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For the people that tweet purely about their product or service constantly I choose to unfollow and it's out of sight out of mind. If I write a blog post I'll tweet about it once and once only. People who want to find it, will.
Thoughts?
<abbr>Michael Litman´s last blog post..More about that thing called Social Media..</abbr>
You mention "quality over quantity" and I don't think anyone could ever argue with this (at least argue with a genuine enough reason, that is). I think this is where social media is maturing as opposed to the early days of online interactivity - now it is (for the most part) about the sharing and growing together.
If you want to win a popularity contest, fine, that's your prerogative - but I probably won't be a part of it as you'll invariably be too busy number-crunching, as opposed to contributing anything worthwhile.
Thanks for reading and sharing your views, I appreciate it.
'I have 500 followers!', 'I have 600 followers!', 'I have 700 followers'....
You know what? I don't care how many followers you have! Trust me, if you solely post tweets detailing the number of followers you have, you will offer no value to those following you. I consider one of the most valuable aspects of Twitter to be the information you get from those you follow. If you increasingly alienate your followers, they will invariably stop following... This may actually damage your brand equity as a further corollary.
<abbr>The Lovable Rogue´s last blog post..The Social Media: Are You Open to Interpretation?</abbr>
SuzeMuz had a post that mentions the quality/quantity issue as well, at http://suzemuse.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/the-se.... I commented there on my experience of having someone criticize me for not having enough Twitter followers to be worth listening to. Wow, good thing my self-esteem doesn't reside in my computer screen. :D
Personally, I'm not on Twitter for direct promotional purposes. I got on to check it out as a potential tool to incorporate into the communications work I head up for Washington State University Spokane (@WSUSpokane), then got hooked (or got ADD--take your pick).
I'm so glad I did it as a private individual to start getting some idea of the culture, although it feels as if it's moving so fast that whatever is recommended as a best practice today will be the sign of a newbie in a week or so. It would be a fascinating sociological and linguistic study to track the emerging and changing norms.
The "selfish shouts" go right over my head because of the nature of Twitter. I scan the stream, click on a few links that look interesting, and my browser launches a bunch of new windows. I'd have no way of realizing that someone pointed me to a post that mentions him/her directly unless I paid a lot more attention to how I got there in the first place.
I did very quickly form opinions of who was tweeting links to great stuff that wasn't all just their own--@Chris Brogan, @kanter, and others. I'd better go figure out who tweeted the link to this... oh yeah, it was @PressReleasePR. I think that generosity pays off. Twitter: Just another chance to affect your karmic balance.
@BarbChamberlain
<abbr>Barb Chamberlain´s last blog post..Getting older, or, it’s not fair but nobody said it would be</abbr>
<abbr>juliemarg´s last blog post..Elephant and Castle - Dublin, Ireland</abbr>
@ Barb Chamberlain. Some great points you make here, Barb. I read that post by Susan Murphy - she's one of the bloggers I tend to read quite a bit as she always has something interesting to say. The example you use of the Twitter user who wouldn't follow you because you couldn't possibly be worth following due to lack of numbers? Probably better off without him/her.
That's an interesting premise you raise regarding the sociological and linguistic study - I for one would be very interested in reading such a study. It's true - share with others and they'll be quick to share with you as well. And at the end of the day, isn't that how we all learn and grow?
@ Julie. Yes, I knew I forgot one of the better ones! :) Mentioning your current food choice or latte isn't always the most stimulating of conversation pieces. Unless you want to recommend I try a certain brand..? ;-)
Thanks for reading and commenting guys, always appreciated.
Just my two cents.
Kimberly
@jkvirtualoffice
www.jkvirtualoffice.com/blog
Perhaps some people don't realize that their use of Twitter can be annoying - after all, I guess there are no ground rules on how to use social media. Then again, who am I to say what's annoying and what's not? ;-)
As you say, there will always be two camps in social media (and this is probably true of a great many things). One will invariably be right while the other won't - which one is which will depend on your point of view. :)
<abbr>witchypoo´s last blog post..Best contest Ever</abbr>
Great job, as always. I appreciate your service to the online community.
Be well, my friend.
<abbr>Brent Haeseker´s last blog post..Mild Mannered Consultant by Day - Slightly Less Mild Mannered Consultant by Night</abbr>
I'm really new at Twittering. But I've read alot about what it is and what is isn't. I agree with you on your 5 points. I appreciate relevant info that is useful and not merely self promoting.
