When interviewing people, red flags popped up on my reporter’s notepad when someone went overboard trying to impress me. To me, “speak softly, and carry a big stick” means your work speaks for itself, so you don’t have to. But instead of teasing great content by allowing the content to speak for itself, some of those posting Tweets are falling back on gimmicks to convince us to click their links. I assume the man who jacks up his truck and then slaps on some Godzilla wheels is overcompensating. And I assume when a Tweet includes one of the following words or phrases, the content might just suck.
Wow! – This also appears as “WOW!” because the lowercase version is something not sufficient. If I’m about to shout “wow!” at your content, you don’t need to say it for me. A Tweet that instead more artfully previews what I’m about to see should suffice.
Amazing! – A substitute for “wow!” when someone exhausts their “wow!” quota for the week.
You won’t believe – Shamefully stolen from the local news. When I watched a local news story an anchor told me “I wouldn’t believe,” I usually ended up believing it. We don’t often hear this phrase, see the content and then stumble back into a corner dazed and mumbling “I don’t believe it! That can’t be true!”
? – Stolen from cable news, which too often instead of confirming a story, simply asks a question so two talking heads help fill up 24-hour coverage. “Could this rock be a source of nutrition?” “Were some of us born on Mars?” You could Tweet any ridiculousness and simply add a question mark to spark a discussion.
Must read – You have no idea what I must read. Cut it out. I don’t click these links simply as my way of offering up a social media middle finger.
Must have – See above.
INCREDIBLE – See our first two entries. Don’t turn Twitter into a late-night, lame product commercial with some guy yelling at me.
a WHAT? – He said WHAT? She gave him a WHAT? Nice try, but I know WHAT you’re up to.
You’re missing out – Just shut up. You sound like my mother.
Shocking – An old local TV news stand-by. Oh, I’m shocked! Your content is so shocking, I dropped my phone. Wow! I never believed this amazing content would be an incredible must-read after seeing exactly what he said. Will this information change the world as we know it? The answer might shock you … or not.