#tweetsmart

Chapter 11. Tweet Bombs

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Tweet Bombs have been a part of Twitter since the very beginning. They are fun to do and can be very effective at grabbing a lot of quick attention, but I should caution you before I explain how to do it: Tweet Bombs need to be done carefully. Ill-fated or ill-spirited Tweet Bombs could damage your reputation with your audience, or label you as a spammer with Twitter. You’ll see why.

A Tweet Bomb “is dropped” by a Twitter community on one of its unsuspecting members in the form of an avalanche of Twitter replies (or mentions). Hundreds, or thousands, of folks—at a coordinated moment—send tweets containing a particular user’s username. The recipient’s Reply (or Mention) stream is quickly inundated with messages. For folks who are used to seeing 3 or 4 mentions a day, seeing hundreds crashing down in a single minute can be startling. If done correctly, however, it is hilarious. Recipients of Tweet Bombs attest that the experience feels as though the whole Internet is looking straight at you.

To organize a Tweet Bomb, announce a time of the week to your followers when you’ll be able to consistently drop a Tweet Bomb. By creating a regular schedule for your bombs, your audience will know when they should tune in to play along. When that time of the week rolls around, choose an unsuspecting member of your Twitter community as the recipient.

Be sure to choose that recipient carefully. When first starting out, it’s best to pick ...