Sure, you only have 140 characters, but you're still talking

The first thing to remember about social networking, and Twitter in particular, is that you are having conversations. Many try to promote with social tools, but first and foremost, social networking is about starting and participating in conversations.

In the case of Twitter, you are limited in what you "say" to 140 characters (which would be a nice limit for live conversations with some people!), but you still need to remember that real people are "listening", which should guide your tweets.

Go ahead and use shrtfrms & spcl chars, but remember, you are what you say.

For example, this tweeter includes in his tweet: "... a great post from me..."

A bit on the arrogant side, wouldn't you say?

TAKEAWAY FOR BUSINESSES

• Remember that you are what you tweet.
• If you have people in your business tweeting on the business' behalf, are they supported with guidelines and policies for tweeting?
• Think of social networking interactions as real conversations with real people