I’ve been on Twitter for about 8 years now. I’ve done a lot of reading and retweeting and sharing and had lots of conversations. I’d pretty much done everything I could imagine doing on Twitter.
That is, except “like” a tweet.
 |
I’m sure most of you remember that before it was “liking” tweets what you did was click on the star and it saved it as Favorites. In the original version, saving something to Favorites was like you were bookmarking links with the intention by Twitter that you’d go back and read them later on. I’ve never been the bookmarking type, so I never used it.
At some point it started taking on a different significance, which is why Twitter switched it over last November. Even though there was a firestorm (because most people hate change) Twitter announced after a week that based on their algorithms it was 6% more popular than Favorites; how about that?
I never used it, never even thought about it… until last week, Wednesday, when a local favorite Syracuse University former basketball player named Dwayne “Pearl” Washington passed away from a brain tumor. He was 52, and even though the entire community knew he was sick it was still a shock when it happened. He was not only a great college player and a high school legend, but he was the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet, and even I had to about the one encounter I had with him, along with hundreds of others.
There were all sorts of tributes to him on Twitter, not only from locals but from former college & NBA players and stories all over the place. I shared some of those stories on my social media sites… and then I liked a tweet. Then I liked 3 others. It’s amazing that it took this to get me to like a tweet because I didn’t even add any favorites to Twitter when Michael Jackson passed away… my favorite artist of all time; that’s saying something.
I’ve been thinking about the concept of social media sharing since last Wednesday. I’ve written about how I market on Twitter, which includes a lot of sharing of articles and posts by others. I’ve stepped up the game on that one since I wrote that post, but I’ll save that for another time.
Part of me realizes that liking a tweet is sharing with the person who posted the tweet that you enjoyed what they shared. However, I haven’t been able to figure out if anyone else sees it. I’ve looked on Twitter and Tweeten (since Tweetdeck changed) and on Tweetcaster on my other technology and have never seen in any of my other streams where someone just liked a tweet. I see when they retweet it but that’s about it.
I like sharing other people’s content, and overall I think I’m pretty good at it. More people need to think about sharing the content of others as part of their own marketing strategy, as well as sharing some of their own stuff. I see way too many people doing either one or the other but not doing both all that well. Because of that I’m going to mention the names of 3 people who are the best in the business when it comes to sharing… at least based on what I’ve noticed to this point.
First we have Donna Merrill of Donna Merrill Tribe. She’s a serial sharer of a lot of my posts, and not just on Twitter. Shew as the first person to share a post of mine on LinkedIn, which I have to admit I’d never even thought about doing. She shares my posts on all the social media sites I participate on and is always graceful in what she has to say about the posts she shares. She’s even shared posts of mine from my business blog, which most people don’t even visit. Thanks Donna!
Second on the list we have Sherman Smith of Sherman Smith’s Blog. Sherman shares my posts on Twitter, Google Plus & LinkedIn. He always offers his own opinion about a post when he shares it; that’s pretty cool so thanks to you Sherman!
Third, last but certainly not least is the share queen herself, Adrienne Smith. Adrienne shares more of my posts than anyone else alive, and she was the first person to ever share a post of mine on Facebook… which freaked me out (in a good way) because once again I’ve never thought about sharing almost any of my own posts in my general feed. If I were the type I’d bow my head to her and her sharing mastery… instead I’m thanking her here; thanks Adrienne!
Are you sharing what other people are creating? Are you doing anything so they know you’re doing it? What do you think of it as a marketing strategy, or even just as a way to show appreciation for what others are writing or creating? Let me know, and of course visit my friends above. Who knows; they might even like it somewhere. 🙂
I’ve “liked” things before just in case I wanted to go back someday. Actually a few times I have gone back to read more, but usually they’re just there to accumulate for someday. As we know, that kind of someday rarely comes.
I do share posts and other things that I’d like others to see. Usually I don’t let the source know that I’ve done this, but apparently a lot of them do know and send me thank yous which is always a nice thing to get.
I mostly see Twitter as a quick fly by thing to do without too much thinking or effort. I guess that’s the point of it for the most part. If I had to put forth too much effort then I’d tweet a whole lot less than I do now.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
I think it’s all about intention Arlee. For years I only saw it as a place for fun, but in the last couple of years I’ve realized I could also use it to drive traffic to my site and to improve engagement, as that part of Twitter started to drop as more people had tens of thousands of other people they were connected to. I’m not gonna lie, I really want lots and lots of people to know about my blogs! 🙂
@Mitch Mitchell, amen to that and this is the message I’ve tried to proselytize to my readers over the years though I’m always stunned–or maybe more appropriately annoyed–when people say they are not really interested in numbers. If they aren’t interested in readers why even bother with a public blog?
I’ve backed off a bit in trying to go out of my way to promote posts even though I still dream of having that magic amazing post that goes viral–or at least bigger than any other I’ve done. Maybe I’ll go back to striving for the big numbers one day, but for now I’m in a comfortable zone. I still need to find my special message that attracts readers and sharing in a hugely magnetic way. I don’t plan to give up, but I’m not gonna stress trying to get the numbers either.
Twitter, Facebook, and whatever all add up, but in the end it’s mostly about engaging content as well as a few little breaks in reaching the right people now and then.
Thanks for what you do!
