This is a guest post by AJ Vaynerchuk. He blogs about social media, marketing, and SEO, and spends a lot of his time on Twitter.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter while you’re at it.
Many bloggers use Twitter as a platform to promote their own blog. That’s an easy concept, no need to waste our time there. Instead, lets focus on something that is under-utilized by most bloggers: promoting other blogger’s content by “retweeting.”
The art of “retweeting” is best described as taking a twitter message someone else has posted, and rebroadcasting that same message to your followers. When broadcasting this message, you should give credit to the original poster. While retweeting sounds great for the original tweeter (since there is usually a link involved), retweeting can actually benefit you just as much if not more.
Before we get into the greatness of retweeting, it would probably be a good idea for you to understand how to properly retweet.
The common syntax starts off with the use of a label. My favorite label to use is “Retweet:” – the label “Retweeting:” and “Reading:” work as well.
Next comes the crediting. You can credit the original poster by simply using the @reply syntax, for example: “@originalPoster”.
Lastly, you should add the link along with a quick note about the link and why it is relevant. Here is a full example of retweeting:
Retweet: @originalPoster The 5 Best Blog Tips http://is.gd/56f – great tips
Now that you understand how to properly retweet, lets move on to some basic concepts of retweeting.
Only Retweet Content You Find Truly Interesting and Relevant
The natural instinct many of you will have is that if you retweet another individual’s content, then there is a better chance that the original poster will retweet your content in the future. While this holds true (and I will cover that in a minute), you should not simply retweet everyone’s content for your own personal gain. You must be selective when you retweet since the whole point of this practice is to benefit your followers.
Retweeting Provides Value to Your Follower
There is a reason why people follow you, value. If you can provide value to your follower you will not only make that individual happy, but you will most likely attract more followers. Providing quality content is always a great way to provide your followers with value. The first thing that comes to mind is writing up a great blog post, and linking the post in a tweet. While this is one way to approach this concept, it is not the only way. Another way to provide your followers with great content is to link to other relevant and interesting content.
Retweeting Will Benefit Your Personal Brand
Retweeting will most likely build your personal brand as well as your follower’s loyalty. If you point a reader to an external source that is truly relevant and beneficial to them, the amount of trust that individual has in you will increase. The next time you post a link, whether it be to your blog or to another source, the chances of that individual clicking that link are higher than before.
Retweeting Will Help You Build Relationships With The Original Posters
As mentioned previously, the likelihood of being on the other end of a retweet increases as you retweet. Retweeting someone else’s content is an act of kindness, and for the most part bloggers like to return such acts. This isn’t to say that you should expect someone to retweet your content just because you retweet theirs. Again, retweeting is all about providing value to your followers, and an individual isn’t going to retweet a post of yours if it is not top notch.
A Concern: Doesn’t Retweeting Steer My Followers Away From Me?
Actually no. In my opinion retweeting will never lose you a follower or reader (unless you send them to some sort of spam, or even worse you RickRoll them!). Why would someone stop reading your blog or following your twitter because you sent them off to another website? Keep an open mind when it comes to your readers, they are usually smart and good people.
Retweeting is a great way to add quality and value to your Twitter. If used incorrectly retweeting can actually hurt your personal brand and future traffic. If done right, retweeting can help you educate your followers, build your personal brand, increase future traffic, and connect you to other bloggers / content creators in your niche.
I’ve never retweeted before, so I’m gonna give it a try.
Thanks for that. I am still a bit of a Twitter n00b (something I am *not* used to being!) and I appreciate well written pertinent advice on protocal. I had assumed that retweeting was merely reposting one’s own tweet later.
This form of retweeting is very useful to all.
me too, i’m kinda noob in twitter and i don’t even know how it works but i do have an account there
thanks for this great post.
This is a very good technique for getting more traffic and backlinks to your blog.
I found this so interesting that I twittered it!
RickRoll ha ha
I haven’t been around tweeter long enough to have been rickrolled but I guess I just was. Nice outfits and “white boys can dance!”
Thanks for the twittequette lesson
I am also relatively new to Twitter and learning about it is very fascinating (kinda like being in a chat room with the whole world). And if you surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, you’re bound to learn something in 140 words or less.
