They say, "Birds of a feather flock together." Are we "of a feather...?"
I've been tweeting for a few years now.
I've been a social media manager for almost as long.
Over time, I have become aware of the twitter-sphere, and quietly kept my Twitter standards to myself. But in cleaning up my "virtual closet" over the weekend, it was loudly obvious...
There are a lot of "Twitty Tweeters" out there!
This is probably a good point to be clear that I'm a "quality over quantity" kinda girl. In all areas of life, that credo has served me well.
Even in social media -- despite it's slight contradiction of Paul Dunay's quote: "In the future, those individuals with the most Twitter followers, Facebook friends and fans, LinkedIn recommendations, etc. will get the big bucks."
Yet, even in the race to accumulate connections...we still gotta behave.
So whether you are new or relatively unexperienced with Twitter, or if you are thinking of tweeting me up, it seemed only fair to give you my list of "Twitter Peeves."
10 Reasons I Won't Follow You On Twitter
1. Your picture image icon is one of the defaults provided by Twitter - I don't want to follow an orange egg. I want to interact with a person. With all of the technology available today, there has got to be some image - of yourself or a cartoon - that you can upload to your Twitter profile.
2. Your profile includes no details about you - At somewhere near 150 million Twitter users we have to cut through the noise. Provide a basic sentence to describe whether you are a podcast enthusiast or like quilting on the weekends. Just some basic clue!
3. There are no tweets - Why would I want to follow someone that isn't actually tweeting? I don't care if you have 1 million followers. It's about conversation. Have one.
4. All of your tweets are in a language irrelevant to me - If I can't understand what you are saying, I can't tweet back. And vice versa. So why connect? (This is more for others than myself, because I understand enough bits and pieces in other languages - in addition to English - to flutter a bi-lingual tweet now and then).
5. Your tweets are protected - Yes, we have to be safe. But social media is about dialogue...sharing. If you want me to share with you, you have to make it easy. If you're so concerned that you need to protect your tweets, what are you doing on Twitter?
6. Your "follow to followed" ratio is unbalanced - I received a follow request from someone with over 50,000 followers - they were following about 50 people. They weren't even a household name. Really? What is the value of entering into a social situation if you aren't going to socialize and build relationships? Will you expect me to like and trust you enough to purchase something from you if you won't even acknowledge me?
7. Your first and only tweet to me is an @mention including your affiliate link. Spammer, you!
8. Our interests are completely irrelevant to each other - If you like football and fishing, that's terrific. But I don't. We should all be searching for those that share at least one common interest. (Note: I'll tolerate the football if you rock my world in other areas). :)
9. High broadcasted tweet volume - I'm talking more than 24 tweets a day with all marketed content & no conversational element. A lot of the time, these violators clump their tweets to hog the twitter stream. Unfollow!!
10. You send me an auto-follow direct message with a spammy link - In other words, "click my junk." I LOVE it when I receive a greeting back from someone wishing me a great day, or a message hopeful of a fruitful connection....and NO link. I've heard social media consultants say the Direct Message is an opportunity. I agree. It's an opportunity to encourage connection and offer value. Don't sell there - I unfollow.
The bullet points above are direct. But mainly I'm a pretty friendly tweeter...
If you follow me, I'll follow you back!
The image above is my Twitter mini-bio. If you follow me, you can also see:
- My follow to followed ratio.
- My lists - feel free to follow those too.
- What I tweet about.
Bottom line, we can all be friendly and get along fine by observing some basic Twitter etiquette.
Fellow tweeters, did I miss anything?
Touch any nerves?
Tell me about your "Twitter Peeves" in the comment box below! :)
25 Replies
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wizugo com has been with me from the first day when I started using Twitter. The results I got with this tool were legit, safe and most importantly automated. It increased my Twitter account’s performance. Now, I feel like a celebrity on Twitter, when I see my followers liking, commenting and even retweeting everything that I tweet.
