• Survey
  • Book Becky to speak
  • The book: Small Town Rules
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Do you endorse everything you retweet

By Becky McCray

On Twitter, when we see something interesting, we retweet it, or pass it along to others. A quick look at any Twitter page will reveal a whole bunch of items marked RT, or using Twitter’s built in retweet function. Clearly, we like to pass along what we find.

A retweet has been described as saying “Amen!” to the preacher when you agree. But we don’t always mean it that way. Sometimes we mean, “I found this interesting.” Or, “this challenged my thinking.” Or, “what do you think about this?” Or even, “what the…?”

But how do your readers take it? How can they tell what you mean?

Dark-haired people are smart. :)
Tiffany Monhollon, Cory Miller,
Aliza Sherman, and Becky McCray

@TMonhollon, @CoryMiller303, @AlizaSherman and I discussed this (on Twitter, natch) and I wanted to share some points here.

Cory started me thinking, and I kicked off the discussion with this question: “Do you intend to endorse what you retweet? Or are you just passing it along? Perception matters.”

Cory said he had a customer ask if he was endorsing a retweet. “I only put my name on things I absolutely believe in.” He continued, “I find all kinds of interesting but it’s not an endorsement – I try to protect my name & am jealous of my social capital”

I admitted that I have retweeted things I thought were provocative, without necessarily agreeing. I also consider whether I want my name associated with items I tweet directly. So, I realized that I might retweet something I would not tweet myself.

Aliza agreed. She said, “Interesting about endorsing what you retweet or just passing along. I’m guilty of both.”

I asked, “How do we know which you intend?”

Aliza and I both said we had not thought through these perceptions before. Sometimes we retweet before we read an item, retweet something as a favor, or retweet favorite brands to show support.

Business Retweeting Guidelines
Tiffany asked, “Also, how do people take it when a company account that shares & RTs?”

I said, “I think a company account must be more judicious about retweeting. Do you want to endorse all items?”

Cory said, “company accounts to me are more for relationship building & communication than RT content.”

Conclusions

Aliza said, “I would hope most people realize a retweet doesn’t necessarily mean ‘endorsement’ & each of us ‘has our reasons’.”  She continued, “I think w/o comment it is more endorsement or trust. W/comment is obvious. I often put ‘interesting’ or ‘useful’ as comments.”

I said, “But at first glance, you cannot tell the intent of an RT. Don’t expect everyone to take time to guess.”

I’ll give the last word to Cory. He said, “I love using Twitter but I’ve also realized I’m a gatekeeper of trust for our community who follow my tweets.”

Want the full discussion? Download a PDF of our tweets. (It’s in reverse chronological order, of course, so start at the bottom to see the first of the discussion.)

Had you thought about whether you endorse everything you retweet?

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Are marijuana shops good or bad for small towns? - April 22, 2021
  • Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case - February 22, 2021
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020

June 12, 2010 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, social media

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. Andy Hayes | Travel Online Partners says

    June 12, 2010 at 12:50 pm

    Great points – I see lots of RTs that I click and think, did you actually read that?!?

    I am always quite careful on what I RT that yes, as you say, I am comfortable associating it with my name.

    As for ‘business’ accounts, I suppose it depends on the type of business. Becky and Sheila’s Tourism Currents account, for example, is an information service bonanza. Other accounts are more of a customer service channel (Jetblue?) though would have though the occasional RT from their partner suppliers as well as awesome stuff from their fans (Twitpics of new planes, interviews with staff, etc etc) would build a good following.

  2. Simon says

    June 12, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    I agree with Andy: better being careful on the contents one RT. Personally, I read almost all tweets before RT and very rarely, if I happen to have too little time, I do some ‘blind’ RT of people I strongly trust (Andy doesn’t know, but he is one of them…)

    Regarding RT and shared contents I have often wondered how much automatic RT accounts for poor quality. And apart a few really non-sense, I also try to remember that we all have different opinions and tastes and passions. I’m pretty sure that I have RT things that I found interesting and someone else might have thought: ‘so what?’

    Anyway, the topic is interesting and I’d be curious to read more comments.

    Simon
    http://www.wild-about-travel.com

  3. Becky McCray says

    June 12, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    Andy, Simon, thanks for helping add to the discussion. I can remember times I retweeted an item *because* I found it challenging or controversial. Now I will be more careful to communicate my intention in those cases.