I equate retweeting to the same concept as sharing your favorite quote, or discussing a great lecture with friends. Only here, you can share the original media, quickly and effectively.
If knowledge is power, Twitter is the fuse.
I came here through a ReTweet, so I with Bambi I’ll reweet for now thanks Brendan
I retweet; therefore I am.
I often retweet something I see in my Twitterfeed to share with a larger audience. I get requests to do that more and more, especially considering how I’m building my network through twitter to have a more geographic focus.
Find me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr and
http://twitter.com/newmediacincy
you know what re-tweeting means to me? (at least in the instances I have seen it)
That somebody is too lazy to come up with something new, and keeps posting the same crap over and over.
It gets boring when my inbox (run Twitter entirely via SMS) fills with various combinations of “RT, Retweet, etc..”
Kudos to AJ Vaynerchuk. This is an excellent article; it is well-organized, succinct, and timely. I’ll be recommending it to other Internet marketers.
Mark
I’m glad I didn’t f***k up the one I did ;0)
Thanks for the info…good stuff.
I appreciate this abundance-mindset with regard to retweeting. In attorney marketing, many lawyers have a tendency to believe that sharing or retweeting will cause them to lose Twitter followers or to lead readers away from their individual blogs. Serving others is always the best way to build one’s business.
Bentley Tolk
Not more than a week ago I was asking what is a ReTweet. I got a good explanation from @jeanettejoy and started using it. I found that when you Retweeted for someone they noticed you. That’s good.
This article helped me understand some of the nuances without experiencing the negatives of wasted effort.
Thank you AJ Vaynerchuk for a well thought out article..
Warmest Regards,
Edward Philipp
http://Twitter.com/EdLovesSumo
Doing business is ALL about the relationships we create with our clients, so this is relevent in today’s world. If our activity on Twitter and other social media builds and strengthens our relationships with colleagues, clients and potential clients, then it is worth spending time becoming familiar with, and getting involved in, “social media.”
Great description…short and to-the-point.
Thanks…have a great Wednesday!
Nancy Myrland, President
http://twitter.com/nancymyrland
Good post. I actually prefer the syntax of RT rather than retweet, as characters are at such a premium on Twitter.
I’ve actually got a video on engaging people on twitter using replies, dm’s and retweets. Those with five minutes on their hands can find it here: http://www.flyteblog.com/flyte/2008/10/how-to-engage-people-on-twitter-replies-direct-messages-retweets.html
I have been retweeting but did not call it retweeting. Thanks, will do it right now. Or is there room for new syntax?
I think RTing is a way to really get the most coverage out of an important issue. Discussions and news spread faster on Twitter than even the media can handle it. Its truly an amazing tool.
It is also important to be engaging and real in your tweets and not just spew out links and retweets.
Great post, and thanks for the rick roll link… truly one of the funniest and most horrible viral phenomenons ever!!
First, I want to say thank you to Jeremiah Owyang and Sasha Kane, both of whom I found out about on Twitter. They are two of the most generous people to follow on Twitter.
Today, I sent out a call for help. My industry, furniture, is in danger of losing thousands of jobs. I decided to ask my Twitter network to help me bring attention to this issue. My post has been retweeted several times and I am sure thousands of people who did not realize the furniture industry was hurting are now aware and, in their own way, helping me to spread the word.
The power of retweeting to help others cannot be overstated. It is a tremendous power for social good when used in the proper context.
Most people that I follow retweet things that are:
1. Useful for business
2. Funny-to bring happiness and a smile to someone who may need it.
3. Used to effect social change.
I see very little abuse in my tweet stream of retweeting .
Retweeting is a tremendous gift we can give each other when it is used right. We are creating an expansion of opportunities and opening up conversations around the globe when we retweet.
Thank you for this excellent post and thank you to Jeremiah and Sasha Kane for leading me to it
Leslie
What is the proper protocol for “embellishing” an original tweet in a retweet?
My strategy has been like this:
ORIGINAL
@BobDobbs A great post on how to smoke used oatmeal http:/is.gd/kshc
RETWEET
RT [Tastes great & less filling] @BobDobbs A great post on how to smoke used oatmeal http:/is.gd/kshc
is that proper Twitter etiquette or is it not proper to embellish an original tweet at all?
all views appreciated.
best
Jeffrey J Davis
@JeffreyJDavis
Thanks for the tip. As a Twitter novice there’s so much to get my head around!
