What Gets Retweeted?

The Science Of ReTweets

View more presentations from Dan Zarrella.

This is a question I see more and more in business settings. A version of this question was on LinkedIn a couple of days ago, and I know organizations are looking at the Twitter activity of their employees to evaluate if it's just a waste of company time -- the retweet makes for a compelling Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

There's also the ambition that content you produce will go viral -- that ever elusive and sought after effect. Dan Zarrella has written all there is to read about the science of retweets -- from the words that get the most reactions, to the punctuation type you need to use. 

I'd like to add my experience about context to his comment about time of day -- he calculated that after 1pm EST gets a lift. To me timing matters. When you think about the information you're sharing, you know who it will appeal to and when *they* will be more likely to see it. If that's hard to determine, why not create a regular appointment with them by sharing news or relevant content at a certain time every day, for example?

My take

I've been using Twitter as a way to connect with people and share ideas since October 2006. Since March 2009, I ran a yearlong experiment in sharing, which I documented in a post titled the Twitter @ConversationAge effect (see also the resources at the end of that post).

What gets the most retweets? In my own observation and research content that is thought of as useful both for the person who finds it (to read and learn from ) and for their networks (to share for gaining social status). It needs to be both.

In order of magnitude:

• research -- you look smart by sharing and your network benefits from receiving
• news -- you look like you're on top of things, your networks sees and benefits from that
• easy to digest tips and lists -- plenty of those out there, the one you're sharing is better, and your network thinks that, too
• offers -- free is a great concept, esp when it's a report, or an ebook something substantial that will make everyone feel more valuable/valued
• genuine requests for help -- causes/stories you believe in and are passionate about. Being good in public and spreading collectively is almost irresistible, and thank goodness for that

Preferably there's a nice mix of content by others with some content by you written to be helpful to others, help them find resources and connect with other people.

If for some reason, the content is super useful advice to improve performance and the source is not known (thus easily discoverable), do you know what happens? The finder tends to keep that to themselves. Forget being social when human competitive nature kicks in.

There's more.

I think that when you're consistently helpful and stay curious and interested in the information you share and the people with whom you share, you will become a credible source of good content. If the tweet comes from you, and you're not the self-referential or promotional kind, you're more likely to get retweeted. 

Your take

I asked the question on Twitter the other evening and without pasting a long stream of great tweets, I will give you a digest of the best:

• Links 2 good stuff w/ concise description why it is interesting & keep tweet to <125 char. so no editing b4 RT. @Conniereece
• I think tweets that are funny, have a connection with your followers and or are unique, new or different makes tweets cool @Justinfitter
• I RT things I learn something from and think, "others would learn from this too." Thanks for asking! @Marciamarcia
• i also find that I will get retweet the most when I expect it the least. so, still some sort of trending :) @Kariamcatherine

What else?

What happens when your tweets are all about you and your company? When your team only tweets your own content? Not much. So go out there and make friends. Be interesting, above all be interested.

© 2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Christine Fife]

I think you're spot on. My experience has been very much the same and if I had seen your question posted on Twitter the other evening, I would basically have responded in a mashup of the 4 tweets you listed.

Interesting presentation from Dan Zarrella as well. Thanks.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Thank you for stopping by, Christine. What I found interesting as well is that I spotted a question similar to mine on LinkedIn from an analyst firm this morning. What a small world!

[Gabriella]

Ciao Valeria, interesting topic indeed. I agree with most of what you stated above except for a couple of things. "The finder tends to keep that to themselves." maybe it's my sense of being "social"or maybe it's the way I use Twitter but anytime we have anything that's amazing and helpful we divulge our sources. We write about them, we discuss them and most important we continue discussing and integrating answers into part of the bigger picture.

I have known for years that being social is not about me but about the people I am being social with. Especially with a social tool like Twitter. Even the definition of "social" is nothing without interaction. Maybe, I am missing the whole point in regards to "Forget being social when human competitive nature kicks in." But winning and being alone at the top seems so empty. Okay, fine maybe I am too emotionally involved in the social... it works for me.

With that said, it's an ongoing discussion I have had for the past 5 years and I am still nowhere closer to finding anything that can change my point of view. I understand competition and I welcome every bit of it, I sometimes catch myself competing without shame. Ultimately, I gain so much more by sharing than by conquering.

In conclusion, what I have found extremely gratifying is RT'ing links or resources with my own "twist" and more often than not, I find great conversations with new people in 140 characters.

[Patrick Garmoe]

Thanks for the fascinating information. At times I've been really surprised at what does and doesn't get RT or click throughs.

Someone with 80,000 followers RTed a post of mine, but I only received about four click throughs. The title wasn't overly bad or good. I have about 750 followers, and for each blog post I put out, I get about an equal amount of click throughs. So perhaps my efforts at writing an engaging tweet are working, or I have an audience that is more engaged with me (on a small scale anyhow)

[Ricardo Bueno]

Re: "I think that when you're consistently helpful and stay curious and interested in the information you share and the people with whom you share, you will become a credible source of good content."

I agree! And it makes it easier for people to share your stuff (a lot easier). If on the other hand you're nothing but self-promotional in your distribution of content, it gets old.

David Meerman Scott says (In World Wide Rave I believe), don't talk about your products, people could care less. Instead, write about things that are of interest to your audience.

[Allen - Social Media Marketer]

I found posting live updates just as you said News is the most likely to be re-tweeted!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Gabriella - interestingly enough, that statement comes from some qualitative research I've done: people have confessed. Also, you're a woman and women tend to be more collaborative than competitive (Queen bees are the exception). And there is a dark side in every situation.

@Patrick - that's it. The measure of engagement depends on setting expectations and developing relationships. I could write the same post someone else writes (not on purpose) and we would each get exposure commensurate with the level of engagement we developed with our respective communities.

@Ricardo - I just love finding great content and sharing it. One of the reasons why I started reading again over breakfast every morning and when I have time is that I want to participate in the creation of others more and books are a better format for that.

@Allen - someone in the know like you has an advantage with that.