@ Lizz. Funnily enough, it was actually your experiences with that PR user that nudged me in the direction of this post. I'd been debating for a while whether to run with Twitter annoyances or not, and yours (and a few others) experiences made up my mind. The third point is definitely one of the more annoying peeves - a sales pitch is all well and good, but keep it for the right place and the right time. Your own blog, for example, or a landing page...
@ Brent. That is one of the biggest saving graces on Twitter, I believe - the personal choice. Without the option to unfollow or block, I feel the service could get really bad for spammers. Thankfully, while the power is in our own hands to control who and what we follow, then Twitter will remain a great place to meet interesting and knowledgeable people. :)
@ Bernie. Good to have you on Twitter, Bernie. :) I think most people are sensible - the ones that spam or use it annoyingly are probably the same ones that would send you generic emails about how they made $10,000 in 3 minutes using a 2-minute egg timer... ;-)
Thanks for reading and sharing your view, guys, I appreciate your time. :)
You've created a great set of guidelines for how to be a star Twitter user. By keeping things conversational, sharing good content you come across and generally being aware that other people have to read what you are saying (if they choose to follow you), you ought to keep most users on Twitter happy.
However, when things go awry and the tool becomes your self-promotion platform plus your main line of conversation with others, things can go sour very fast.
I love the argument Louis Gray made recently that basically says we are in control of the noise we see on Twitter and in social media. It's very easy to hit the 'unfollow' or 'block' buttons, and I also applaud the Twitter team for giving us those abilities.
The hardest part about all of this is that even with great blog posts and 'do not' lists like this, we'll still see users disobeying the unwritten rules and scaring off more of the core Twitter users. I'd love to see those types of users forget about Twitter and move on to the next big thing, but chances are they will only keep growing in numbers as time goes by.
Thanks for the compliment, I really appreciate that and glad the post "hit home". :)
I guess this is the problem of something going through its teething stages - although maybe not, since MySpace is still getting hit hard with the "teenage girls in bikini friends". Hopefully, as you say, Twitter will outgrow this malaise.
I must admit, it makes me wonder what the offline persona's of these people are like. Are they as forceful offline in a stereotypical marketing/advertiser/PR kind of way, or are they fairly shy and simply using Twitter (and similar) to be more vocal? Who knows?
As you mention, the great equalizer is that we ARE in control of the noise, both incoming and outgoing. The outgoing noise we should respect - the incoming noise we should expect, and deal with accordingly.
Thanks for reading and sharing your view, appreciated.
It's just not for me, and judging by the comments here, it's not for the majority of Twitter users either. That's the great thing about social media - we seem to be moving away from "me, me, me" to "we, we, we" and this will work its way across the different social media platforms.
Thanks for reading and commenting (and most definitely thanks for the mustache love!) :)
First time visitor to your site - and agree with your points - they are right on! The other piece I find of no value is when a user consistently updates via txt or a feed - it is merely a one-way relationship.
Cheers!
<abbr>@jjbuss´s last blog post..Sarah Palin vs. CareerBuilder on Facebook</abbr>
Thanks for stopping by and look forward to hearing more from you.
<abbr>Money Making Ideas ~ Suzanne´s last blog post..Top 7 Home Business Ideas</abbr>
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views as always. :)
The one addition to your set of rules that was suggested by juliemarg is one I wouldn't necessarily agree with; even though I don't find them to be all that helpful. But in terms of the original inspiration of Twitter (What are you doing?), I don't think you can fault anyone for staying true to the original intent. The great thing about Twitter is that the conversations have evolved to a great place for sharing information and thoughts, but the origins will always be the origins.
I agree there's nothing wrong with a bit of self-promotion - as you mention, how else is anyone going to know you've published a new blog post if they don't subscribe to you. Where my annoyance lies is with the users who do nothing but post links to their own blogs - new posts, old posts, simply the main URL, etc. That's when it changes from being a simple acknowledgment that you have a new post, to not offering anything of value to the conversation.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your view, appreciate it.
Thanks for stopping by.
Re: your post -- I'd add users who Tweet "too much" (subjective). I'm going to try following you but am concerned when I see a "nuclear fallout cost," (try the URL).
http://followcost.com/PressReleasePR
Re: my post -- I'm with you on not putting too much weight on the Twitter-user lists. *However,* as a recipient of the "Top 50 Tweeples to Follow" nod, I've met more than 100 users I likely otherwise would not have met who found me on @PRSarahEvans list. It worked out nicely for me.
I see it as a third-party endorsement and another way to raise brand awareness (in this case the "Joe Hage brand"), nothing more.
Thanks for the conversation!
