Twitter Psychology 101: An Explanation Of Tweeting Behavior

Remember taking your psychology 101 course in college, and then using your newly-acquired knowledge to explain, and even rationalize, all sorts of normal (and since it was college, probably abnormal) behavior you saw on campus? Me, too, and I remember it being a series of eye-opening revelations.

Well, the good folks at WhiteFireSEO, a Utah-based a Utah search engine optimizer with years of experience creating popular content and optimizing websites, are equally as captivated by psychology, and decided to apply that curiosity to the petri dish that is Twitter. The company polled hundreds of marketers about their Twitter usage habits, and their rationale behind such common activities as following and unfollowing other users, retweeting content, and sharing frequency.

In some cases, the results are hardly surprising. For example, Twitter users tend to unfollow others for tweeting too much, appearing automated, or talking about themselves all the time. or being too self-promotional In other words, if you're annoying in some way, you will lose followers in a New York minute.

In other instances, the survey yielded some interesting insights, which are summarized in the infographic to the left. I was surprised at the low percentage of respondents who rely on Follow Friday to find other users of interest. That is because I use Follow Friday to recognize others that I find compelling, and to recommend them to our follower base. The same goes for people who follow me, and suggest to others to do the same. It's actually a pretty useful tool, as is Marketer Monday, but I'm careful not to overuse it, and I'm also selective about whom I recommend.

Some other findings of note:  36 tweets per day constitutes oversharing, and interesting content and humor are the best ways to garner retweets. A very good example of a power Twitter user whose content is almost always interesting and humorous is world-renowned Apple fellow, venture capitalist, and best-selling author Guy Kawasaki. With nearly 100,000 tweets to date, and a stable of approximately 400,000 followers, Kawasaki has attracted a massive audience by tweeting quirky, intriguing, and just downright funny stuff that appeals to people of all walks of life. Make sure to follow Kawasaki to see what I mean.

In the end, check out WhiteFireSEO's survey takeaway:  tweeps don’t care if you give them things or ask them to help; they’ll retweet you if they like your stuff or think you’re funny.

Amen to that.

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