How to Play Favorites on Twitter

Twitter is my favorite social network. I love the streamlined nonsense approach! I appreciate being able to view only what I am actually interested in. Yes, there are distractions, hello twitter parties I'm talking to you, but it still allows me to access and share information in the shortest amount of time.

If you are new to Twitter, haven't joined yet, or just want to learn more about it, I highly recommend checking out Michael Hyatt's The Beginner's Guide to Twitter. It is the best tutorial I've seen on the subject and extremely easy to follow. Give yourself an hour or two and get in there!

click to see larger example

Now that you are familiar with All Things Twitter, be sure to use one of the most underutilized features: the favorite button. The favorite button appears as a star underneath any tweet. When you favorite a tweet it will have little yellow star in the corner in the twitter stream. It then shows up in your Favorites list on your profile publicly.

Here are three different types of tweets and reasons why you might want to favorite them.


Milestone and You Really Really Like Me Tweets

These tweets are when someone tweeted something awfully nice to you (like you won a giveaway!), or something you want to let the user, who wrote it, know that you liked. Favorites and retweets are the twitter equivalents of Likes on Facebook. You can retweet AND favorite a tweet if it is especially important to you. I call that a Double Like!

Bookmark Tweets

You can also bookmark or favorite tweets for a subject or #hashtag you are following. Then go back and read them later. Companies often favorite tweets to keep them as possible candidates in a giveaway. When I am on my phone, I favorite tweets that I will want to view later when I am back on my computer at home. This is very handy when it has a link to a webpage that is easier to view on a computer. You can use the share feature on the Twitter mobile app as well, but clicking the favorite button is much easier.

For these types of tweets I usually un-favorite them after I have gotten the information. This keeps my list current and full of only the most important tweets.

Tweets to Tweet Again In the Future

If you finally found the perfect way to promote your blog, program, contest in less than 140 characters, you will probably want to use it again at a later date! Favorite that tweet and when inspiration is nowhere to be found, use it again! I wouldn't post the same tweet over and over though. Tweak it a bit or give enough time between uses.


How do you use the favorite button? Would you like to see more Twitter How To's in future blog posts at ETF?

Share in the comments below or tweet me @valeriesweeps.




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