Sharing is cool, especially when people share your Tweets. Did you realize that the WORDS YOU USE can help — or hinder — your Tweets from being Retweeted?

It’s scientific. Dan Zarrella reported his research in a slideshare presentation:

Most Retweeted words and phrases:

1. you
2. Twitter
3. please
4. retweet
5. post
6. blog
7. social
8. free
9. media
10. help
11. Please retweet
12. great
13. social media
14. 10
15. follow
16. how to
17. top
18. blog post
19. check out
20. new blog post

Least popular words in Tweets

1. game
2. going
3. haha
4. lol
5. but
6. watch
7. work
8. home
9. night
10. bed
11. will
12. sleep
13. gonna
14. hey
15. tomorrow
16. tired
17. some
18. back
19. bored
20. listening

What’s wrong with these words?

[a little levity]

1. game– Anyone who spends time gaming doesn’t have the energy to Tweet
   
2. going -If you are always going to do something, chances are you won’t get to it.
   
3. haha – The words Twitter and Tweet are funny enough.
   
4. lol – People are laughing so loudly they get their fingers on the wrong keyboard keys and they spell RT as %*.
   
5. but – No one likes to hear the contradiction.
   
6. watch – If you’re looking at your watch, you’ve lost focus on what matters.
7. work – Too obvious: WORK — call it “play” and people will share; call it “work” and people will avoid.
8. home – Did you know that the word “home” can be an adverb? Maybe people are confused.
9. night – Re-Tweeters are otherwise occupied at night.
10. bed – see above
11. will – In today’s culture, we want everything NOW. Will implies “later.”
12. sleep– See #9
13. gonna – Bad English; shows your ignorance?
14. hey – “Hey[hay]” is for horses, as the proverbial saying goes. We don’t like to be “hailed” that way.
15. tomorrow – You know: when you put things off for tomorrow . . . they don’t get done [or re-tweete].
16. tired – No, I’m not getting lazy, it’s just that #’s 9,10,12 and 16 are all related. DON’T use them if you want retweets.
17. some – It’s All or Nothing.
18. back – With All Things Social Media, we’re looking ahead, not back.
19. bored – Don’t worry, the “levity” is coming to a close.
20. listening – Can’t figure this one out: _______________________________ YOUR TURN

And if you want to learn more about the science of social media read my last post on Dan’s webinar “Why do people do what they do online.”