What makes a good status update?

March 15, 2008

Tweet

I know I said that the purpose of a status update is to stimulate conversation, but, I am going to modify that slightly.

The purpose of the status update is to build your online brand.

Or, as Hugh MacLeod might say, your "global micro-brand"

So, how do you do that?

Just some thoughts.

  1. You've got 140 characters to get attention. Think like a creative writer.
  2. Don't be boring;  Better to not post an update (or tweet) than to post for posting's sake.
    (e.g. Joe is at work; John is drinking cofee; Sarah is going to bed.) Yeah, whatever.
  3. Think like a marketer:
    What's the teaser?
    Can you add a link?
    Better yet, add value (like the Tweet I saw re: getting money back from Airborne)
  4. Humor.

    Here's one I saw last week
    "Evonne finally has found the simple answer to a 15 year old problem."

    Just brilliant. It begs the question....

    Or the other one, "Ahava LOVES her new haircut."
    Her FB wall was covered with "where's the picture?"

 

Well, what do you think? Am I overanalyzing?

Do I put too much stock in the "attention" economy?




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Comments

Evonne said on 3.15.2008 at 11:31 PM

I agree that it's about branding.

I also think it's about sharing -- giving people a window into your life -- and if you can be entertaining in the process, all the better.

I'm honored to be listed as an example!

Gadi said on 3.19.2008 at 11:24 AM

You know what they say: When you are a hammer everything looks like a nail.

Jamie said on 3.20.2008 at 2:56 PM

I think you make a good point, even though I think it is overanalyzing the process a bit. I think it's better to be clever in a spontaneous way, rather than planning out the best possible update each time. If you can't be clever quickly, then don't bother to update and don't waste your time trying to come up with something great.

Also, on the topic, while I appreciate that people sometimes put great links in their status updates, I prefer to just read text. Facebook, for example, doesn't make it easy to get to these links with one click so sometimes I just ignore them.

Jamie said on 3.20.2008 at 4:23 PM

I want to amend my comment. I just noticed Facebook fixed the issue and I can now click on links easily from status messages. Link on!

lol said on 1.19.2009 at 4:22 PM

lol?

3D said on 1.31.2009 at 1:42 PM

Forgive my ignorance but how DO you place a link in a status update?

cool thing said on 2.09.2009 at 5:40 AM

yes - prey tell, how do you make clickable links? copy/pasting doesn't do it, neither does adding a .com at the end and hoping for the best...

huh said on 8.15.2009 at 11:27 AM

@3d and @cool_thing: Not sure which facebook/twitter y'all are using but for the rest of us copy/pasting a link works perfectly fine.

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