3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Posted on: July 6, 2009Author: Cali Lewis
20 comments so far
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 5
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
When people first sign up for Twitter, they have a tendency to get a little excited and make some mistakes. Today’s Twitter Tip includes three of the most common mistakes made by newbies.
1) Auto Replying New Followers
There are services that allow you to send an automated direct message when someone follows you. Everyone has probably gotten a DM that you immediately can recognize as a bulk message. “Thanks for following me! I make monetizing your blog easy. You can find out more at www.exampleblog.com.”
If I follow you and I get an auto-DM, I will immediately unfollow you. A lot of people think I’m being harsh, but here’s why I do it. If I’m following you, it’s because of something you said, or I already know who you are and what you do. I don’t want to be spammed, and that’s exactly what that kind of message is…SPAM.
If you continue saying interesting things, you will make me want to find out more about you. I will click on your profile and follow the link to your website. It’s more work on your part to make me interested and get me to your site, but ultimately it’s marketing that matters.
2) Adding hashtags to every post, or too many hashtags in a single post
Hashtags are great and very useful for tracking conversations about a subject you’re interested in. Use them when it matters. You don’t have to include a hashtag in every post. More importantly, you don’t have to fill your tweet with hashtags. Let’s look at an example. I tweeted this the other day:
Cool!! I just noticed the last WordPress update made the theme editor more like a regular HTML editor (numbered lines & colored code).
Since the tweet was about WordPress, and that’s the main subject, it would have been good for me to make WordPress a hashtag (my mistake!):
Cool!! I just noticed the last #WordPress update made the theme editor more like a regular HTML editor (numbered lines & colored code).
Unfortunately, I’ve seen tweets that look like this:
Cool!! I just noticed the last #WordPress #update made the #theme #editor more like a regular #HTML editor (numbered lines & colored #code).
Whoa!!! Too much. First of all, trying to read that breaks my concentration and may cause me to have to re-read a tweet to understand what the person is trying to say. Secondly, it tells me either you’re a newbie and just don’t fully understand what hashtags are for, OR, you’re trying to hashtag-spam your way into people’s searches.
Use hashtags when you think others might be interested in the subject you’re tweeting about. Make them count!
3) Over-tweeting
I did a tutorial of TweetDeck, and in it you hear me call some people “hyper-tweeters.” Hyper-tweeters are people who tweet too much. It seems like they find something to say every couple minutes. It can be overwhelming for your followers, and will often lead to people unfollowing you. The same thing goes for too many @replies or Retweets. Keep in mind that your followers might not be following the person you’re @replying, so if they want to know what the heck you’re talking about and be a part of the conversation, they’ll need to click through to that person’s profile to see what that person said to you.
When I tweet more than five times in a day, I start to get uncomfortable.
Unless I’m providing (what I hope is) valuable content in 6+ posts, I try to stay at or under five. Please don’t take my number as a hard fast rule for you. My limit is based on my gut and watching the response of my followers. It could be very different for you. Listen to people’s reactions, and occasionally look at your Twitter stats (Twitter Counter). If you notice you’re loosing followers, one reason may be that you’re tweeting too much.
I want to point out one thing. If you’re on Twitter for yourself, and you don’t care about building a network, then there is no such thing as over-tweeting. Say what you want, any time you want!
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 9: Mix it Up!
Day 10: If You’re Not a TweetDeck, You Might Be a Seesmic
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
« Follow Responsibly
Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find »
July 6th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Great post on newbie mistakes. The overtweeting really hits home. Keep the 12 days of Twitter coming.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
#3 yeah. I’ve had to unfollow two or three people who were just machines. Look away for a few minutes and come back to a whole screen of tweets from the same person.
I probably do it too much myself. I do have a warning on the page linked in my bio though. It’s all the “disclaimers” people should read before following me… I tweet too much, I swear, don’t be emo drama queen about unfollowing me or I’ll make fun of you, etc.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
One FYI on #3 and replies. They recently changed twitter. Now, if you @reply someone then only your followers who also follow the person you’re replying to will see that in their timeline.
For example, if I tweet:
@CaliLewis Great blog posts!
then, if someone is following me, but not @CaliLewis, they will not see that tweet in their timeline, even though they’re following me. However, if the name is mentioned somewhere else:
Everyone! Check out @CaliLewis’s latest blog post! http://is.gd/1pAJr
Then it will even be seen. It can even be as subtle as:
.@CaliLewis Great blog posts!
At first I thought I wasn’t going to like it, because I sometimes liked seeing what my friends are saying to others (and it gave me a good idea of who else I could follow). But the value for celebrities and people following them is great. They can @reply to people knowing that it won’t clutter up the feeds of most of their fans (followers). @Veronica does this a lot. Not only that, but some people use twitter as a chat service, and if I’m not following both people, it really quiets things down.
For example, I never saw Cali’s tweet to @AnnyChih until I went to twitter.com/CaliLewis
Michael
July 6th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Hi Cali,
Nice written topic! Everything one wants to know ’bout Twitter, but is afraid to ask…
from the Dutch mountains,
MacBoyd
July 7th, 2009 at 1:03 am
I think there are certain exceptions to #3. There are times when it is okay to ‘burst’ a few tweets in quick succession if, for example, something is happening live and you want to get the information out. Then, people who you’re following are finding things out as they unfold, and you’re not always tweeting like this, just when something really warrants it.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:07 am
On the subject of hashtags, I totally agree with the overuse of what they’re intended for – trying to cram in too many into a single tweet just gets ridiculous.
However, and this may not necessarily be a “tip” or anything for beginners, I’m a big fan of the occasional hashtag that really doesn’t function as a hashtag.
This is usually done as a sarcastic aside at the end of a tweet, and is such a specific or long string of words that it’s never going to be something that is actually tracked.
For example, someone might tweet something like (totally made up BTW):
“Ugh, why don’t people get the whole ‘10 Items or FEWER’ signs at grocery checkout lines? #learntocountpleasekthx”
Now, obviously I’m not ever going to use that hashtag again, and no one is really going to “track” that, but, it’s kind of just makes that little comment, “Learn to count please k thx”, be one last little jab at the end there.
That may not be the perfect example, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.
Anyone else know what I mean or agree with me? Disagree?
July 7th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
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July 7th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
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July 8th, 2009 at 6:12 am
completely agree on two and three but I’m afraid I just cant concur on #1.
I set up a direct reply to thank people for following me, let them know that they can get hold of me anytime by either @orDM and to give them the address of my blog.
It’s a mix of courtesy, we english are sticklers for manners, and information. If people need to know my blog address for whatever reason I just ask them to follow me on twitter and it seems to work nicely.
So not all auto responds are spam, it just depends how you use it.
Thank you, sorry, thank you, sorry, awfully sorry, thank you #english
July 8th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I respectfully disagree with #1. A thank you message is a simple courtesy autoresponder to ingratiate yourself. If I sign-up for email marketing at your website and you DON’T send me something I’d be upset – its your chance to tell me what this relationship I’ve just entered in to is all about. So, why can’t it be the same on with Twitter?
July 8th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
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July 9th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
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December 27th, 2009 at 2:44 am
I usually don’t leave comments but I just started using twitter and I am totally lost. Thanks for clearing some info for me. Looking forward to your next entry.