FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m new to Twitter. Really, really new. I’m not using any of the automatic tools.
Some of the things I am noticing are not impressive. Twitter isn’t bad itself, but how people are using it begs the question, “are you joking?”.
For instance, today I searched for a topic I was interested in learning about. I saw 3 people with good comments, so I followed them. I have no idea if this is how Twitter intended it to work, but intuitively, it seemed like the thing to do. I want to learn, so I am going to listen to people who are talking about that topic.
I immediately get a Direct message from one of the people telling me “thank you” for following them (seems polite to me) and then asking me a question.
Cool, I see this as someone is really on the ball and using Twitter to really expand their network. I’m psyched and so I click “reply” and immediately type out a response to their question. Lo and behold, when I click on the “send” button I am gifted an error from Twitter that tells me I can’t send a Direct Message back to the person who sent one to me because they are not following me.
WHAT???
Why would someone send a question in a direct message knowing that I can’t answer them?
Ah, third party tools are obviously being used. They also seem to be used incorrectly. I’m betting that this person is using a tool to automagically deliver a response to someone who follows them. I’m betting that they wanted to say someone nice and make sure to interact with whoever is now following them. Interaction is good. Responsiveness is also good. Ending the potential conversation with a slap upside the head doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy first impression.
How about example number 2:
in the same day as before, I saw someone’s name next to a post that interested me, so I clicked to follow them. I immediately got a direct message that said, “We should connect on Facebook!”.
WHOA!!!!?!!!!!
That’s the social equivalent of asking a girl out for coffee and her response is, “what do you think we should name our first 4 children? Let’s go meet my parents now”.
Hang on a second. I don’t know anything about you other than your obvious psychosis. Again, I clicked on the “reply” button to send a hopefully politically correct response like, “can we just have coffee first?”. And again, I am greeted by an error in Twitter about how this person is not following me so I can’t respond to their direct message.
Ouch. So exactly how do I contact these people in order to tell them that they have completely lost out on a first impression? If I do a Mention, then I embarrass them in front of Twitterville (Twitterland, TwitterWorld, Isle De Twit) and make myself look conceited or snobbish as though I know everything (obviously, I know very little about Twitter).
So, I simply unfollow and continue trying to find people to learn from. Using the automated tools only works for you when you understand how and why you are using them (i.e. focus on the concept, not the tool).
Toff Ward
Open Source Marketer
Welcome to the Twitter-verse. Yeah what you are seeing is probably the result of a well configured SocialOomph (www.socialoomph.com) account.
Social Oomph allows you to auto respond to new stalkers, ummm followers. It also has an auto un-follow option if you don’t follow someone back it a crazy tool but it does add a lot of value if you use it for good and not as a social media clown.
Anyway, I enjoy your writing style and look forward to reading more.
Thanks John. We love SocialOomph around here. I personally love how they are always rolling out new features and improving the service. It shows me they are serious about the topic and have a solid business model in place. To many great social automation tools have fallen because they don’t have the financial foundation in place to keep them afloat.
As you say, the real value of these tools is not to avoid being social, but to automate the pieces that don’t add value on either side of the conversation. That’s where we focus our attention.
I’m glad you like Toff’s writing style. He is much more entertaining and conversational than I am. I tend to want to deliver information and he is more of the village bard sitting by the fire side telling stories that people remember. I’ll see if I can get him to write some more.
Hehe…Twitter-verse (I like that one). I haven’t embraced the automagical tools quite as much as Charles has. Call me old school, but my tweets are one of the few that have “web” at the bottom as the source. I spent enough time as a corporate trainer to remember that people who used the online tools never did as well as the ones I coached/trained/taught personally. I see Social Media as another tool to enhance interaction, not remove it.
Gracias for the complement, I definitely enjoy writing what I see, and people keep telling me my viewpoint is a bit cracked and warped but as long as everyone is having fun, I’m totally on board.