3 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Stale Twitter Account

We’ve all seen them. Maybe you even have one. Or maybe you’re like me and someone else has one that you want.

I’m talking about a stale Twitter account.

Twitter pages with the last update coming some time between “Don’t taze me bro!” and George W. Bush’s last day in office.

What usually happens is that people sign up for Twitter at the suggestion of a friend or colleague (or Ashton Kutcher), update a few times “I’m going to eat a sandwich – LOL!”, fail to get the point of Twitter, and then never touch it again. Nothing’s worse, in my opinion. People who started out with good intentions but got bored before the fun could start.

This  leads to Twitter accounts with cobwebs all over them. Twitter pages with the generic avatar still staring back at you. Twitter pages that, most likely, will never be touched again.

If you’ve been wanting to dust off your Twitter presence and breath some life back into it, here are three steps you can take to rejuvenate your account.

1. Change your avatar. Nothing says “spambot” or “inactive user” faster than the default avatar on Twitter. The little birdie is nice, but your face is better. Get a picture of yourself (not your cat, or dog, or Mr. T–you), crop it square, and rock that avatar all across Twitterland.
2. Find people you know and follow them. This is my favorite part. When someone first jumps on Twitter, it’s like Christmas morning when they start finding people they know. “Hey! I know that guy!” I felt that way the other day when I started following Howie Mandel (I love America’s Got Talent. So sue me!). Now that Twitter is hooked up with Facebook, you can scan through your friends to see who’s also on Twitter. (Plus, if you’re having trouble finding an avatar, the Facebook Twitter app can sync your profile pic across both platforms.)
3. Set a reasonable posting schedule. Whenever I set up someone on Twitter for the first time, I’ll give them an assignment: Post something twice a day. Doesn’t matter when, just post something on Twitter twice a day. Right when you get to work, on your lunch break, before you go to bed–doesn’t matter. Start out reasonable and as you get the hang of it, you’ll find a Twitter rhythm that you can stick to.

You can do this. You really can. These steps will work whether you’re rejuvenating your account or just want to get started on Twitter. Why not (re)start today?

Give it a shot, and when you do, make sure you follow all of the Deviant Twitter accounts: @JustinWise, @JustinWiseNet, @BeDeviant, @BeDeviantSummit.