
• Be patient with Twitter newbies. It takes time to figure out the lingo, like RT and those bizarre pound-sign phrases. Remember, questions, however naive or ridiculous they seem, are what open our minds and move us forward.