Joe Hage
<abbr>JoeHageOnline.com´s last blog post..A Twitter dilemma: To follow or not to follow</abbr>
I've seen that result before (the "nuclear fallout" grade). That's why I don't put too much leverage into a lot of these tools - Grader, Tweeples, Followcost, etc. What Followcost in particular fails to look at is the quality of the Tweets in question. I'm not saying that every one of my Tweets are groundbreaking fonts of knowledge, but on the other hand I'd certainly say they aren't of the annoying nature discussed in this post. I'm sure you'll make your own mind up on that one. :)
I agree with you on that you met people that you wouldn't have otherwise (hence my "don't take this the wrong way" approach on my comment to your post). :)
The only thing I would say about most lists is that generally the majority of people on them would have a large follower base anyway - it'd be more beneficial to have undiscovered users as opposed to the normal Chris Brogan, Problogger, Scobleizer, etc. As I mentioned, it's all usually relative to the person compiling the list.
But, like I mentioned, that's not to take anything away from your inclusion and it's great that someone with quality input is being recognized.
Thanks for reading and sharing your views, and look forward to hearing/reading more from you.
As a newbie to social media it certainly is confusing to know what the correct etiquette might be, which is where lurking comes into it's own! However you can lurk forever and never really learn how the site works unless you take the audacious step and get stuck in.
It became clear to me rather quickly that there were many different types of user on Twitter, including a great swathe of spammers , although most in this group would be horrified to be described thus!
The most annoying group to my way of thinking, are the ones who post a page of tweets that welcome all new followers. Does anyone care who is following you? if all you are concerned about is numbers!
I have met some fantastic people on Twitter including many from whom I have purchased products and it's a joy to follow them . Not really interested in the type that Follows 1850 has 300 followers and 4 tweets and no website url!
Keep up the good work and Thank You to Chris who commented above.
This is the main "problem" with social media on the whole, I feel. It is still a new medium (although it's been around in many guises for a few years) that we're all still learning together.
Yet the way I look at it is that people generally take their offline persona into the digital one. Usually this is fine - yet you will always have various people offline who are mean, vindictive, selfish - the list goes on.
I'm not saying that Twitter spammers fall into any of these descriptions necessarily, but at the same time they may be the same ones that would call you incessantly about double-glazing! :)
The great equalizer as far as Twitter goes is that the power is always in your hands - if you don't like what someone has to say, simply un-follow or block them. That allows you to maintain the audience you actually want to connect with.
Thanks for reading and sharing your view, and hope to see you around here more. :)
- People retweeting some self-promoting tweet more than 3 times. I think it's fine to retweet a couple of times cos of the various timezones, but there's one guy who I am just about to unfollow who does it about 5 times an hour.
- Those who experience deep and meaningful distress about a glitch in grader reporting a lower popularity for them! (bless)
- Those who unfollow someone just because they aren't being followed in return and make a huge song and dance about it.
I quite like hearing about the humdrum things people are doing (like what they are eating) so long as it's only every now and again. I have unfollowed quite a lot of people who seem to report every breath they take throughout the whole day!
Reeta
@reetaluthra
<abbr>Reeta Luthra´s last blog post..Gain Precious Years Through Improving Your Decision Making Strategy</abbr>
I have to admit to being utterly non-plussed with this whole Grader tool. Is it really important to be amongst the elite? And isn't the whole grading system open to abuse - simply gather followers and post a lot of Tweets and that seems to get you a high score. I'd rather concentrate on gathering quality connections and sharing worthwhile and useful information as opposed to trying to top the league in Toronto. But, each to their own, I guess... ;-)
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, appreciate you sharing your views. :)
Anyway, what exactly is a Twitter spammer, considering that you have to follow someone to read their stuff? If you chose to follow them, how can their posts be spam?
Sorry for any confusion - the reply was sincere. :)
With regards a Twitter spammer, while you do need to follow someone to read their Tweets, generally you don't really know what they're like until you have been following them. Yes, you can read their previous Tweets, but many people don't take the time to do that.
That's when the problems can begin - all of a sudden your Twitter stream is filled with self-promoting Tweets, re-Tweets taking you to affiliate links, Direct Messages to sign up to newsletters, etc...
Additionally, someone can't Direct Message you until you follow them. By waiting until they are followed and then sending you an invite to sign up for their newsletter, blog posts, sales pitches, etc, makes them the worst kind of spammer.
Thanks for stopping by again, good to have you here. :)
<abbr>Mitch´s last blog post..Curious About Your Backlinks?</abbr>
Everyone wants to promote themselves, or their business, or their affiliate scheme - that's fine. But do it respectably.
Have the URL in your bio.
Tweet occasionally directing people to your sales page.
