This week I came across an interesting from Mashable about a articlestudy from Cornell University examining what makes a tweet more retweet-able.
Essentially, as the authors put it they wanted to examine “how the message is said, rather than what the message is about.” The study found adding phrases like “please retweet”, “RT”, “spread”, “pls” or even “plz” makes a tweet more likely to gain traction on Twitter's timeline. The length of the tweet also matters. Short snappy tweets written like headlines encourage more retweets. Depending on the topic, a longer tweet can be still effective.
The authors also created a quiz showing users two tweets and testing them on which one they think will be retweeted more. It’s a great way to look at how news organizations are writing their tweets and to self-examine what compels you to want to retweet one over another.
Users can also give feedback to the researchers on why they think the tweet they chose is more retweet-worthy.
This could be a useful test to give during a newsroom social media training session. It’s one thing to tell journalists to tweet their stories but this quiz can show how to make it share-worthy.
There’s also this online tool allowing users to write two tweets about the same topic and see which one had a better chance of getting more retweets. It’s a worthwhile tool to play with to get a sense of how effectively you write your tweets.
Don't know where to start? Try copying and pasting an old tweet and then rewrite a new one.
Essentially, as the authors put it they wanted to examine “how the message is said, rather than what the message is about.” The study found adding phrases like “please retweet”, “RT”, “spread”, “pls” or even “plz” makes a tweet more likely to gain traction on Twitter's timeline. The length of the tweet also matters. Short snappy tweets written like headlines encourage more retweets. Depending on the topic, a longer tweet can be still effective.
The authors also created a quiz showing users two tweets and testing them on which one they think will be retweeted more. It’s a great way to look at how news organizations are writing their tweets and to self-examine what compels you to want to retweet one over another.
Users can also give feedback to the researchers on why they think the tweet they chose is more retweet-worthy.
This could be a useful test to give during a newsroom social media training session. It’s one thing to tell journalists to tweet their stories but this quiz can show how to make it share-worthy.
There’s also this online tool allowing users to write two tweets about the same topic and see which one had a better chance of getting more retweets. It’s a worthwhile tool to play with to get a sense of how effectively you write your tweets.
Don't know where to start? Try copying and pasting an old tweet and then rewrite a new one.