Is 140 characters enough? I think so. You can learn how to tweet effectively with 140 characters if you follow a few simple rules.

Rule 1 – Remove Pronouns and Articles

If you remove your The’s and I’s it is still understood. Saving characters is important.

Rule 2 – Abbreviate and use contractions

For instance with becomes w/, can not becomes can’t, one becomes 1, and becomes + – every character counts.

Rule 3 – Stick to one or two points

People like brevity and will get confused if you try to fit too much information in a tweet. Sticking to the point with just information rather than opinions will stimulate dialogue.

Rule 4 – Allow room for retweeting

As a rule of thumb, I try to leave the number of characters in my username plus 3 so people can retweet me RT @ToolsForTwits is 17 characters. If I can fit my tweets in 100 characters, people can respond and have their say with 23 characters.

Rule 5 – Use an URL shortener for links

Sounds obvious but many people don’t do this. Most Twitter Clients have a built in URL shortner but there are dozens to choose from and it only takes a couple seconds.

Rule 6 – Subject & Verb

Good sentences require a strong subject and an excellent verb. Choose wisely and use a thesaurus.

There’s a 6 pack of solid rules to create good tweets. Think shortcut, room for retweet, and ask yourself what is the point of my tweet. It will go a long way in reaching your community. You can tweet effectively with much less than 140 characters – practice will make perfect.

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