It’s likely that an RT will reach someone among my followers who has not seen the original post before so I don’t consider it lazy to RT.
One useful tip: A RT attribution needs some free space for the original sender’s user name. If you post a 140 character tweet, the RT will have to be edited to make room for the attribution
RT @originalsender original text, comment
[that needed 18 characters of slack space just to fit in the attribution]
If you want the wider reach of RT, make it easy for the RT to happen.
I’ve had several uneditable texts I could not shrink to RT size without claiming them as my own orgiinals because attribution couldn’t be fit in. So I didn’t send them further.
Great post. I understand that retweeting is taking a post someone else has posted and rebroadcasting that to your followers. But how does that actually work? 1. someone I’m following makes a post. 2. I receive the post. What happens next to allow me to rebroadcast that to my followers? Do I have to copy and paste it into the twitter box?
Also, I want to know if I can make a post that my followers can automatically rebroadcast to their followers. Slightly different question from the one above. Is this possible? If so, how exactly what it work?
Thanks!
I’m at http://twitter.com/furnitude
AJ Vaynerchuk
Nice post! – RT’ing is a great way to build relationships and create value to your followers.
http://www.twitter.com/matthewsboc
Great post! I only retweet now and again, but I now recognize the value that this might deliver to my followers. In fact, I think I’ll share this post with them now.
Many thanks!
This is a great article. I am learning a lot about being a better “citizen” out there in the ethers, thanks to posts like this! And just for that, I will TWEET this page! LOL…
Nice and concise. Thanks!
This is a great how-to for new Tweeters.
Good article, very helpful. And judging from some of the other comments, now I don’t feel so bad about having to occasionally edit a tweet I want to retweet (I use BrightKit for my retweeting needs) to make it fit the 140 limit.
A very interesting and useful post. I have only just really got into the art of twitter – I found it very strange and worthless at first, I could not get my head around it But slowly I have learnt and it is becoming a useful tool to lever visitors and increasde community.
Again Thank you for a great post
Fantastic, I just started using Twitter, though I signed up for it a while ago, I was searching for just this explanation of ReTweeting.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for the helpful article – just what I need. Used it to do my first Retweet.
I guess I knew all these before.. I try to maintain my retweet frequency so that my followers don’t get irritated.
Yea and one important tip is that you need to keep the tweet as short as possible so that retweeters like me wont have to sit and edit it
Thanks for sharing this info. I never even heard of retweeting lol (and I actually clicked on the RickRoll now that song is stuck in my head lol)
tweet, tweet, Retweet, tweet, tweet,
Excellent, straightforward article
@DrBlockbuster shall retweet it after the dawn chorus!
Thanks for this great article! I was retweeting all wrong, lol
Learn something new from here. Thanks! and I’ll start practicing retweeting.
Nice post, never knew this much about retweet. My preference would be RT instead of Retweet as we already have less . This can help being a decent twitizen.
Thanks.
twitter/o2i
Nice post, never knew this much about retweet. My preference would be RT instead of Retweet as we already are short of space. This can help being a decent twitizen.
Thanks.
c u @ http://www.twitter.com/o2i
Good outline here, and these principles are evergreen. Well done, I will tweet this!
Awesome post!!! I found it easiest to use tweetdeck for retweeting… It has a retweet icon on the person’s image.
We retweet news and updates of our followers (mostly musicians and solo artists) who follow us. I think that it is one way to thank your followers and give something back.
We use: RT (saves a lot of space)
http://www.twitter.com/bulletcable
Thanks for the guide! I wanted to know what retweet means and learn how to retweet, and you explained everything. Very informative!
Thanks.
I actually followed your retweet example and it goes to an unrelated spanish page.
Pat O’Malley
Nothing that hasn’t already been said… Great article and thank you for the advice!
Retweeted for the first time just prior to reading this post!! Only thing I didn’t do was add the @reply syntax to give credit to the original poster. Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the article. I get retweets all the time and appreciate them. I just wasn’t savvy enough to be sure how to retweet.
Now, we just have to get word editors to add “retweet” as a real word and get it into Websters.
thanks for the tips… i’m still new in twitter.
