Tuesday Twitter Tips

This week, Should I have a public or protected Twitter account?

If you really want to use Twitter as a communication tool and as a way to make connections and spread your personal brand, go public. This is the default setting.

With a public account you get the full benefits of being on Twitter including the possibility of being found on Google. Strangers can read your tweets and decide to follow you. Unless you have something to hide, or are going to be inappropriate on Twitter, I recommend the public option.

I have some friends who are using the protected option though and their motives are not evil.
They're just using Twitter differently. They are only wanting to communicate to a select few friends, almost like text messaging.

The choice is yours.

Here's more info from Twitter:

Public or protected?

When you sign up for Twitter, you have the option of keeping your account public (the default account setting) or Protecting your account. Public accounts have profile pages that are visible to everyone, while Protected accounts manually approve those who views its Tweets.

Why Would I Protect My Account?

If the idea of strangers reading your Twitter updates makes you feel a little weird, try protecting your profile at first. You can always change your mind later. When you Protect your account, the following restrictions are put in place:

• People will have to request to follow you and each follow request will need approval
• Your Profile and Tweets will only be visible to users you've approved
• Protected Profiles' Tweets will not appear in Twitter search
• @replies sent to people who aren't following you will not be seen
• You cannot share static page URL's with non-followers

How Do I Protect My Account?

You can protect your profile in your account settings page, following these steps:

1. Log in to your Twitter account
2. Visit your Accounts Settings Page by clicking Settings
3. Scroll down and check the box next to "Protect my Updates"
4. SAVE your changes

When you navigate to your home page after protecting your profile, you'll see a notice reminding you that your profile is now protected. Protected accounts can always go public by un-checking the box in account settings.