10 Twitter Manners – how to gather good Twitter karma

If you are a citizen of Twitterverse, you may have found some etiquette of Twitterers that impress you and some that annoy you. Here is a list of Twitter manners that, I think, define your Twitter karma

1. When someone asks you a question, answer it
2. When its not your opinion, please add a RT or via @xxxx who was the originator of that opinion. If you read something on a popular site and it does have a Retweet button, use it. If it doesn’t have a retweet button, its ok to post a link to the article. If people find it interesting , they would visit the site anyway. If you have feeds set up to automatically tweet things you like, it is ok not to add a via.
3. When someone follows you and retweets you often, and you are not a Mashable or a Scobleizer, return the favor.
4. If someone says something good about your work, your blog, your site.. say a Thank You. Retweet it if you want to. If your work is very popular and you get loads of good feedback, then don’t keep retweeting every praise you get. Be humble.
5. Be honest. Don’t say things you don’t mean or don’t have claim to. For e.g., don’t read the comments of an article and rephrase it in your own words claiming them to be yours.
6. If you want someone to RT something, don’t force it on them. Say it in kind words like “Please RT if you like”
7. If you requested someone to RT something and they did , thank them
8. Don’t rephrase someone’s tweet unless you need to shorten it. If there a bunch of names in the via or RT, then its ok to remove all the retweeters to shorten it , but retain the originataor of that tweet.
9. Don’t automate your direct messages… that’s extremely spammy. However it is nice to introduce yourself or exchange an Hi with someone who you find interesting and who follows you.
10. Help people and they will help you back. Show some kindness and it will come back to you. There is Karma in Twitterverse as well