Just i’m wondering who set the rule for you to tweet?
I thought we can write whatever we like….of course for those would like to promote something maybe they have to follow your tips…
i’m joining twitter just for fun.
Cheers!
Thanks for that useful information…I felt a bit like Johnathon Ross after a couple of stiff drinks reading that – with all the retweeting’s.
I’m somewhat new to twitter and found this to be very very interesting.
Will try what you said..
thanks
Hi,
I added Twitter to my homepage of my real estate website just to give snippets of info to people checking out my site. Local real estate stats, etc. People started following me and I couldn’t figure why I having people added when I wasn’t even posting. Then I noticed a couple of people were retweeting my info. I guess some who read the retweet came to my site and began following me. Who knew???
Just retweeted the first time. There it goes! Basically the thing is -> forward it if you’re really interested about it.
Thank you…. i googled this and your post popped up first!
Thanks although I think Retweet: is a bit long considering twitter only allows 140 chars, I’ve seen some people just write RT @freightforum , saves a few characters.
Thanks for the explanation! You deserve the #1 google result for “retweet” so I promoted you from #2. Twitter support site sux; thank god for the web-search-able community.
Can you send me the link to the “My Tweets” WP plugin you use for your sidebar? I like how simple it is.
Im using tweetdeck for my daily twitter activity. Twitter is the most important source of traffic for my sites and retweets gave the easiest way to go viral on twitter
Thanks for the article, I just saw a Tweet I wanted to repost, but in the back of my mind remembered hearing someone walking down the street in Seattle and saying they retweeted something to their friend. Now I know what the proper etiquette is.
Good info here, thanks for putting the article together.
Thanks for the explanation. I searched a bit before I found yours. I’ve learned a lot from you already!
cool article very well written and organized keep up the great job of blogging..
http://www.straightalk.biz
Thanks for the tips.
I thought it was something integrated in twitter…did anyone ever try to do that?
would be really useful.
y’all are thinking about this way, way too hard….
Great explanation of retweeting. Just what I was looking for. Thanks!
Thanks for the article. This is exactly what I was looking for.
The RT abbreviation goes before @twitteruser. If you put nothing before @twitteruser, your retweet will not go to your list of followers. It will go only to @twitteruser. And to any person who follows BOTH @twitteruser and you – if any.
The abbreviation, RT, is not a system command. Twitter does not scan your tweet text in search of “RT”.
If you put nothing before @twitteruser, you are not retweeting.
just what I was looking for, good breakdown of the Art of Retweeting
Just (finally) starting twitter – thanks.
as a new tweeter (2 days) I found this very interesting
Reall great post, but i don’t how to add the battor on blog site,
When credit a source for a retweet of a retweet, is it better to credit the original or the retweet?
Specifically, one of my followers retweeting something I found interesting, so I wanted to retweet it. Do I credit my follower or her source?
Great! Just joined Twitter and will try this out.
Retweeting is a powerful tool. There are many services that depend on retweet like -dailyRT.
Credit to the original tweeter is binding….?
Very useful info.
Thanks
I used this to do my foirst rt. great info.
i’m right there with all the twitter noobs. funny too; all my friends consider me to be their tech guru. just goes to show, there’s always something we can learn. i’m lucky, i usually learn at least one new “something” every day. tho many aren’t as much fun as this. thanks for the clearly written info.
great info.I just retweeted and got good feedback from the original poster and also my followers.
Way to go Mohsin!!
Thanks,
kaushik
My preferred way to re-tweet goes like this:
RT @ [my brief comment in square brackets depending on room left]
Last comment got messed up caused i used chevrons, d’oh.. One more try…
I prefer to re-tweet using this layout:
RT @tweet-author original-tweet-message-here [my brief comment in square brackets in whatever room is left over]
I love to RT good posts to get attention as: RT@twittername (the text) and his URL.
Hope this helps also
Can we find the number of retweets for a specific tweet? and what about the number of replies for a tweet?
Please help!
Regards
Umar
How do l do this l not that well to do with the internet.
Can you say this in simple terms.
Thanks for clearing up the mystery regarding retweets. I have read many eBooks on how to use Twitter and the many different applications that go with it, but I have yet to read much on the etiquette of how to write on Twitter. I know how to Tweet on there and how to shorten URLs and now thanks to you, I know what RT is and how to do it.
