With only 140 characters per message, is it possible to mess up a tweet? Absolutely. According to Lisa Barone, Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., “Tweeting is an art.” Her blog post “How To Write Better Tweets” is filled with several to-the-point tips to help you improve the way you tweet including:

Think before you tweet: Before you tweet that link, publish that twitter comment or get into that heated debate, ask yourself if what you’re about to put out there is meaningful. You know that queasy feeling you get in your stomach when you say something you wish you could take back? Bad tweets can give you the same feeling but you can’t ever take those words back.

Own your account: If you’re tweeting on behalf of a company, make sure you disclose that both in your tweets and in your profile. If you try to hide it, it will be found out. Bottom line: nobody likes a sneaky tweeter.

Learn to tease: Much of good Twittering is tied to the ability to write great engaging headlines and get people wanting more. With a name like Working Naked I can get away with double meanings. Of course that disappoints the teenagers who visit this site looking for pics of chicks working naked.

Leave room for retweets: There is nothing that validates you as a good tweet writer more than being retweeted by your followers; however, if you make your tweets too long you actually lower the chances of people retweeting you. Great tip that I never considered. Using Tinyurl.com helps but you can shorten a tweet only so much.