Should Twitter Limit A Person’s Daily Tweet Quota?

I like to tweet.  A lot.  (thanks, Tweetdeck…) I never realized how much I do until one of my friends brought it to my attention.  She said, and I quote, “Your updates are going to overload my work computer. You’re getting your very own list so that I can plan out my Christa ODs.”

Twitter overload, from Twitter.com

Aside from the “getting my own list” which I thought was pretty cool, I started thinking about how much I tweet, what I tweet, and why I tweet it.

Different people have different uses for Twitter.  Personally, I use Twitter as a professional tool to educate myself in a variety of industries, specifically advertising and communications.  I’ll read a great article or blog post with fantastic information and pass it along to my followers, thinking they’ll get something out of it as well.  Participating in chats like #journchat or #u30pro also generates a lot of extra tweets in order to keep up with the intriguing discussions taking place.  I follow a good amount of people who tweet a lot as well so my constant updating didn’t look like so much to me…

…guess I was wrong!

I’ve noticed some people I follow tweeting about capping a person’s tweets for the day, which got me thinking if that would be a good idea or a bad idea.  Not everyone uses Twitter for the same reasons I do.  I never thought about how someone’s homepage looks who has less followers than I do, and followers who don’t update as much as I do.  I started to feel bad for flooding them, but then I thought, “Why should I feel bad? If they don’t like it, they’ll unfollow.” Which is exactly what happened in some cases and that’s fine.  I can understand their frustration in seeing ME only on their homepage.

When you think someone’s tweeting too much, is the solution a daily tweet cap?  Or is it unfollowing them?  What other options are there? Should those who don’t tweet as much be more understanding?

[Editor's note 1/15/10: My Twitter account is not strictly a professional account by any means.  When I mentioned "professional" above, I meant that I don't just tweet about my personal life and what I ate during the day- rather, I follow PR/Comm professionals and they follow me, and we tweet about industry things (among other things).  I apologize for any confusion.]

Next Stop- Twitter University

Last night was the first time that I participated in a #hashtag discussion on Twitter.  After sitting on my computer for 45 minutes- without getting up for even a bathroom break- I have to say, I am amazed.

I participated (as much as I could) in the weekly #journchat, moderated by @PRsarahevans, on a discussion about journalism, blogging and how they are related and different, how FCC rules apply, etc.  Keeping all of the content Tweeted in my mind as I write this post, I think it is incredible how many people out there participate in these weekly chats.  They are a great learning tool and, even better, a great way to network with other people in your industry.  I am officially a Twitter discussion enthusiast- can’t wait to participate in Thursday’s #u30pro chat about working full-time and freelancing, which I am currently doing to survive as a recent (and broke) college graduate.

While scanning each Tweet as quickly as I could last night, I couldn’t help but notice that some participants were there for a class (didn’t catch what kind of class, I imagine it being some kind of Marketing or Communications class, maybe an extra credit opportunity).  The Tweeters made it known when they entered the discussion, as well as left, by including some other #hashtag specific to their class.

This brings me to my main point- should more classrooms use these discussions as another learning tool for students?  I feel that it is a fantastic way to put students in touch with experts and professionals in their respective industries, not necessarily MarComm.  Not only that, these participations will familiarize anyone with Twitter and how to effectively communicate through the 140 character messages, which takes some time to figure out.  I will pass along these weekly chats to my Communications professors, in hopes that it will involve Social Media more into their curriculum, if not engage their students in eye-opening discussions.

How would you use Twitter discussions in a classroom?  Is there any other Social Media vehicles that provide the same learning experience?