Q. Why do you have a separate @DebbieOhi account from @inkyelbows?

@inkyelbows is my Twitter account for posting about writing and illustrating books, childhood literacy, libraries, books in the classroom, publishing industry news, the craft and business of writing.

@debbieohi is my chatty and somewhat rambling Twitter account for use in live chats and for most @ replies, plus when I want to ramble about anything, not just writing and books. I also send most of my Instagram photos to @debbieohi, not @inkyelbows, and these may or may not have anything to do with children's books.

[NOTE: Since I wrote the original post, Twitter has updated its interface to make it easier to see the whole conversation context.

You can now click on the "View conversation" link to see the full Twitter thread of any conversation. It's also easier now to browse someone's Twitter feed without the replies. The following, therefore, is somewhat outdated.]

Why separate accounts? Because I'd like to keep @inkyelbows high-info and low-chat. Please note that this a personal preference and not meant to be a "this is the One Right Way to do it" tweet method.

I'd like @inkyelbows to be a Twitter feed that writers can look up any time and know they'll find useful (and potentially retweetable) info. Sometimes I'll go to someone's feed and find pages of chitchat like "LOL" and "I agree" and other content which is meaningless out of context as well as not of direct use to me.

There's nothing wrong with this in itself, of course. Live chatting is one of the joys of Twitter. Browsing the feed of someone who does a lot of live chatting, however, can be a challenge if you're looking for meatier content and also have no interest (because there's no context) in what's being discussed. Example:

That's why I started @debbieohi, an account I use for casual chitchat and replies that may not be of interest to anyone other than the intended recipient. I also use it when I post a LOT of stuff about just one particular event, to avoid overwhelming those who aren't attending or interested in that one particular event.

From time to time, I'll do a reply in my main @inkyelbows feed, but I try to always include context so that others can get something out of the reply. I avoid having back-and-forth conversations on @inkyelbows; I'd rather move it to @debbieohi if it reaches that point.

I also have a few other Twitter accounts which cover specific niche topics and also tend to be more chatty than @inkyelbows, like:

@BGGgirl - focus on board gaming and gaming

@DebOhi - created so I could more easily follow personal friends and family (non-writing/illus) whom I don't already follow elsewhere.

 Again, I'm NOT saying that my way is the right way. Maintaining multiple Twitter accounts may seem confusing and time-consuming. However, I treat my Twitter accounts the same way as I treat my multiple blogs -- In my mind, I'm just making one post; I just need to decide where to send it. 

Exception: when something really, really big happens -- Like when I got two book contracts from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers!  Then I do crosspost across nearly all my accounts. :-)

So far, more people are interested in following @inkyelbows than my chatty @debbieohi. And when I post on the latter, I can be as chatty as I like without worrying that I'll be turning off followers who are more interested in info and retweetable posts than my casual chitchat.

In the end, do what works for you. :-)

Related FAQ:

Isn't it a lot of work maintaining multiple Twitter accounts? How do you do it?

Last updated on May 17, 2014 by Debbie Ridpath Ohi