Have a blog where people can get all this information.
If you're seen to offer something of value, people will naturally want to know more about you, and ask if you have any more info about yourself. That's when you can show them the sales page, your affiliate scheme or whatever. And you won't lose followers into the bargain.
I presume that those using it for what we might call "shameless self promotion" do it because it works for them AND their followers. At least one of the things Twitter is said to be beneficial for is as a way to market and promote yourself.
I too would prefer not to have overkill on promotional stuff, but I know I have the choice to "unfollow" folk if it gets to me. So far, that's not the reason I've unfollowed or blocked - but have unfollowed from the spam bots, or, if it turns out that I've actually nothing in common with someone I followed.
When I have a new blog post I will generally tweet it and if I find stuff that I think is interesting I'll both Tweet and check it out. I find interesting people all the time.
I'm often so busy it's hard to keep up with finding and sharing. That's just the way it is. I'm not interested in 1,000's of followers and have learned to tune out the "I have a twitter grade of 500" or "I've just reached my 20,oooth follower" because I really don't care. I could wish it was "only this" or "only that" but as long as the unfollow button is there I consider I have the power on that one :)
I think with Twitter right now you set your own rules and let others set theirs...'cos there's always the chance that one person's rules won't work for the next.
<abbr>Nicky Jameson´s last blog post..13 Ways To Build Trust and Community With Social Media</abbr>
I would never say "my way is better than your way" and if people want to use it for self-promotion and nothing else, then fair play to them and if it works all the better. It's just not for me. ;-)
Thanks for sharing your views, appreciate you stopping by.
And then, as was stated above, the great control we have is to UNfollow.
http://twitter.com/ChelleCordero
<abbr>Chelle Cordero´s last blog post..Creative Writing Workshop</abbr>
Thanks for stopping by and look forward to hearing more from you.
And, I agree with all the comments about annoying twitterers, even though I'm a novice at social networking - I especially don't like the cussing in writing or the thank you DMs with a sales pitch.
<abbr>Mrs. MoneyMerge´s last blog post..To Pay Off or Not To Pay Off Your Mortgage - a question on many people’s minds</abbr>
Hopefully I can always take the time to answer people that have taken time out of their own day to read and comment. If I ever stop replying, I hope people like your good self will put me in my place :)
The art is in forming messages that invite others in, and knowing when to use DM to take the conversation out of the main conversation.
After all, Twitter is one, big conversation.
But, as you say, it's all in the user's hands how it's used.
I'm thinking that a string of 4-5 messages on the same topic would fall into your #4, but maybe not.
Everyone has aspirations, but if there's one thing we should have learned from George Bush's time in office, it's: don't claim "Mission Accomplished" if you've only just started.
I tend to find that those that are self-proclaimed "gurus" or "experts" are, like you say, anything but. That kind of reputation comes from recommendations by others and the ability to back up your claims with substantiated results.
I've seen "gurus" that don't even know what Stumbleupon is, or why you should always claim your blog in Technorati. Sorry, next... ;-)
I guess I said all that to say, I don't want to be selfish in my attempt at twitter. Thanks a lot for your insight.
Thank you for your insights here.
I have been on Twitter for a week. I have found some great resources (including your blog) but have also seen users with a style of tweeting I don't enjoy and would not want to imitate. .
I am trying really hard to learn the right way to use the forum, both for my benefit and to add value to the community. As a total newbie, I wonder "Am I supposed to DM each new follower and thank them?" "Should I just tweet links to my blog, my products, my store?"
"What do I have to say that will add value?" "Exactly how do I collect quality followers?" "What is correct etiquette for RT, DM, and what the heck does # mean?"
I realize I have to work these things out for myself. I am thankful for sites like yours with guidance and advice.
All the best - Hilary
The best thing to do is just be yourself and, as in life, be with others how you'd like them to be with you. That should be a decent starting point. But most of all, just get talking and have fun!
Be sure to say hello, I'm always around. :)
We are all different and Twitter can accommodate our versatility. And it isn't a matter of "right" or "wrong" as you've mentioned...perhaps another way to see it is "working" or "not working"...it presents a more neutral outlook.
I am very new to Twitter and on the first couple of weeks, all I did was observe silently until I figured out what would work for me...I am still sculpting my needs and sculpting what I can do to offer back to this incredible community!
My general concept is this: If something annoys me, I add it to my list of what not to do. If I like something, I add it to my list of what to do...I guess it all boils down to "tweet unto others as you would like others tweet unto you" :~)
And it is more important to me who I follow...I choose this very carefully because these are the people I can learn valuable insights from...having a zillion unconnecting followers is a waste of everyone's life currency!