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Joseph, I’ve not heard of WizUgo. That’s not to say it isn’t a good tool. However, I would hope future readers would consider the whole comment here as an example of being conscientious about their online presence… It is very easy to put together a terrific Twitter profile without using tools – free or paid. Many times, the platforms claiming to help increase Twitter followers do so in controversial ways putting Twitter profiles at risk on the Twitter platform. I would not want my readers to be mislead. In turn, I recommend always researching ANY tool for reputation, abiding by terms of service, and delivering what is promised. Further, just because a profile is not banned from Twitter now does not mean it won’t be in the future. Instagram just made changes to penalize accounts using tools for engagement and Twitter followers that it felt gamed the rules. Twitter could opt to do that at any moment. Facts: It’s not about the number of followers, but the number of followers engaging with you/the brand. We also want to see the right type of followers interacting with our content. Key there is targeted followers. These factors lead to true profit growth. My readers should also note that a very similar comment was placed on three of our articles on this blog. Thank you for your comment, ~Keri
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An oldie but goodie! I’d say, quite simply, that folks forget that social media is about many-to-many conversations, not mere marketing message amplification. In the spirit of social, think, “Would I behave in this manner at a party?” Great tips here, Keri!
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Yomar, Thank you for your compliment, and for having fun with this now archived post! The cocktail party analogy is a good one — We surely would not say, “please click my junk,” with friends at the tapas table. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ~Keri
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I sure do love me a good tapas spot. It’s fun having dishes you can share with friends during some good chats. That’s an even better analogy; after all, parties always seem to have at least one self-promoting creative, consultant, or salesperson. Those sharks can kill the mood!
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Yomar, Tapas are fun! They allow us to connect with and appreciate friends. No sharks — Unless it’s a fish taco or the like on a tapas plate! 😀 Sales professionals are great socializers, though… ~Keri
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Another awesome Keri post! No matter how long one has been using Twitter it’s a continuous place of learning and discovery – so thanks for sharing your thoughts and pet peeves. I can relate to most of your points and would be really interested to read your planned post about auto-DMs – there seems to be quite diversified opinions about them. I currently have mine set-up with a friendly message encouraging further conversation and no link but would love to hear more. This is a little off topic but another thing I’d like to find out more about is how to go about choosing a good Twitter handle. As a Twitter newbie when I originally set mine up I wanted to have something short & memorable. I combined the 1st word of my 2 businesses. ‘Tell’ for Tell IT Media & ”Juicy’ for Juicy Web Design – I often get asked how I got to have this name which can be a good conversation starter but wonder whether in the scheme of things it was a good idea. I’d love to get your feedback.
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Irma, You say something very important: Twitter is a place of continuous learning and discovery. This is very true! Ohhhh – Auto-DMs… I used to use these, but changed my ways. There is actually a post on my blog where I discuss this, and got slammed!! :O Choosing a Twitter ID? I think anything 15 characters or less is optimal. Savvy tweeters usually leave 20 characters open for Re-tweets. What I think is more important than the ID/handle is the avatar. Very important! People want to connect with people, not logos. So, even if you are not comfortable revealing your true face, a comic book type character could be used. I hope that helps! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ~Keri
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Pingback: 10 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter
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Great post, Keri! I can’t help as I was going through your list that I was mentally checking myself to see if I was offender of sorts. Feeling the same way, especially with the spammers! I still have yet to do something about them, though. Being fairly new on Twitter (relatively speaking), I’m trying to be fairly lenient. But that may change, no small thanks to your post! Cheers!
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Great post, Keri! I can’t help as I was going through your list that I was mentally checking myself to see if I was offender of sorts. Feeling the same way, especially with the spammers! I still have yet to do something about them, though. Being fairly new on Twitter (relatively speaking), I’m trying to be fairly lenient. But that may change, no small thanks to your post! Cheers!
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Hello @twitter-20566418:disqus , Thank you for reading, and for commenting with your thoughts. We all must decide what our method and mode will be. There are one or two items where, occasionally, I will be more lenient. If someone appears to be new, I do try to help them become aware. Glad I could be helpful! See you in the Twitter stream… 🙂 ~Keri
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Well put! thanks for sharing, Craig
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Great to see you, @5minaday:disqus – Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! 🙂
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Keri, I just think you felt like ranting ;). I most definitely factor all of the above in when deciding if to follow or not to follow.
