Bang the Table

Many organisations are coming to grips with the best ways to use Twitter. I’ve been meaning to share a few things I have learned but have been distracted by one thing or another for a while. This morning I’ve been reading the eGov blog put together by Craig Thomler in which he has highlighted guidelines from Mosman Council on Twitter use and also an article identifying that there are over a million Australian twitter users.

I’ve reproduced the Mosman Guidelines below because I think they will be of interest to many readers (though most of you probably also read Craig’s blog!).

The good practice points I would like to add are the following and are based entirely on my own stuff ups:

1. When you set up your twitter account you want followers. The easiest way to get these is to follow people. When I set up the Bang the Table account I followed lots and lots of people who subscribed to current affairs Tweets within Australia. I figured that, because following someone doesn’t oblige them to follow you, this was harmless enough. WRONG! Actually it is construed as spamming. I don’t really know why and have not been able to get anyone at Twitter to talk to me about this. Anyhow – what I learned is that you should be careful. Your online reputation is precious. I think the best way to get noticed is to use your blogs or websites to generate follows. They will come. Over time we have gathered over 800 followers. About half of these came on board early but the others have come since and,I believe, the later ones have come because they want to hear from us not just because they have software that arranges for them to blindly follow all their followers.
2. You may be using Twitter to broadcast messages but be sure to check your @youraccount area regularly because many people will assume this to be a 2 way comms mechanism.
3. Don’t allocate 30 minutes a day in one chunk to Twitter. If you just post loads of repeat tweets it annoys the hell out of people who open their Twitter to find a solid wall of your posts. People will stop following you and I think it’s kind of rude. It’s much better to post occasionally through the day or week. Restrain yourself. Write those tweets down and wait an hour before putting out the next one.

Ok that’s it for my pearls of tweet wisdom. Perhaps there is a twittiquette guide out there somewhere. It would be interesting to hear other rules. What annoys you?

Here’s the Mosman guidelines. Mosman, incidentally, have on their staff Bernard De Broglio – someone who has a fantastic insight into online engagement and social networking and is one of the reasons Mosman are one of the leaders of Local Government practice in this regard. Bernard’s blog is worth checking out – a site dedicated to finding and photographing every ‘point’ in Sydney Harbour – go figure!

Twitter is a web-based group messaging service.

Mosman Council has an account on Twitter – @mosmancouncil – and we invite you to follow us.
Who is @mosmancouncil?

@mosmancouncil is produced by Mosman Council’s web team. We are based in the Library.
Why are you using Twitter?

Our aim is to inform constituents of what’s happening in Mosman.

• Our Twitter channel supplements the information we publish on our website.
• We can remind you of important events and alert you to late-breaking news.
• We can link to interesting and useful information about Mosman published by other people.
• We can better communicate with those using mobile devices.

But we’re also aware of the changing nature of communication on the internet and our use of this channel will be influenced by your participation and response to it.

Will you respond to my replies or direct messages?

Yes, we will reply as quickly as possible.

But please note:

• we monitor the channel during business hours only; and
• we consider a Twitter conversation to be analogous to a telephone conversation.

You should contact Mosman Council by email or in writing if you have:

• a formal request, comment or enquiry;
• a complaint against Council, Council staff or Councillors; or
• a response to an item for Community Consultation.

Formal correspondence will be answered promptly and in accordance with our Guarantee of Service (PDF 31KB).

‘Correspondence’ means communications written, faxed or emailed that includes your proper name and address. Direct messages from Twitter are not considered as correspondence.
Stop following me!

If @mosmancouncil is following you and you’d rather we didn’t, please feel free to block us.

Be aware that Twitter is a public space on the internet and all interaction is publicly viewable and searchable over time.

If you want to keep your Twitter channel private, you can protect your updates.

For further assistance go to http://help.twitter.com
Privacy statement

Your user identity or email address is not recorded unless you choose to contact us or fill in an online form on our website including this information. Your email address will only be used for the purpose for which you provide it.

Please also note Twitter’s Privacy Policy.
Disclaimer

Whilst Mosman Council endeavours to maintain the currency and accuracy of information published on this channel, the information is subject to change. It is advisable that users ascertain the currency of information immediately prior to use. Mosman Council disclaims all responsibility for any loss or damage which may arise from the use of this channel.

Links to external websites and Twitter user accounts are provided as a convenience to users and such sites and associated content are not under the control of Mosman Council. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement of that website, service or person by Mosman Council. Mosman Council is not responsible for the content or reliability of links, or for any loss or inconvenience arising from their use.

This work by Bang the Table Pty Ltd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.

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