Thank you, Danny, for the opportunity to learn from you everyday!
"Authenticity needs no selling just sharing!" ~Henie~
Best Always,
Henie
If I wanted to know anything about the game, I'd be watching it. I don't need 81923749823423 tweets from a user letting me know how the World Series is going.
The person who said "if I wanted to watch the game, I would need Twitter" paraphrasing. First of all, it is not all about you - shocking eh? But there are others around the world that do not get coverage or they are away from any communication - and would love to see that - simply unfollow until the game is over - or how about joining in the discussion and get to know others, wow what a concept. Figure this out, if you think the world evolves around, it doesn't, if you think people in a community are going to bow down to you, they want - you have to earn respect and the right to be in the community -no more free passes on any site, especially Twitter.
Nice post Danny - I should read you more often.
JanSimpson
Anyway, once I do have followers, now I know what would annoy them ;-) so thank you very much for that!
But I'm sure I do things that people hate as well, which is cool - after all, we'd all be boring if we did the same things.
Honestly, just be yourself, do your thing, and people will either like what you're doing or not. It's the great thing about the UnFollow feature :)
Good question! I found that as soon as I found a couple people to follow (found their link on their blogs or Facebook page or somewhere) then I started getting people "following" me. So I'd go to their Twitter pages and look through THEIR follows for people I think look interesting.
Also, 2 days ago I signed up at MrTweet.net which compares your twitter profile to others and delivers a list of people you might want to follow. I've found it somewhat useful, finding a few new people to follow.
-- I don't understand why people have thousands of Follows. It takes time to read posts and respond to ones of interest, and I'm already overwhelmed with 30 or so Follows. But some people do, I think, consider it a matter of pride to have thousands of Followers, regardless of their ability to actually interact with even half of them.
Best of luck :-)
And, probably along the line of "continuing personal conversations", just saw 10 posts from the same person saying "@someone Thank you." No one else knows what he's thanking them for. So what value is there in making his gratitude public?
I've just joined Twitter a few weeks ago and still don't see value in it. I've found a few resources, but I'd find them anyway if I did a search. I'll probably delete my account in another week, it is a timewaster.
I'm new too. I noticed that the people who I Followed, who seem to be making a sincere effort to interact and add value, all sent me a "Thank you" for my Follow. I am doing the same to those who Follow me, if it looks like they aren't just "head hunters" - people who follow everyone possible, just to have a large Follower base.
That's not right or wrong, it's just my decision on how to interact with those who I think add value in the areas I am interested in.
As another newbie user, I say a hearty "PLEASE don't!" This fits into the "shameless self-promotion" and "just plain annoying" categories ...
Every blog and forum is already flooded with people over-promoting their products; there is more "junk" out there than real conversations and real exchanges of info. I hope I'm not one of those, they really really annoy me :-)
I just learned this! It's cool.
When you have a topic of your own that you want people to be able to find easily, then you create your own "#something" - called a hash tag.
Got this from @BianaBabinsky (a very helpful Twitterererer) : " tag ur tips with a hashtag ... that way peeps can search for the tag and see all..."
For example, if you want to post an inspirational quote every Monday, you can use a hash tag like #Monday so people can type it into the Twitter search and see everything you posted with #Monday in your tweets.
Your blog gave me something to think about.
Thanks for sharing
It feels a little weird being a social media enthusiast who knows all the right things to do to increase my numbers--and making a choice to not do them. But my life is complicated enough as it is!
Too often it does seem that a lot of people simply want to add, add, add. For what reason? Is it to inflate "importance" or "expertise"? Is it to help persuade people you must be an expert?
With my own account, I continuously cull dead accounts, or inactive ones that haven't conversed in over a month, usually. The others, while I may not be able to chat with every single one all the time, do offer the opportunity to read that one great and inspiring tweet from out of nowhere, so I am loathe to lower it more.
Tools like Seesmic Desktop help, definitely, as does Tweepular. I wrote a short while ago on tools to help you maximize your Twitter use, if that helps?
But, at the end of the day, it's what you're comfortable with. After all, you're the one using it every day. :)
Great info about twitter tabus. I think people do not understand the concept of engaging, interacting and that purpose of twitter is to create two way message. not one way.
I think people do too much advertising and not interacting and they wonder why nobody responds.. Hello...
I love your suggestion about open conversation.. Very good!
Thank you
Tatyana
But hey, social media is still a numbers game for the majority of users. It's all about the number of followers/friends. Until that change and people give focus on stronger relationships instead of quantity.