  4. DanGordon says

    June 12, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    Great topic and post Becky! This could be analyzed on so many different levels. I personally think there are times when I endorse, times when I promote, and then time when I am not doing either…just sharing for the sake of trying to add value to someone who might find the Retweet useful or of entertainment value. I see a lot of people Retweeting for promotion only and over doing it. That type of interruption based method is surely to disengage community from their networks. I find it fascinating to think about “what are we doing when we actually retweet something”. I could compare it to verbally passing word of mouth in face to face circumstances. That concept might make one rethink what comes out of their keyboards, or in other words, virtual mouth. How authentic or unauthentic is it to not endorse what the Retweet is conveying? I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer to that one. But I’m probably wrong :) Love to hear more thoughts on the subject. One of the most thought provoking posts I’ve read in a verrry long time!

  5. Issa says

    June 13, 2010 at 6:07 am

    I agree with you that you must only retweet what you believe in. I find it annoying when I read direct messages that promotes a product, or those who promote something out of their niche. But the unforgivable of all are those #FF or follow fridays mentioning a whole bunch of people that takes too much space on your twitter wall. Thanks for this sharing though.

  6. Becky McCray says

    June 13, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    Dan, you made a good point about over doing the retweet. I’ve seen people whose whole stream is nothing but a series of retweets, with no conversation. Not engaging at all.

    Issa, I hope you’ll forgive us all for promoting things a bit outside of our niche. We all have real lives and many interests. Have to agree on the endless lists of #FF posts with no explanation. I’ll do an occasional endorsement of a single follower, but don’t do long lists.

  7. MissDazey says

    June 13, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    Late to this discussion, but as always have opinions. I am getting more careful about what I retweet. I have made myself a promise not to use the Twitter retweet button, but to reply. I like saying Yes! instead of amen.

    As for #FF..don’t do. And thank-you from me is rare. My regulars know I appreciate them and retweets. I consider Twitter a 2 way conversation. Of course, I twitter for fun not business and have a goal, check my bio.

  8. MacSmiley says

    June 13, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    Would we even be having this a conversation if Facebook hadn’t plastered “Like” buttons all over the Internet?

  9. Becky McCray says

    June 13, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    Miss Dazey, you’re right on time. Love your perspective on saying yes instead of amen.

    Here’s Miss Dazey’s bio:
    “Decided my #1 goal on twitter is to give Positive Reinforcement, a shoulder to lean on, and share my fun personality. Life is PRECIOUS!
    That is an admirable goal.

  10. Becky McCray says

    June 13, 2010 at 7:14 pm

    MacSmiley, I blush to admit this conversation was on April 8, and I finally got it posted here. The Like button came out on April 20. So, yeah, I guess we would, since we did.

  11. Joe Sewell says

    June 13, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    This brings up an interesting contrast between the “roll-your-own” RT-style retweet and the built-in version. With the former you can squeeze in a comment; with the latter you cannot. I tend to use the manual RT when I want to add a “thumbs up” or a “Consider This” (the title of my blog) or whatever. The latter is given as “food for thought,” and not necessarily as an endorsement.

    Perhaps we need to figure out a way to get to a specific tweet in your timeline (like you can with a reply), run it through bit.ly (or t.co now, I guess), and add your own comments there?

    I cannot imagine a company account retweeting, aside from the consultant or self-employed.

  12. Becky McCray says

    June 13, 2010 at 11:07 pm

    Joe, I’ve seen companies retweet useful links, articles, and even compliments and customer comments. Just depends on the company and their goals.

  13. Tiffany Monhollon says

    June 15, 2010 at 12:04 am

    Becky – Glad to see the post this generated! I’ve definitely given more thought to what I personally RT and what I re-share on our company account. I will say however, that I have noticed engagement levels change somewhat with less RTing from the branded account. I think there’s something to be said for the appreciation people still show when others share their ideas :)

    But I love the idea of adding some context to what you share to frame how you think about the content. “Interesting:” is probably a favorite of mine because I love things that make me think (whether I agree or not!)

    Good convo, interesting reading the rest of the comments!

  14. Paul Merrill says

    June 17, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Be careful what you tweet.

    That saves a world of trouble sometimes.

  15. Becky McCray says

    June 17, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    Yes, Paul, absolutely.

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2021 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in