Getting Retweeted on Twitter

On the massively popular micro-blogging site Twitter, retweets can occur when one tweeter posts another twitter user's message while giving credit to the original person who posted the article. Getting your post retweeted is a great way to spread your own message while also drawing attention to your Twitter page. The following is a list of tips that will help you get retweeted:

1. You need to post about something unusual that most people have not already heard about, something that will draw people's attention. Whenever possible, include a link that can back up your post.

2. Links to eye-catching photographs often get retweeted as well. A free photo hosting service (such as Flickr or twitpic) can host the image if necessary.

3. Twitter "bots" can automatically retweet your message if they contain certain words, phrases or hashtags depending on the topics of the day.

4. Joining the "followings" of other Twitter members and making retweets of their posts (when justified) may help you get retweeted.

5. Link to your message from a web site or regular blog. The chance for your post to get retweeted is influenced by how many people initially see it.

6. Asking people for retweets of a post is sometimes effective, but only if the message is particularly compelling and you should limit such requests.

7. Try to fit adequate information in your "tweet", but do not use so many acronyms and abbreviations that it becomes hard to understand. There are only 140 characters allowed per tweet so you have to learn to make it short and sweet.

Always writing about typical, everyday tasks and occurrences is not likely to get you retweeted. The same goes for mundane details about running your business, links with no explanation, or complaints about the weather.

Check out the other posts that have been retweeted to help generate ideas on how to get retweets. You can identify retweeted messages by the acronym "RT", which appears to the left of them. Searching for "RT" on Twitter's homepage is a great way to see recent examples of retweets.

Some of the retweets on Twitter have offered memorable quotes, links to articles on using Twitter, information about breaking news events, and links to various "Top Ten" lists on other sites. Internet and computer related issues are often popular.

Basically, if you want to get more retweets on Twitter you will need to catch people's attention in an interesting and original way. Timing also holds much importance; sometimes you must be very quick to post about a subject before another Twitter user does the same and is the first to get retweeted.