Thanks,
Andrea
Save Money to Make Money
Starting to Retweet more and more often these days as a way of getting more some readers. It’s simple, yet effective.
Thanks much, great advice. One more phrase my daughter uses that I can understand.
Thanks very much, still very new to all this twitter stuff, just moved myself away from the n00b column ever so slightly!
Thank you – very useful and straight forward article – retweeting rules!
Excellent post! thank you!
Interesting thesis on re tweeting,I’ve only been on twitter 4 months ,& only recently started re-tweeting.i thought re-tweeting would give you more exposure & the tweeter who posted it.I Didn’t realize the etiquette of it all. this article has broadened my vision of re-tweeting,&will be valuable to me in the future. Yours Lyndon Sullivan.@lindano on Twitter.
I just want to say what a great article, this help me greatly, because I wanted to retweet for my friends product webinar, and did not know the right way to do. I thank you for explaining it. I appreciate it.
Very usefull post!
how to add retwet buttone
Again, I say fantastic. Where has this website been since I joined twitter?
I just did my first retweet! Thanks for the advice. Twitter ettiquette is a little confusing at first!
Rather then using “Retweet:” I have often seen people us “RT” which I think is made popular becuase of the limited number of characters available in micro blogs
Great article, posted my first Retweet.
We just joined Twitter and this is exactly what we were looking for. Thank you very much!
Until now I’ve not had enough time to look into how and why you would re-tweet but this has given me a simple 5 minute lesson that explains it in a clear and simple manner.
Many Thanks.
Chris.
just follow… and win…
http://twitter.com/khysnews
Would be nice if they automated retweeting instead of us having to type it out again.
Thank you for this post. I have been trying to figure out what RT has meant for some time now.
Now I know how to properly participate, however I agree, I wish they had a key that would allow us to automatically re twetter. Hopefully coming soon.
Thanks for the tips. I want to retweet some of the posts that I find interesting and wasn’t quite sure how to do it – I thought that there was an automatic Retweet button! Learn a new thing every day. Thanks for the heads up – I’m off to Retweet
Thanks for that article as I re-twitted wrongly for some time putting only RT in front of a twit.
Should I put “RT” or “Retwitt”?
Well The Writing Content Is Quite Convincing
Wouldn’t it be useful if Twitter gave us some definitive guide lines on this .. unless they do and I missed something
Still trying to figure out the modern vocabulary recently bestowed upon us, i.e. RT, Retweet, Twitter, etc., but this article was helpful.
More interestingly, the narration frames the rewind as a question, explicitly asking how she got there and providing an answer through the narrative logic. ,
I RT what I find interesting and what I think my followers would benefit from. There has been times where the tweet is fabulous, but I’m not able to retweet it because it’s so long. If you want people to retweet your message, try to keep it at 120 characters.
unfortunately, I just HAD to click the RickRoll link!!! Ugh! So, thank you for teaching me how to retweet. Now I can stop looking for a retweet button!
Great advice thanks!
I’m brand new to twitter (and blogging), am a stickler for etiquette, and have a retweet-related question: I have seen several glowing tweets about my blog, none of which were actually sent to me. Is it bad form to retweet them so they will show on my own twitter page? I’m torn. On the one hand, I don’t want to look like a shameless bragger, but, on the other hand, it does show that I am a credible blog, news I wouldn’t mind sharing.
Oh for the love of tweet!
Retwit.com must be perfect!
http://flippa.com/auctions/79698/Retwit-com
I think it is fantastic that we live in a time where there is so much information to share and so many ways to keep in touch.
Facebook, retweeting, linked… what will they come up with next?
I think this is worthy of a retweet.
Thank you for educating the rest of us in the world of cyber communication.
Has anyone had success promoting their site via retweets? If so, how did you do it.
Thanks.
Derrick :::: Chief RemixOlogist
http://www.thriftstoreremix@yahoo.com
After Facebook, Twitter, LInked, etc. I wonder what will come next?
Thanks for the info. Very good for us beginners. I’m always looking for a few new tips.
I was never aware of the great potential there is to retweeting. I’ve got to give this a go!