Twitter Handle: Your Virtual Signature

Tips for appropriate and effective naming of Twitter handles

First impression is the last impression. Be it real world or the virtual world.

It is seen that the decision to follow any handle is taken within first 4 to 5 seconds. Although there are many other factors influencing that decision (like the bio, the interests, the no of followers, the DP etc) but the most important function of getting a person on your profile page is done by your handle. It is your brand ambassador.

People conclude a lot of thing about you, just by looking at your handle. Like -

• Your Personality and style
• Your Originality
• Your Creativity
• And the most important, your brand

The most common format of any personal handle is “First name – Last name” and any corporate handle is “Company Name”. But sometimes, it makes the handle look bland.

Here are a few tips that will help make your handle appropriate and effective.

Tips: The following points may be considered while deciding your handle.

The attitude

Your handle is your attitude. The twitter protocol gives us the flexibility to choose any name as a handle. (And not necessarily the email protocol, which is first name – last name). Hence, you can choose and pick from the available list of names. But like your tattoo, it should define your attitude. It may be simple, responsible, mature, arrogant or angry. Like the handle @BeingSalmanKhan highlights the aura of the well known actor.

The Handle Name – Dos and Donts

1. Under scores – They are a total no-no. You may use it to differentiate first name and last name, but anything beyond that is a total turn off. And yes, not more than one underscore. (unless creatively used)
2. Numbers – Adding a number beyond your handle gives an impression that you are not creative enough and a novice on twitter. Like @Ralphsmith07
3. Repetitions – To get somewhere near to the particular handle, many tweeps repeat some alphabets. (just to sound like the handle). Eg - @TechnoGuyyy. Totally Avoid as it gives an impressions of a wannabe.
4. Capitalise – Although twitter is generally not bothered about capital letters in a handle, but i personally recommend that in case the handle contains two words, we should capitalise the first alphabets of both the words for better making the handle simple. Like instead of @barackobama it is aptly named as @BarackObama

The length

The length of the handle should ideally be within 10 characters. This is because the limit of any tweet is 140 characters. In case anyone wants to retweet you, you eat up their much needed space. Also, ideally, ever tweet needs to be well within 120 characters for the ease of ReTweeting.

Creativity

Finally, you may not get the handle you plan for. But that shouldn’t drive you to resort to using any of the easier ways (mentioned in point 2). Be creative. Think of some handle that explains your purpose and attitude. There are many, we just need to think out of the box. As mine is a casual handle, i ve named it a pure waste! (which also rhymes with my name). and the casual @MischievousMonk shows how the handle is a white mischief (Vodka) and old monk (Rum) lover!

Conclusion

Twitter has a casual way of being. And the handle acts as your signature on this virtual world. It defines you. Be it official, informal or purely casual. And dont worry if you already have a handle. You can change it at any point in time, to suit your style. After all, It is the virtual world’s first point of contact with you.

As they say, “Well begun, is half done”

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FIVE STYLES OF TWEETING: And what we can learn from them

Twitter Fact: Twitter is addictive *only* once you master the Art of Tweeting.

In this article, I will discuss five prominent styles of tweeting. All the handles that have been chosen have their own styles, according to their objective of being on twitter. Broadly, the five prominent styles of tweeting would be :

1. Formal Corporate Handle
   
2. Casual Corporate Handle
   
3. Random Tweeter
   
4. Traffic Generator
   
5. Personal Handle

These style have been elaborated further:

Style 1 : Formal Corporate Handle 

Example - @htTweets

Tweets Like:

-> US Senate rejects House debt bill, seeks compromisev http://read.ht/Bm4 #USdebt #ht

-> Flash: Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa says he would resign tomorrow afternoon #ht

Characteristic Features of this Style: 

1. Very formal way of tweeting
   
2. Tweets in specific time slots, except in urgent situations
   
3. 10 –12 tweets everytime the handle logs on
   
4. Uses Hash tags, shortened links extensively
   
5. Promotes personal Hash tags – #ht in all the tweets
   
6. No interaction with its followers, whatsoever

Objective: The main objective of this style of tweeting is to give fast and quick information  to the followers and generate traffic for its website. This style effectively does that.

