Is It Acceptable Behavior to Tweet and Run?

Posted on April 24, 2008

People use Twitter in many different ways and there is no standard way to use it. There isn't a rule book about how to use Twitter. Most of us even ignore the question Twitter asks us "What are you doing?" most of the time. Because it is an evolving community it can be complicated to determine whether a specific behavior is appropriate or not but you can find behavior and usage patterns emerging.

Earlier on the bloggersblog twitter (using PollDaddy's nifty poll feature) I posted a poll asking "Is it okay to Tweet and Run? How long should someone remain on Twitter after posting a tweet?" The responses have varied but most people don't have a problem with someone tweeting something and then disconnecting from Twitter. There are many people who connect to Twitter with mobile devices who post to Twitter in short bursts. Some of these users are almost always tweeting and running. However, if you have posted a question or tweeted a message that invites responses it might be appropriate to linger for a few minutes to see if anyone sends you a response tweet. There are Twitter users who prefer people to linger a little while after they post a tweet.

You can see the poll and comment on it here.