When do you RT on Twitter?

Hi folks! Our most recent Twitter poll asked:

When do you RT (re-tweet)? When someone RT’s something of yours, something interesting, cool tool/link, other?

The answers were quite interesting, even a little surprising. Here are the results:

Cool link or tool: 20%
Useful or important info: 48%
When someone RT’s me: 12%
To help someone out: 20%

The interesting thing to see was how many of you said that you RT to help someone out, especially since that wasn’t one of the suggested options. And we can testify to how awesome that is! The responses to this poll were quite a bit fewer than our last one, but thanks to our Twitter friend @mayhemstudios who re-tweeted our question several times, we got a bunch more responses!

Another recent experience with helpful re-tweeting came after the phishing scam spread through Twitter. We posted some tips on our blog about How to Protect Your Twitter Account from Scammers, and so many of you RT’d the link that we received a bucket load of traffic to that post (and the most comments yet). This was such a great example oh how helpful re-tweeting can be, and we hope it saved lots of people from being taken advantage of.

Thanks to all who responded to this poll, it was quite enlightening Here are the actual responses from the Twitter stream:

lenire cool tools, cool links, something clever that was said, a question, or an announcement

easy_way most of the time a tool or a warning of sorts xD

samblankenship I rt when it was something so good that it makes me wish I was the one that had originally sent it!

kishau I like to keep it simple. I RT to share useful/interesting info. That is all.

Lotay usually a trusted friend’s suggestion gets my attention or an interesting bio.

madmicroblogger Not necessarily, I think it’s more for when you see a tweet worth sharing

chipg I always try to spread the ‘love’ and RT. I also have been known to HT (hat tip) for food ideas.

sarahvreid Yes, if they have something worth sharing - I’m lucky as the people I follow are very interesting, so it’s easy for me to do!

alanunderkofler I always RT people that RT me… Of course I RT more items because they add value, show a cool tool, or I like the tweet

MattLevenhagen I RT when someone posts something interesting, useful, smart, enlightening & I think my followers will enjoy or benefit from it

musosdan I always try and RT when someone posts something important, or a cool tool/link. I never RT based on them RTing me!

easy_way its something important/cool

jessewilkins something interesting. If I’d blog/Del.icio.us it, I’ll RT. Also requests for assistance if I know I have followers that could

macbooknovice I retweet when someone tweets about something that I think will be useful, humorous, or interesting to others.

skyn3t i do RT to help spread urgent messages, interesting links, important news, rare updates, cool tools and special blogs

Geek_News I RT interesting links such as blog posts, pics or news

Firgs RT factors include: Cool, interesting to me & followers, I am helping promote someone I know, out of the norm, and NOT spam!

mayhemstudios I retweet anything that will benefit my followers. It doesn’t matter if people return the favor or not, most times, they do

jennipps When something is interesting/motivating and relevant to me and what I do. If I like it, generally a lot of my followers do too.

ruthe when I think is interesting/important OR to resend a question/blog posting of mine to make sure all time zones R covered.

politicsRboring I RT when people tweet me!

Adrigonzo Whenever i feel like it! especially if someone needs help (begging for more followers does not constitute a request for help)

ChuckAtLegacy I RT when I think the tweet will be interesting to my followers, and/or to help out a friend.

kgrz i personally prefer to RT if the content is interesting and out of the ordinary and if it would benefit people following me!

@jantallenI I retweet things I think are worthy or would be interesting to my tweethearts that might not see the tweet

@arronlock I generally RT things that I have found useful or interesting. Of course when someone RT my stuff thats always a plus

MiriamJacobs I RT to help promote others whether they return the favor. I even RT for some who I later find out no longer follow me. Lol

epuri when something intresting found in any tweet

shoutmeloud It depend on the mood…and depend on the person who tweet like you got it now

kristinaeichorn I RT something interesting/cool that I think would be of value to my followers

GeorgeDearing if you understand your network, your RTs should either inform and educate or provide a baseline 2 kick off convos..just my .01

@effamae I RT when I find a really get how-to, photoshop toots and tools. Or something just really great.