4 Quick Tips to Be Funny on Twitter

A few Twitter pros remind us that to be funny, you have to take a risk.
By Sonya Chudgar | Feb 21, 2013

Among the many events currently taking place as part of Social Media Week, a panel of experts talked Thursday about a topic not easily executed by most people: How to be funny (like really funny) in 140 characters or less.

The experts were Julieanne Smolinksi, a contributor at GQ, Jezebel, and Vulture; Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show; and Jon Freidman, producer for MTV’s Guy Code and Girl Code.

And while it's hard to just throw caution into the wind in such a public forum, here's a quick, simple list of tips from these funny people. 

1. Don't watch your follower count. "I think, in terms of being funny, [you shouldn't] worry about your follower count, ‘cause...you'll get down on yourself—'Maybe I'm not so funny.’ But if you stick to your style, what you think is funny, your audience will find you. You're getting rid of the ones that aren't gonna click with you.” – Friedman

2. Man up. "The second you hit send, the second it passes your lips, it becomes the world's to decide how they feel about it. You can try to go back and re-explain, and that's always a disaster, you can try to apologize or backtrack, but if you have to backtrack or apologize, you have to ask why you're putting it out there in the first place." – Winstead

3. Be confident that followers "get you." "Give your audience credit. You don't have to spell everything out for them." – Friedman

4. Go all out. "Nobody ever made a difference being cautious." – Winstead
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