A while back, as my follower count on Twitter increased, I started to feel a little remorseful. You see, under @tysonsnow (my original account), I generally tweeted about legal-related matters or social media related issues. The vast majority of my followers followed for that type of information (I assume and hope). Then one day, while sitting at a concert, or a sporting event, or some random other occasion, I thought to myself, “I should totally send out a tweet about this.” I pulled out my phone and hammered out a tweet and was about it send it when I realized that I was tweeting about something that had nothing to do with the typical stuff I send out, generally targeted at lawyers, social media enthusiasts, human resources folks, and a variety of others, most of whom probably not interested in what funny thing my nephew just said or what traffic is like in downtown Salt Lake City. I can’t remember what the tweet was about, but I remember deciding not to send it out because I “owed” it to my 1500+ followers not to waste their time with something they almost certainly did not care about.

But, the longer I sat there, the more I wanted to tweet about it. After all, anyone who has read any of my articles or interviews knows that I am a big proponent of using social media because you like using social media. I was doing something I liked and I wanted to share it (as I think back on it, I think I was at a Salt Lake Bees Baseball Game). Suddenly, I felt handcuffed. Do I send out a tweet that most of my followers won’t care about? Do I include a twitpic that is probably going to cost me some followers because people followed me for legal and intellectual property advice, not pictures of stadiums and sports arenas?

It was a Twitter impasse. I wanted to be able to tweet about the random things I was doing and I wanted to keep part of the “social” aspect of Twitter alive. Yet I felt like I couldn’t let my followers down by tweeting things that didn’t pertain or have meaning to them. As we all know, it is hard enough trying to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to managing one’s Twitter feeds. I realized I wanted to be able to have fun with Twitter but I also wanted to maintain the reputation I built as someone who only posts significant, pertinent, and timely information to those who (made the mistake of deciding to) follow me.

At that moment, I decided I needed a second Twitter account; I wanted the best of both worlds. Now I have @tysonsnow (generally for personal, random, funny, witty, sarcastic, often legally-related, content) and @tyson_esq (generally nothing but legal or social media news, stories, advice, suggestions, etc.). Admittedly, the switch has been rough.  On July 6, 2010, sent my first tweet from @tyson_esq:

Welcome & thanks for following my law-related Twitter account. My personal account will remain @tysonsnow. Thx for your contributions.
http://twitter.com/#!/tyson_esq/status/17877146810

Since that time, the content of my two different accounts has diverged to some degree. Here is an example over the last few weeks:

As you can tell, there is quite the disparity between the two accounts. One is certainly more light-hearted and focused on non-work related issues. The other is more about business and helping my followers find the information they need. Hopefully my decision to split the accounts is benefiting both sides of the equation. You will notice, however, that there is some overlap; there are things I want both my @tysonsnow and @tyson_esq followers to know, so I send out tweets using both accounts (TweetDeck is fantastic for this). It allows me to make sure that the real important stuff (or the stuff I really care about) gets in front of as many pairs of eyes as possible.

When I started @tyson_esq, I had well over 1500 followers on @tysonsnow and, so far, some have migrated over to @tyson_esq (I’m almost up to 250). I like to think that the 250 followers of @tyson_esq subscribe specifically for the content (and aren’t interested in constantly being bombarded with my takes on college sports, the joys of living in Utah, or the random dorky things that come up in the odd little life I lead). Plus, my followers on @tyson_esq tend to tweet about the same subject matters my @tyson_esq account focuses on. Thus, it is a lot easier for me to glean relevant content (from tweets) from 250 followers who are locked into exactly what I’m talking about or interested in than it is to follow the massive stream of consciousness that comes from a feed of 1500+ professionals, friends, family members, and others I have picked up along the way.

The migration has also helped me clean out some of my “dead beat” followers from @tysonsnow; I sent out regular tweets regarding the new account its purpose yet many (i.e., over a thousand) didn’t care. It is unlikely that those followers were engaged with (most) of what I was posting from @tysonsnow anyway. But I’ve also lost a lot of followers through the process. I’m sure some people grew tired of the “personal” tweets and then chose not to move on to the new account. Those are the breaks I guess.

With all of that said, the best part about having two accounts is that Twitter is fun again. I can tweet whatever I feel like from @tysonsnow (within bounds of course)–whether it is related to Jimmer Fredette (the Player of the Year in my mind), Jimmer’s awesome brother TJ, (great rapper, you should check him out – http://www.tjfredette.com), politics, the crazy weather in Utah, or intellectual property, infringement, and employment disputes (the IP and employment stuff also gets posted on @tyson_esq). I have no problem posting pictures of me and my wife at national parks, concerts, or similar events. I don’t feel like I’m letting my followers down; that pressure has been lifted from my shoulders. Now, if my followers don’t want to hear about that stuff, all they have to do is follow @tyson_esq. Of course, they will miss out on all the TJ Fredette videos and Jimmer highlights. But so it goes I guess.

I do not know whether opening a second, law and social media focused Twitter account was the right decision. My audience is a lot smaller, but possibly more engaged. The followers of my other account are still around but may be missing relevant content. But the the only real downside (and something to keep in mind) that I see is that we still want to get to know each other through our various accounts. I don’t want @tyson_esq to be a news or wire service; I want it to reflect who I am and what I do. I want people who follow that account to know more about me as a person, not just someone who RTs stories. So, I make a conscious effort to include those personal touches–yet another reason often see cross-posts from @tysonsnow and @tyson_esq. Regardless of which account you follow (you should be following both), I want you to get a better understanding of who I am, which, in my mind, is one of the features of social media that we all need to take advantage of. Hopefully both accounts still achieve this objective.

(Now, if I could just figure out how to get my hands on @socialmediaesq, I would be set; maybe I will need to put my IP skills to task and register Social Media, Esq.™. Twitter certainly isn’t giving any help even though the account has been “abandoned” for more than a year).

Comments, thoughts, and suggestions, please! I love comments and feedback. Let’s open the discussion. What do you think?

–Tyson

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