MC Slim JB may sound like the name of your newest favorite Boston-based rapper, but in reality, he’s so much cooler than that. The local restaurant critic writes reviews for the Improper Bostonian and plenty other publications, all the while happily tweeting about food, Boston, and more. And if you were wondering, no, he is NOT the cat in his Twitter avatar. Find more Food & Drink Twitter accounts at our list of Who to Follow in Boston!
1. Find a niche and stick to it. Probably 85% of my comments relate to Boston food and drink, with a sprinkling of national food/drink stuff thrown in. That’s why people follow me.
2. Credit your sources, ideally with their Twitter handles. It’s not nice to pirate ideas. Nobody expects you to come up with original content all the time; they follow you because they take some interest in what you find interesting. So point them to cool, funny, interesting stuff besides your own; just tell people where you found it.
3. Go easy with the Tweeting of photos of what you’re eating. That dish might indeed be awesome, but if you’re like me, your smartphone-based photo of it is probably pretty pitiful, and maybe not doing the chef or restaurant such a great favor.
4. Be wary of reporting rumors, especially restaurant closings. False rumors can hurt a business and its workers. Better to be scooped than to get the facts wrong. Nobody cares if you got the news out first, anyway.
5. If you’re going to lob a dart at somebody in the industry for their self-aggrandizement, dumb restaurant name, horrifying marketing campaign, or shady business practices, consider using satire over sanctimony. For most readers, it’s more fun to see a scoundrel or ninny ridiculed than scolded.