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@davergallant:disqus , Me, rant? Well, maybe just a little. 😉 You’re a good tweeter – Thanks for adding value to my stream, Dave. ~Keri
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Please understand that I’m writing this in all sincerity and not just to be snarky. I like your list, but I will add to it that I will not follow you back if it seems your primary interest in me is as part of a supposedly teeming marketplace of potential customers. The very existence of sentences like the descriptive tagline at the top of this website, “Connect to new customers with social media marketing,” is something I find abhorrent, and it offends my sensibilities as a long-time Twitter fanatic. Twitter is first a place for me to express myself (remember “what are you doing?”). It is second a place for me to read the expressions of others. It is (distantly) third a place for me to engage and interact with those people whose expressions interest me. It will never be a place to collect followers and I won’t play along with others’ attempts to collect me as a follower. Thanks for the thoughtful list, though. I’m always interested in reading others’ emerging thoughts on new technology.
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Scrivener, Thank you for visiting my site, and for your candid honesty in leaving a comment. The tagline, “Connect to new customers with social media marketing,” is there to help people understand I am a social media professional. I tweet as a person, and a professional of the industry. Those I come in contact with can talk with me in conversation, and/or they can ask me question to call on my expertise. I would hope everyone would be comfortable to interacting with me in both ways. To consider that my only objective is fleshing out customers would be quite limiting. I’m one to keep my doors open to all cultures – human, electronic, social, etc. 🙂 I completely respect your position, and encourage you to continue to enjoy your method of exploring the Twittersphere. Should we ever cross paths and exchange tweets, I would welcome the opportunity to socialize with you. Thanks again for visiting and expressing your opinion. ~Keri
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Steve, Yes – thanks for pointing this out. I too have gotten my share of those messages. Thanks for adding to the list! 🙂 ~Keri
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You missed a biggy, it’s not just the business spammers but also the “I have an obsession and you’re going to hear about it” tweeters. EG. Devoutly religious people or obsessed popstar fans… :o)
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Great reasons! I don’t like auto-dm’s with or without links. If I follow someone and they send me an auto DM, I (almost) immediately unfollow. Here’s my version of Reasons I Won’t Follow You on Twitter: http://sandierpastures.com/blogging/thursday-thirteen/reasons-why-i-wont-follow-you-in-twitter.html
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Grace, Thank you for your comment! Your list is good – I left you a comment at your site. 🙂 The auto-DM… There is much debate on this. To me, if it is encouraging of personal connection and does not include marketing links, it is okay. I imagine this is someone that wants followers to feel they care. I’m willing to listen to other opinions. I have a blog post planned about auto DMs soon. ~Keri
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I can so relate! I’m pretty new on Twitter, but I do know how to engage and make conversation. You know, we spent more than a couple of hours on it last week while at #SMSS11. 😉 Keep tweeting back. I love it. Oh yeah, my pet peeve, people, especially those that claim to be in the business of Social Media, that don’t tweet back. I don’t get it. @mentions stream or tab, it’s there right? I don’t know why people don’t either use it or don’t tweet back. Maybe I’m not tweet-back worthy. Love the blog post! Tweet, tweet!
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Hello Jocelyn, Great to see you here! And tweeting with you about #SMSS11!! 🙂 It’s not that you’re not tweet-back worthy. There are a few things that could be happening: 1) You’re tweeting with a tweeter that has a high number of followers, and a lot of reactions to their tweets. They may not be seeing your tweet. Even the best monitoring system makes it hard to catch everything for super-users. 2) You’ve found a social media enthusiast that has not figured out they need a different monitoring system yet, and they’re not seeing your tweet because they don’t know to look. I use Hootsuite Pro, and like it so much I’m an affiliate. Here’s a quick link: http://ow.ly/3BKmh. Click it, don’t. But use it, or something like it! Those managing multiples might like Radian6. 3) You’ve found someone that just doesn’t get it. There are several guides out there that talk about Twitter Marketing and do not touch upon the importance of engagement. I find these individuals mentioned in #3 as well, Jocelyn… What I think has happened is they may have been displaced during the economic downturn, jumped into Social Media as a hot place to be, and were used to concentrating on numbers — so that is what they focus on here. Number of followers and number of click-thrus. They’re not considering that both of those will decrease at some point if they do not relate/engage. Social Media is a different animal that requires different tactics. You are exactly right – monitoring and listening. Without that, you cannot engage. My recommendation is to move on. Find tweeters that get it. Keep relating and keep tweeting. Those involved in #SMSS10 & #SMSS11 are great candidates. You seem to be reaching out to develop your circle. Stay on that path! 🙂 Also consider getting a gravatar — It is a personal ID system that follows you around the web. It will show your picture pretty much everywhere. Visit gravatar.com ~Keri
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