Twitter Etiquette 101, part two

I just published a post against the use of profanity on Twitter; this recommendation applies to any social media and was not intended to single out Twitter.

In using my TweetDeck (which is a great application, by the way!), I've noticed something else that bothers me as much as the use of profanity on the social media that it bears notice here.

As previously noted, I watch for people tweeting about "graphic design" so I can see their interests, problems, concerns, and hopefully be of some help with their projects. As much as the use of profanity makes zero sense to me, I do not understand some of the avatars and Twitter names I see as I follow "graphic design". Much more care should be given not only to the avatar you choose to represent you, but your name as well. If, down the road, you wish to display your work and blog/FB/Tweet about it, please keep these two points in mind:

1. Your Twitter name should be representative of the type of work you do. Having a fun or sarcastic Twitter name is fine, but for a more professional appearance either use a business name or your own name.

2. Your Twitter avatar should also be a reflection of the type of work you do. Sometimes it's easy to match an image to the Twitter name you've chosen, but the image should not be so embarrassing you wouldn't want your parents, supervisor, or in-laws to see it.

By and large social media will help small business owners and students get a good foothold on doors of opportunity. At the door of your chosen social media is your receptionist: your Facebook fan page, your Twitter name and avatar, and countless others. How do you want your receptionist to best represent you?

Twitter Etiquette 101

I've been playing around with my TweetDeck, learning how to utilize the technique of making groups of people I want to religiously follow as well as phrases in the graphic design industry to see what people are tweeting about. For the latter, I settled on the phrase "graphic design" to see if anyone needed help with a project and to see what people said referencing this phrase.

Unfortunately, what I'm seeing a lot of are students and other graphic design "professionals" using Twitter to sound off about how they feel about either graduation, just starting school, or whatever project they are currently working on. It's unfortunate because a lot of profanity is being used, sometimes excessively, always unnecessarily.

As much as we don't want people typing in all caps (yelling), remember to keep the profanity out of the messages. You never know when your next potential employer may be reading what you're writing.