Guidelines for Twitter

One of the things I like about Twitter is how open-ended it is. There's no prescribed workflow. Some users follow all sorts of people, others just those they know. Some tweet about the minutiae of their daily lives, others once or twice when a news article moves them, some to promote their efforts, and some never tweet at all.

Over the past few years I've settled upon a few guidelines that govern my use of Twitter. They work for me, both to protect my privacy and keep the amount of media content manageable. Your mileage may vary.

Never tweet anything you wouldn't want the world to see

My Twitter account is public.

I treat Twitter as a public space, the same as if I were walking down the street. By doing so, there's no worry that something meant to be private or restricted may become public by accident, either due to a mis-checked configuration option, new "features" being enabled, or changes to privacy policy.

I only follow people I've met in person

I make limited exceptions for my current employer and temporal things, like at a conference during the conference, although with TweekDeck it's easier to use private lists for these. Every once in a while if I work extensively with someone remotely, I'll follow them.

I don't follow my students

Simply put, it's not my place to be so keenly aware of my students' personal lives. Nor do I want to know what they're getting into outside of the educational environment, even if they are posting things publicly. I was in high school once.

Twitter's 140 character limit further increases the likelihood a conversation with a student being misconstrued, no matter the intent. When working with young kids the mere hint of impropriety can be a severely damaging thing, so I step back entirely and don't even attempt to walk the line.

The same goes for subordinates with whom I don't have a preexisting friendship.

No geotagged tweets

There was a fair bit of commotion a few years ago about burglars using social media to determinate whether/when to burgle a home. It's certainly still possible today, but moreover the whole world doesn't need to know where I am. I take some comfort in knowing that obtaining my device's precise location requires a court order.

Along similar lines, I try to limit the degree of geo-context in my tweets. I don't tend to mention my presence at specific venues or events. I also request that my friends exercise restraint when mentioning my location in a public forum. Most of my close friends and colleagues will ask "can I post this picture of you?" before doing so.

If my name is on the speaker list of a conference, all bets are off. That's just part of being a limited public figure (albeit very limited); it's a conscious choice that I make when deciding whether or not to accept an invitation.

Disabling retweets

It's not a rule, but I do end up disabling retweets from most people I follow. Cuts down on a lot of noise. By disabling retweets, I see more of what an individual is willing to attribute to their own name, rather than amplifying someone else's sentiment.

Avoid long threads

If it takes more than two replies, find another medium.

I'm bad at this.

Last Modified: 2020-08-09

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