Style 2 : Informal Corporate Handle (Read - Interactive Corporate Handle)

Example - @FostersAOC

Tweets Like:

-> Here's Nikita showcase of her favorite beer! Now that's what we call a chillled out showcase. http://fb.me/vFRaHrHh

-> Well @Hansikac just shared a link from her aunt's blog with us where she reviewed #FostersPET. http://t.co/wbDBWDF Awesome Review.

Characteristic Features of this Style: 

1. Extremely casual way of interacting
   
2. Highly interactive with all followers
   
3. Gets the followers engrossed by holding contests/ competition at regular intervals
   
4. Uses a lot of hash tags and shortened links to relevant pics and pages
   
5. Prominently showcases followers tweeting about them

Objective: The main objective of this kind of tweeting is to keep the followers ever engrossed in their products, Interactively and amusingly. Works well on twitter, as everyone is a bit casual here.

Style 3 : Random Tweeting 

Example – @Shakti_shetty

Tweets Like:

->  Her geometry has always been an area of concern to the perimeters of his mind.

->  I’m yet to see my foreseeable future.

-> “What’s the point in tweeting without replying?” “What’s the point in tweeting with replying?” “Nothing.” “Exactly.”

Characteristic Features of this Style: 

1. Tweets about totally random things and lets you conclude what it means
   
2. Effectively plays with minds, by leaving it totally random.
   
3. Mainly mixes well with words, rhyme and typos.
   
4. Tweets are perfectly scheduled to appear at regular intervals
   
5. Never uses a hash tag or short link. Rarely tweets about trending topics.
   
6. Rarely /Never replies to its followers. Thrives only on Retweets.

Objective: No specific objective, mainly for bouncing off thoughts. Differentiates the class. The reward is only Retweets.

Style 4 : Traffic Generator

Example – @Jhunjhunwala (of course, the fake rakesh jhunjhunwala!)

Tweets Like:

-> BBC: 860 people injured in Cairo, CNN: 10 people killed in Egypt , NDTV : Barkha's camera broken, India TV : Shiv Ling found under Cairo

-> Arnab Goswami has never finished a sentence his whole life because every time he starts to speak he ends up interrupting himself.

-> Pakistan never knows anything be it on Osama or 26/11 or Dawood.No wonder its always an INTELLIGENCE failure.

Characteristic Features of this Style: 

1. This handle tweets in its signature style. Complain about everything and make fun of everyone.
   
2. This handle has a dash of humour in all his tweets. Sometimes, even in ALL CAPS.
   
3. Targets specific people, events. In this handles case – like Arnab Goswami, Sonu Nigam, Munaf Patel.
   
4. Corollary: it trains its followers in what to expect from its tweets.
5. Highly interactive. Retweets all praising tweets. Like to be praised.

Objective: This handle amplifies reason behind the existence of almost everyone on twitter. “Appreciation”.This handles objective would be to make itself a brand out of its tweets. Now, the tweep also has earned a weekly column in Hindustan Times. Most Pseudo Celebrities on twitter revolve around this style, in varying levels.

Style 5 : Personal Handle 

Example –  @MadhuriBanerjee or @dkh9

Tweets Like:

-> Chai rusk aur aloo tikki. today's evening tea made specially keeping the weather in mind.

-> I might love the rains, but I need some Vitamin D now!

-> Bengali pet names are hilarious - khuku, babush, munmun. I've actually forgotten what my cousins' real names are!

Characteristic Features of this Style :

1. This is the most prominent style of tweeting. A very normal, down to earth style.
   
2. Most of them are personal tweets. Views, reviews, opinions and random.
   
3. They are highly interactive with their followers. Share a special bond.
   
4. This style may also be referred to as “Thinking Loud”. Highly impressive style.

Objective: To use twitter as a platform to publish your views, think loud. It is a highly personal style and can be used as a medium to rejuvenate. A good way to relax ones mind. Recommended for all personal handles.

Well, this brings us to the other prominent styles like the celebrity Handles, the ranting types, the complaining types or the bitching types.

All these styles are not worth commenting upon and are best left untouched.

Conclusion: It is highly recommended to adapt to any one style of tweeting and stick to it. of course, you should be creative inside that style. and It is also recommended to tweet on trending topics.

The only warning is: Do not cross over the line and start complaining about things here, however tempting it may be.

Did u find the article informative? leave a comment. Comments are the fuel that keeps a writer going. You can also follow me on twitter – @PureWaste

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