Twitter: join in, be nice!

I'm following over 300 accounts on Twitter. Some because they're entertaining or informative, others because we share some common interest. I can't control who follows me, currently almost 300, and haven't tried to analyse our followers!

If I see a tweet that made me smile, I 'favourite' it so that I can easily find it and smile again another time! What I enjoy about most using Twitter is interacting with friendly tweeters but this isn't as simple as it seems because many tweets are statements that do not invite or encourage responses. For example, some of my tweets provide links to blogs I've read or written, therefore the response is more likely to be in the form of a comment posted on the blog rather than a reply-tweet.

However, amongst recent tweets, I've specifically invited responses. It all depends, of course, who is on-line at the time and their particular circumstances: time available, cheerful mood, etc. In response to "And why do so few people respond to tweets? (here's your chance...)" there was nothing although a similar tweet "while we're on the subject of blogs, what does it take to encourage people to add comments?" did receive an amusing response from a local pub-restaurant account, Twitter.com/RadcliffeArms.

I like to respond to tweeters who are reaching out but the mind is a complex mass of What-ifs, such as: will they take my comment in the spirit it was intended? Am I being intrusive/ presumptuous /original? Will they think I'm stalking them or will they become a hanger-on? And so on.

Anyway, please respond to tweets and be nice!