I’m with you on the numbers things Arlee, although I think some people probably blog just to get things out of their heads. lol Since I’m trying to build up my numbers organically for business persons, I need to have a mix of sharing my content along with trying to engage others. That and I just love Twitter! 🙂
Hey Mitch,
I don’t believe I’ve ever liked a tweet either. I guess in the beginning I wasn’t up on all of that and I just always felt that sharing and conversing were the best ways for me. Still to this day I’ve never liked a tweet.
Not sure what you use but I use Tweetdeck so if you have a mention list then you’ll see who has liked the tweets you’ve shared, etc. I’ve never understood why if I’m chatting with someone then someone who has absolutely nothing to do with that conversation would like that tweet.
I didn’t know I was the first person to share one of your posts on Facebook. How cool is that, I feel so special. I also appreciate the thank you here Mitch but I just love sharing good stuff and you have plenty of that to go around. As you know, it’s always my pleasure.
So sorry to hear of the loss of Mr. Washington. There are so many people who go way before their time I believe. I’m sure he was a pretty great guy too.
Happy tweeting Mitch and as you can probably imagine, I’ll be sharing this one too!
~Adrienne
Adrienne, always glad to highlight you. I now use Tweeten, which looks and works just like Tweetdeck, only I don’t have to use it in my browser, which I was totally opposed to. I see all those same things you do; I just don’t see them on the phone, as there’s no app for Tweetdeck or Tweeten, and I hate using the Twitter app.
Pearl was a very humble guy, and even near the end he never asks anyone for anything, so having people set up a funding to collect money to help pay some of his health care costs shows how much he touched people. Heck, it made me like a couple of tweets! 🙂
Hi Mitch,
He He…I am a serial sharer. Thanks for the mention, I appreciate it. When I read a blog post that is good….like yours…I share it all over the place. And why not? It doesn’t take much time to press all those buttons and share on different platforms.
I must admit I really stink when it comes to Twitter, so If I’m not thanking you sorry for that. I do share posts there, but don’t get into many conversations.
Maybe it’s because I do have more followers on other sites that I like to share stuff on because of the KLT factor. “If Donna shares it…it must be good” kind of thing.
It only makes sense to me that if I get all excited about a good blog post, share it to all my peeps.
I always enjoy your blog posts my friend.
Thanks again for the mention,
-Donna
Donna, I need to be thanking you more for the sharing you already do… and you did share this one on Twitter also. 🙂 I do share a lot but there are places I haven’t shared things, like on Facebook, because I know the people I’m connected to won’t be interested… heck, I can’t get them to look at anything I do! lol But Twitter… I’m a monster sharer!
I have been tweeting for the past 1 year. First i started my account and thought it not the place for me. Nobody giving attention to my tweets. I thought its for famous people.
But as time movies on and I made it to a better place and now my tweets are flying. Expressing in less words is some times hard but powerful too.
Santhosh, the 140 character thing is kind of in line with the way writing for blogs is different than writing books. It makes us look at things differently depending on our audience. Do you feel you have a nice mix between sharing your own stuff and that of others?
Hey Mitch,
I’d been “favoriting and liking” tweets for a while. But not everyone does. It’s ok, we all have our ways.
I actually don’t spend much time on Twitter to see posts to be honest. I don’t use the apps, so I miss most of what’s shared. I always Tweet from the post itself and respond to someone if I’m aware I’ve been mentioned.
I agree about sharing. We (those of us who blog) are one another’s biggest supporters (from my personal observations). That’s part of what I love about this community.
I also agree with who you’ve mentioned here as far as sharing goes. They are all “serial sharers” (love that term) and I couldn’t thank them enough if I wanted to, so I just return the favor 🙂
I’ll be sharing this one now.
And you did! Thanks Dana, and of course I enjoy sharing your posts and commenting on them also. You’re right, we bloggers really are our own community and it works nicely if we can find ways to support each other in this small way.
HI Mitch
Fascinating to read your back story.
Happy to see you’re walking every day. Walking has been part of my daily routine for 30+ years now, although to be fair I don’t walk 10 miles a day (it’s more like 1 mile or so). I love it, even when it’s as hot as hades, as it is in Asia where I currently live.
As for the lack of sleep issue, I couldn’t function on 3 hours a night. And you’re dead right – it has a significant impact on our ability to focus for any length of time – it’s a productivity killer, for sure. Have you tried to have afternoon naps?
Interesting to read your comments regarding your mother. I too am an only child so when she started to deteriorate there was only me to look after her. Not that I minded – it was a privilege to do it. A side benefit was that I learnt more about myself and my capacity to give without strings. She died nearly three years ago, but her memory lives on.
I’m not going to add much to your segment on blogging except to say that I also read plenty of blog posts each week. I also share them (if good), and usually leave a valuable comment (well, I hope it is!). I believe in blog commenting as a tactic – an excellent way to build relationships with others of like mind. You mentioned Adrienne Smith – sadly she has now vacated the blogging space. I miss her already.
Thanks, Mitch!
Kim
Kim, Adrienne is still the big connector, even though she’s giving up blogging for now. I hope she comes back some day; I’m holding out hope.
I take naps when I can but it doesn’t happen every day. I need to plan my schedule better so I can afford to do it because it often gives me a nice boost… when it’s controlled.
I think we all forget that life does impact our blogging, our business and everything else it is we try to do. Some of it can’t be controlled while some of it definitely can be controlled but we don’t want to do it. I need to control more of those parts I can because I have a lot of things to take care of. Luckily, to this point none of that affects my blogging.