The day Twitter died

A 55 percent growth in one month whether it’s due to TV coverage or New York Times is not the point. With 4Million users up to date however does become the point. This is an observation or maybe my way of giving in to the new Twitter frenzy. Some may even call it a Saturday rant and some may say I am bitching. Fine maybe I am but it needs to be said. To DM or not to DM How many times have you received DM’s (direct message used in Twitter) from total strangers sending you a link to a product you have no interest in nor do you really care? Look that is not to say new Twitter users shouldn’t send a “hello nice to meet you” DM especially if they are new. It’s sweet and I think, “bless their heart” but at this point I say stop, please. Why should I care and why should I be ranting about it? Simple I am not interested in training all the new Twitter users and spending time responding to every question that comes through. Nor am I going to become your best friend and DM you all day long. Maybe now I understand why no one would talk to me when I first joined Twitter.  I was green eyed wanting to do everything right. Wanted to meet and greet the other Twitterettes with a special DM something like “Hello thanks for the follow I look forward to your posts.” Sure that was harmless or so I thought. Follow Friday rakes in new potential readers But, now that I have broken the 1000 follower mark I can see how that would become a bit irritating. I am trying to balance things out in my head. Reason with myself that it’s their right and they are after all being nice and using Twitter to the best of their ability. I have even started grooving on new tools used to better your experience. My latest find is the <a href="http://www.twitalyzer.com" title="Twitalyzer">Twitalyzer.</a> I enjoy getting new followers and sometimes I don’t follow people who follow me. Maybe after reading this article they may stop following me when they realize I am not following them back. But really I have a good reason, one that begs for an article but not this one. So for those nice messages I do still chuckle as if I am an old timer and now realize there is no way I would have time to send every new follower a special DM. On some days I may get fifty new followers, while on others I am stagnant. Yet I recently read on a Twitter feed someone stating they got 500 followers that one day. So you get the point here the math and the time spent saying thanks for the follow is bad for business. The Automated robot SUCKS Now if you are an old timer you may have opted to use a robot to send out your DM’s. In my humble opinion you are no better than a spammer. Especially when you are sending ones that look like this “Thanks for follow! I have a great way to make one gazillion dollars <a href="http://www.google.com" title="Google">http://www.mywebsite.com</a>.” Now I know there is no one behind this message especially when I click on his or her profile and see a big busted Sheila licking a lollipop. Maybe I am not telling the whole truth since there is some of the big Guru’s on Twitter like the Social Media giants that use their post feeds through an automated system. They don’t bother with the meet & greet but rather posting links to their latest blog or latest eBook they are selling on how to get a gazillion new followers on Twitter. Why in the hell would I want to get gazillion new followers when I can barely keep up with the little numbers I have? Maybe I am ranting to the choir or maybe I sound bitter about the whole process. I know I opted to get on Twitter for my business, I also agreed to do it for several clients. But the difference between my using Twitter is I am behind every one of those posts. Even when I use <a href="http://hootsuite.com/" title="Hootsuite">Hootsuite.com</a> I am still looking at the feed, responses, and @Replies. Because regardless of how you are using Twitter you still have to deal with people. The dynamics of conversation and engaging in short 140 characters takes time. Therefore if I am going to be engaging and trying to brand all my accounts I sure don’t want to read and see spammer coming at me on a daily basis. Nor do I enjoy users that are continuously posting the same thing over and over again. It won’t make me buy it nor will I want to RT (re Twittering their post.) RT is not always a good thing Which brings me to my last rant (I promise) If you want me to RT a post make sure your link works. I cannot tell you how many times I have looked at the feed only to waste time telling the original poser “hey your link is broken.” As a matter of fact if you want me to RT something of yours let me assure you I look, I click on the link. I actually tried to be nice one day and just RT as many posts as I could, thinking again I am doing the “right” thing as a new user. Tragically, or should I say stupidly I did not check every link only to go back and realize I had just RT a porn site. You can imagine how horrified I was. Needless to say I no RT posts unless I personally look at each one. Something all new users should consider. Make sure if you do see someone RT one of your posts, return the favor. Even if it has nothing to do with your industry. It’s called engaging and that is social networking. Twitter is not dead In conclusion Twitter is not dead. It won’t be for quite sometime. But as a new user that has been on since December I have learned a lot from my own mistakes and feel compelled to share them here.  It ‘s been a learning curve and I have made some great contacts there. I have hired some great writers and enjoy a lot of the  people on there. How about you? 2009-03-18T20:09:13Z

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the-day-twitter-died

2009-03-23T23:12:21Z

I can see a few of you fell for the Title and that is the point of this article. The frenzy over the new Twitter mania is one we cannot ignore.

The day Twitter died

2009-03-23T23:12:21Z