A freelance writer friend found me on Twitter this week so I sent a note welcoming her to the service. As it turns out, she’s been there for a while, just tweeting on a different account. My friend explained that she has two Twitter accounts, one she set up specifically to track developments in an area she blogs about and another for her freelance work. She’s even thinking of starting a third Twitter personae for the writing she does on sustainability and going green.
Which got me to thinking – just how many Twitter accounts does one person need?
I have one, all-purpose Twitter domain, @michellerafter, and I use it for everything – hunting for sources, promoting a story I’ve written, announcing when I’ve posted something new on this blog or just ruminating about the vagaries of freelance life.
But would I be better off separating the different ways I use Twitter into their own entities? Should I have one account for the tech writing I do, and another for my HR and careers stories? Am I sending my Twitter followers mixed signals by mashing together all aspects of my work life?
I have no idea. So I’m asking – what do you do? How many Twitter accounts do you have? Please take a minute and fill out the poll that follows. If you’re reading this through an RSS reader or email, please click through to the blog to take the poll. Ff you have multiple Twitter accounts, please consider leaving a comment explaining what you use them for. I’ll follow up with my thoughts on the results in a future post.
[polldaddy poll=1452574]
I wish some bilingual folks on Twitter would have two accounts (one for each language) because several of them post things twice – in both languages. One Twitter account for each language would be very welcome.
I have one Twitter account (@miamicheap). But I’m thinking of splitting into two because the posts by @miamicheap are only of interest to people in my local area. But my microlocal blog if only one of my areas of interest.
Hi Michelle,
I have one twitter account (@claudinemj) but I admit that I feel like I should have a few instead of one. I feel like the general all-purpose account I have set up is too broad for me and I am not clear on WHAT I should tweet about, how often, am I being annoying, is it wrong to talk about the crafty side of me, should I not be talking about the everyday happenings in my home/life? I don’t know. I’m finding it difficult. So anyway.. that’s why I voted in your poll. I’m curious to see what others think/do…
I have wondered the same thing in connection with blogs. I can see the benefit of maintaining two separate accounts, one for personal posts and updates which family and friends can follow, where you can microblog about a movie or social event, and then one where you discuss professional matters. This way potential employers don’t have to follow the ins and outs of househunting and your family doesn’t have to listen to you debate the newest additions to the Oxford dictionary.
I only have one (@lbourgon) and I think that’s enough personally. I think that Twitter only works when your posts are really meaningful, and for me that means cutting out the tiny parts (what I ate for lunch etc) and really thinking about the importance of what I “tweet.”
But that’s just me! I suppose I can see the point of having two, especially if you are a particularly public persona.
I have two,
JenSinger
and
Stop2ndGuessing
The latter is for my new book on parenting toddlers, where I post “If Toddlers Could Tweet.”
Honestly, it never occurred to me to maintain more than one Twitter account. Personally, one account is more than enough for me!