The Half Life of a Tweet.

Its one of those life tantalizing questions, up there with who came first the chicken or the egg, or if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it… What is really the life time of a tweet? What can be done to extend it?

When you tweet, how many people see your tweet? How many people click on the link? How many replies would you expect to get?

I guess it all depends on a few things

1) The number of followers you have: Its obvious, the more followers you have, the higher the likely hood that your tweet will be seen. My guesstimate, a tweet carries a 50/1000 view rate, i.e. for each 1000 followers, 50 will see your tweet.

2) The number of followers your followers follow: A mouth full, but if one of your followers follows say 10 people then odds are they will see your tweet. If your follower follows 2000 people then odds are, your tweet will be missed.

3) The type of tweet: If your tweet starts with @somename, that is an invitation for people to skip your tweet, I almost skip over all these tweets because i find it odd to read or reply to one. If its a #followfriday tweet, that is an instant ignore. If your tweet is a link or twitpic, it has a higher likely hood of being viewed and acted on. I guess that per 1000 you would get 10 people to click a URL. If your tweet is a straight forward tweet, its a clear invitation for people to read it, and the quality of the tweet may solicit interaction.

So what can one do to increase the life of a tweet.

Trick 1: Learned it from the best (Chirs Brogan) once said that its ok to tweet something 3 times at a different time of day, it will get more views, and those who had seen it wont mind. I tried this great piece of advice and it does work. you will bet that I will tweet this post 3 times.

Trick 2: If you are replying and want the reply to appeal to every one, include the @ at the end of the tweet or in the middle.

Example instead of @abc I think Starbucks is the best coffee ever. write: I think Starbucks is the best coffee ever @abc

Trick 3: If the tweet is important to you and want people to see it, its ok to ask for a RT, but you cant do this with every tweet, you have to be selective

Trick 4: The same way a title impacts the open rate of an email, a tweets content will impact replies, ReTweets, Clicks, etc… make sure your tweet is good, maybe even ask a question.

Trick 5: If your tweet is related to a topic, find the #tag, make sure you include that, so you can join the global conversation

Trick 6: Tweet it during the day, late night tweets will go unread

Trick 7: If your tweet includes a link, make sure the tweet is clear on what is behind the URL

Trick 8: In some cases a referral tweet can yield good results. A referral tweet is when you connect two people in your network based on a topic, This allows you to have a conversation and exposure in both peoples networks. For example: I know someone who knows a lot about shrimp, @abc, meet @def.

Trick 9: Use a quick identifier , for example start the tweet with “New Study:” or ” Breaking News”, etc… this clearly labels the tweet and directs people to it.

Trick 10: Include a Twitter expert, celebrity or a source if appropriate. Example you say I disagree with @chrisbrogan… Ask their opinion. Point to a source, for example, checkout @twiter_tips for… Even if they dont reply it may grab the attention of your followers.

@sforzley