I saw this post regarding a personal twitter policy and thought it was very cool. It was very kind of Brent Pohlman and Josh Whitford and before them, Klaus Holzapfel, to share this great idea.
So…Here is My Personal Twitter Policy. I am not a social media genius like these guys. I am a Mom and a vet. I am not a guy like these guys…I am a girl. And I am me. So it will be different. Also, I think I will call it something exciting. Check out their personal twitter policies too! They are great!
Twitter Secrets – Revealed!
Haha, just kidding. That is my exciting title for what is actually…
My Personal Twitter Policy
My Twitter Goals
- to promote veterinary preventative care, pet welfare and retention of pets in families
- to interact and build relationships with Awesomes (you)
- fun
- Here’s a link to my twitter beginnings…Twitter for Veterinarians. When I started, I had no clear goals, I was just doing what Secret Penguin told me to do.
Confidentiality
Same as my Real Life personal and professional confidentiality policy:
:|
If you specifically say I can share your pet’s medical case or picture or a personal story, or ask me to, I will. Otherwise, I will not. You can always trust me to be a scandal/gossip/great story/confidential information dead end.
Subject of Postings
Pets. Links to pet and medical stuff. Kids. Family and friends. Things I notice. Things that amuse me. Random things. Omaha stuff. I am not one of those super focused, serious, professional veterinarians…on twitter, I mean. In Real Life, I totally am.
Conversations
I LOVE talking to people on twitter! If a tweet is started with @ it is only seen in the twitter stream of that person and people you both follow. So, everyone else does not have to “hear” every single thing you say (but can – it is not private like DM’s are), but friends who may be interested or want to jump in to the conversation are able to.
I try not to curse or say crabby stuff, or say anything online that would reflect poorly on myself or groups I represent (rileyandjames.com, my home veterinary hospital, Banfield, CareFRESH, my family, my church, God Himself…).
If I have a concern about a company, I tell them in a DM (direct message). If I have a praise about a company, I say it “outloud” in a tweet to everyone. If I need to tell a particularly hilarious joke that should not be said out loud, I tell Russ in Real Life…when no children are present.
Me Following You
I follow EVERYONE who has followed me. (See, now would be the time for a super funny joke I will only tell Russ.) I block accounts with profane pictures or tweets. I do not follow anyone that has an egg avatar and has never tweeted. Even bots have a place on twitter though. The one bot I follow on purpose is @unfollowr. AND there is a Real Person behind that account. His name is Ian.
I only unfollow people that Ian says have unfollowed me – just to keep my follower/following ratio clean, not out of any sort of meanness. It has kind of become a game. I love it.
You Following Me
I link to blog posts I write, and I post pet information I think is fun or interesting. If my puppy scratches her ear, I will tweet that to you, perhaps even with a twitpic picture. I will also tell you fun stuff that is happening in Omaha…or that my brothers are doing…or that interests me. Kind of random. So if any of that stuff interests you, you may like my tweets.
Always (I hope) friendly and postitive. I try to usually tweet no more than five “outloud” tweets (tweets that do not start with @) a day, out of respect for the other tweeters in your twitter stream.
Monitoring Twitter
I have twitter open on my computer when I am at home writing. So if you send a tweet containing @Finch93, I will always answer it, often in real time.
I check my timeline about once a day, but really only closely read tweets from my lists. I try not to miss a tweet from my Hey I Know You list and also like to check friends on my other lists, most often Follow Friday.
I do not have twitter on my phone and do not ever check it at work. I am obsessively in love with twitter and the people there and need those boundries so I can focus in Real Life.
Protected Postings
I understand why some people protect their twitter accounts. I try to say only stuff I do not mind everyone reading, keep the detailed information about the kids to a minimum (though they are so super cute that that is difficult…luckily I am as neurotically overprotective as they are cute), and follow everyone and let everyone follow me. So my tweets are not protected. I do not follow people whose tweets are protected unless they have followed me first and I think they may be looking for more followers. Then I knock really softly and stand back.
Uncopyright
I think this policy template is awesome and I think everyone should post a personal twitter policy on their own website! Feel free to copy. If you go through this policy and post it on your site, please let me know. I would like to see and learn how others view their use of twitter.
(Ironically, that whole uncopyright paragraph was copied word for word from Brent, as was this great template, which he copied from Josh, which he copied from Klaus. Thank you guys!)
