What Is A Re-tweet?

A Re-tweet is basically taking some-one Else’s Twitter message and resending or passing it on to your list of Twitter followers.

You can recognize a Re-tweet by the capital RT before the @username

The idea or concept behind Re-tweeting really epitomizes the social aspect of Twitter.

When Re-Tweets are done properly, Every one wins.

For example…

The person who gets Re-tweeted, or in other words the person who originally posted the Tweet wins, because their message now gets read by a list of people that would never of seen the Tweet unless it was Re-tweeted.

The people who received the Re-tweeted message win, because they get to read a Tweet from someone they weren’t following and now have been introduced to someone that they may have similar interests with, who they can now follow.

and You win, because your the guy who brings all parties together and you get to share great content by doing a small amount of effort.

Re-Tweeting can also be a great way to attract new followers to your twitter account.

By sending out regular Re-tweets, It shows the Twitter community that you are not single minded with your approach to sharing content on the web, People may see you as a means of getting their content Re-Tweeted.

Re-Tweeting can also be a great way of getting noticed by someone.

As an example If I see someone who starts Re-Tweeting my Tweets, that person will show up in my feed and I will almost always start to follow them back.

I think where people make the mistake when Re-Tweeting, is they send out a continuous barrage of Re-Tweets with nothing more than a list of twitter user names, thinking they are doing these people some kind of favor, when in reality they are just bordering on spamming their list of followers.

The typical message I’m referring to could look something like this…

RT @twitteruser1: @twitteruser2 @twitteruser3 @twitteruser4 @twitteruser5 @twitteruser6 @twitteruser7 Thnx 4 RT

I personally don’t see the value in sending something like this to my list of followers.

If you really want to thank me for Re-tweeting your Tweets, Then go to my blog and Tweet about one of my articles, or Re-tweet one of my tweets about an article I wrote.

I also think your Re-tweets should stay relevant to your main goal or focus.

Ask yourself why you want to build a list of followers on twitter?

This can be a major factor on the type of content that you will Re-tweet.

If you take a look at the way I use twitter, I align my twitter use with my end goal, this helps me to focus on my Twitter activity and also helps in my efforts to build a targeted list.

Which is to provide a quality resource to Christians who want to learn how to effectively use the internet in their ministry or business.

As a result 95% of my Tweets will be related to Social media, Wordpress, Prayer requests, or Scripture.

Where as the remaining 5% of Tweets are usually responses or conversations I have through my public twitter feed.

As a result, whenever I have something come through from someone I follow that falls in line with my end goal and I think it is worthy of sharing, I Re-tweet it.

When it comes to Re-tweeting, It’s important to remember that your list of followers is a list of real people. Assuming you haven’t used some random follow me, follow you program that automatically starts following every twitter bot online.

So think about who your true followers are, with Twitter don’t try to be all things to all men and Re-tweet every single thing that comes your way.

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