A Multipotentialite’s Guide to Writing an (Almost Perfect) Twitter Bio

Your Twitter bio is supposed to tell the world everything that makes you who you are. That’s a lot harder than it seems.

Currently, my Twitter bio looks like this.

I hate it. Today, at least.

I’m constantly tempted to rearrange the order, the wording, add more, remove some, delete it all and start over.

It’s not the greatest Twitter bio that ever was. But it does its job. It hints at what you can expect to see from my account in your Twitter stream if you follow me.

Your bio is supposed to tell potential followers what you stand for in 140 characters or less. And what you’re most interested in or excited about.

This is the multipotentialite’s worst nightmare.

We don’t like being forced to choose to highlight just a few obligations or accomplishments. We’re proud of everything we do. We want to share it. All of it.

Twitter is all about keeping things concise. Which is actually a great way to practice summing up everything you do in, essentially, a single breath.

Sort of like an elevator pitch. But it’s your brand. And if you don’t get it just right, you might miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime.

The experts offer a few generic tips. Use keywords. Be funny. Incorporate “social proof.”

That’s not helpful when you’re a manager by day, consultant by evening, aspiring novelist by night, you play an instrument, love science fiction, go to board game conventions, and each and every one of these things holds equal importance to your identity.

What do you include? What do you leave out? Is what you think is the most important thing about you actually the least important?

Here’s my advice: As long as it represents who you are as a human and as a professional, as much as anything can in 140 characters, it’s probably good enough.

If you want people to know where to find your work, mention those accounts (I’d limit it to three, because chances are if you’re reading this, you could easily add more).

Find a phrase that sums up who you are and what you stand for. Until recently, “helping you live a smarter, healthier life” was part of my bio. It spoke to my mission and what I was trying to accomplish as an online creator. STEMinist works just as well. For now.

Decide what’s most important to your “brand.” I use my Twitter account to share my thoughts as well as my published work. So I mention where people can go to find those articles and others like them. And people are welcome to reach out to me about any of the subjects I mention (Star Wars, health, etc.). This might mean you leave out your love of pizza, old cartoons, and french bulldogs. You can still, technically, post about those things.

Leave the rest up to interpretation. Anyone genuinely interested in learning more about you will do so … by stalking your Twitter profile … and anywhere else you appear on social media … even the profiles you’d rather them not look at … hey, you’re in control of what you put out there. Your business is anyone’s business if you put it on the internet.

Here’s what not to do:

Use multiple hashtags to please the search box. There’s no reason for this. It looks ugly. It’s not easy to read. And it doesn’t make you look smart, accomplished, or “trendy.” No one wants to glance at your bio — with or without actually going to your profile — and see #RISEANDGRIND. Are you actually rising and grinding? The rest of your page will prove that. Or it won’t. Depending on what you put there.

Link to your portfolio, website, or latest published work. That’s what the website space and pinned tweets are for. You want your bio to look clean at a glance. Links, like hashtags, only add clutter. Plus, you don’t want to look like you’re trying to oversell something, especially if your pinned tweet is a book, your website, or a product. Too much call to action usually leads to no action. Because potential followers will click away before they follow through on most or any of it.

Include everything for the sake of appeal. I’m a proud dog mom and book nerd, but these things don’t need to appear in my Twitter bio. Especially since they technically don’t have anything to do with what I’m currently working on. I include “Star Wars enthusiast” because I write Star Wars content. It’s part of my brand.

Stuff it with nonsense. You don’t need to call yourself a creative, expert, guru, or enthusiast (unless it’s, you know … part of your brand?). Your tweets need to do most of the informing. Let potential followers draw their own conclusions as they scroll through your most recent posts. If you talk about or showcase your work, they’ll know you’re creative. If you tweet about your subject of expertise, they’ll know you’re credible without you having to spell it out for them.

When you have too many interests to count, it’s tempting to want to showcase it all in one place. Unfortunately, Twitter might not be that place, depending on whether or not your primary interests intersect.

Just because it doesn’t show up in your bio doesn’t mean it isn’t still part of what makes you who you are. I’m no less of a husky owner because she didn’t make the virtual cut (at least, not yet). I’m no less of a gamer because I don’t scream I LOVE VIDEO GAMESSSSS in my bio.

Of course, you can technically ignore all this advice and do whatever you want. It’s your life.

But if you’re like me, and you don’t want to feel like you’re leaving out important information about yourself, just know some things really are more important than others. At least when it comes to your 140-character bio.

And here’s the really cool thing … you can always change it. If one interest suddenly takes precedence over another, make a switch. You’ll probably be the only one who notices.

In this case, being selective and concise is the way to go. Now if your interests vary so much that you have to create multiple Twitter accounts … do you really have time for that? I feel genuinely stressed for you. Good luck with that.