This work was supported by Cooperative Agreement #NU58DP007539-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About half of Americans get news on social media at least sometimes (Shearer and Mitchell, 2021). For U.S. adults, approximately 15% use Twitter as a source of news and information, and 59% of Twitter users regularly get news on the site (Shearer and Mitchell, 2021). Nearly 20% of Twitter users report using the site to network (Rosenstiel et al., 2015). Twitter is an ideal network for participating in real-time discussion, communicating with health care professionals, and leveraging movements like health observances to get your content noticed. These simple Twitter guidelines can help you get started:
- Keep tweets below the 280-character limit. Note that @handles don’t count toward the 280-character limit.
- When possible, add colorful graphics such as photos, videos, and infographics. Tweets with images receive an average of 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites, and 150% more retweets (Kim, 2018).
- Regularly post content that is useful and relevant to the audience. Twitter's algorithm prioritizes accounts that post regularly.
- Interact with your audience by asking questions and listening!
- Use hashtags to link to larger conversations. Look at other organizations in your field to see what hashtags are trending and how they are being used.
- Engage others by tweeting at their Twitter handles. To tag someone in a Tweet, use the @ symbol and their username in the Tweet.
- Social media scheduling tools, such as Twitter, Sprout Social and Hootsuite can help shorten links when writing tweets.
- Engage with other organizations by liking or Retweeting their content, including adding your own comments as part of retweeting.
- Respond and recognize when others retweet, mention, or share your content.
- Tweets cannot be edited once they are posted, so proofread before you post.
References
Kim, L. (2018, July 6). 5 ways to get 10x more Retweets on Twitter. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/marketing-and-entrepreneurship/5-ways-to-get-10x-more-retweets-on-twitter-f0b2ba18a7ff
Rosenstiel, R., Sonderman, J., Loker, K., Ivancin, M., and Kjarval, N. (2015, September 1). How people use Twitter in general. American Press Institute. Retrieved from https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/how-people-use-twitter-in-general/
Shearer, E., and Mitchell, A. (2021, January 12). News use across social media platforms in 2020. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2021/01/12/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-in-2020/