15 Takeaways from The Science of ReTweets

Social Media Marketer and Viral Marketing Scientist Dan Zarrella wrote an eBook called The Science of ReTweets.

Here are 15 Takeaways from The Science of ReTweets to help you with your Twitter ReTweets.

1. Viral Ideas

“We can now compare millions of viral ideas to uncover the building blocks of contagiousness.”

“”Re-Tweets may seem like a small idea. But the small idea is the first real window into how ideas spread from person to person.”

2. More Followers bring More ReTweets

Maybe not. The data shows that while users with more followers will get more ReTweets, some users are able to get lots of ReTweets without lots of followers; their content must be more contagious.

3. Links

If you provide a link in a tweet, chances are higher that it will be shared, ReTweeted.

4. URL Shorteners

Tweets that contained links using the URL Shorteners bit.ly, ow.ly and is.gd were all more ReTweetable than the older, longer, tinyurl.

5. Words & Phrases

The Science of ReTweets lists 20 Most ReTweetable Words & Phrases. You’ll have to download the eBook to find out what they are. But, it was concluded that one phrase, “New Blog Post” is the common prefix used when a person Tweets about a new blog post. It tells us that Tweeting your blog post is a very smart thing to do.

If you head over to Twitter Search and type in “New Blog Post” filter:links or “Blog Post” filter:links you’ll see a constant stream of “New Blog Post” Tweets arrive on the twitter search results page.

6. Least ReTweetable Words

There’s also a list of Least of 20 Least ReTweetable Words. Use these words, and your likely to get less ReTweets.

7. Nine More Stats

It was discovered that Tweets with a bit more syllables were ReTweeted more than less-complex (less syllables) Tweets.
ReTweets required 6.13 years of schooling.
Novelty or “Newness” is important to ReTweeting.
Noun and 3rd-person heaviness of ReTweets, indicating a subject matter and headline type nature.
ReTweets contained more punctuation than non-ReTweets.
Hyphens, periods and colons are the most ReTweetable punctuation.
Positive Tweets are more ReTweetable than negative ones. Positive Tweets include Tweets about work, religion, money and media/celebrities. Negative Tweets include Tweets about emotions, sensations, sear words and self-reference.
Want to know when the best time to get ReTweeted is? Download the eBook (page 20).
Want to know what days are the most ReTweetable? Download the eBook (page 21).