One Thing That Really Annoys Me About Twitter
I like Twitter. It’s kind of fun. But here’s something that annoys me…
That’s a little clip from TweetDeck and shall remain as anonymous as possible because I think the guy who wrote it is very nice, has a nice approach to the world around him, and is generally a good guy. Now with that disclaimer out of the way, let me tell you some reasons why this particular tweet (which represents a few others I’ve received) annoys me…
1. Notice the exclamation point at the end (“!”), hence giving some note of authority, like a life guard, or a security guard, or some other kind of Twitter-community-approved voice of the masses.
2. This is the very first response, reply, or conversation I’ve ever received from this particular person – where’s my positive+negative+positive sandwich? Where’s the “Hey, I’m Bob – I like you but…” intro? (No, the tweeter’s name is not Bob.)
3. Following someone is a choice. If I annoy you PLEASE unfollow me and spare me the emotional carnage of a critical tweet. I’d prefer it. Besides, as nice as you may be, my self-image really has zero to do with who follows or unfollows me, so by all means, unfollow me if I annoy you. I promise not to lose a moment’s sleep over it.
4. I’m kind of tired of all the rules… don’t overtweet… don’t undertweet… don’t tweet too many links… don’t just tweet words without links… don’t tell us what you’re doing… be more real and tell us what you’re doing… rules, rules, rules. I really like relationships better than rules.
5. Twitter isn’t email. It takes about 17 nanoseconds to scroll past a tweet – I think the government has actually spent billions testing this. So you don’t have to read it all.
6. Twitter is about what’s relevant in the world, or on the web, or in a niche. Don’t like my niche? Don’t care what I find relevant? Perfectly fine with me – again, that’s why there’s an unfollow button – and I won’t even be mad at you.
This is a rant. They’re rare in my little world. And it’s not a rant toward Bob… or Sally… or whoever left that tweet above (he/she really is nice)… it’s just a little personal annoyance of mine and I’m going to go on and have a really great day. And I’m still going to tweet a lot because I like to point out things that are relevant. For every negative tweet I’ve gotten, there are a hundred RT’s and thanks’ for the resources.
Now what? Here are some possible responses for you… Follow me, unfollow me, ignore this and go read something much more meaningful, or comment below if you so feel inclined to agree or disagree. Just watch the exclamation points.
I agree with the ‘offending’ tweeter – I find it annoying and disruptive when a single person auto tweets 20 times in a the span of one second. To me, that’s a bot, and not a real human being making suggestions of what they find interesting or advice related to their field. Too many offenses and I WILL unfollow. Twitter is for human interaction, not robotic regurgitation with the intent of ‘gaming’ the system for personal gain (i.e. more followers, greater RT’s etc). I’m too vain to be subjected to someone’s ‘monologue’ of 20 tweets – I prefer a conversation.
Besides – ‘emotional carnage’ from a critical tweet? Time to get a thicker skin. You and I need to be friends.
Dear Ann *coughing,
Thanks for the feedback. As for the ‘emotional carnage,’ I had hoped the tone of my post would help to reveal the sarcasm, but perhaps I should have said “momentary agitation.” I think your viewpoint is both valid and common. My point is simply that I’d rather just be unfollowed than scolded via Twitter.
Also, I’m not a fan of bots or spam either. I read stuff and share what I like. I do this during the times of day when I’m reading stuff, and don’t really have time to formulate a strategy for spacing it all out. There are too many good conversations to be had.
Brandon,
My guess is that Twitter’s character limit is what cut the ends off the pos+neg+pos sandwich. When you have to be brief, niceties like that tend to fall off.
It’s possible that the person who sent you that tweet enjoys the things you tweet about and would really like to continue following you… but is frustrated by your tweeting habits. I know I follow 2-3 people whom I’m always on the verge of unfollowing for this very reason…. but then they tweet something interesting that I know I wouldn’t have stumbled across without them. So I continue to follow, and I continue to be frustrated.
It may be, too, that they were trying to help. Not trying to enforce a rule on you, but trying to hold up a mirror so you can see the effect you’re having on people. Perhaps they thought the friendly (relationship!) thing to do would be to point it out to you rather than just walking away.
And just FYI for anyone else who might be reading: I’m not the anonymous tweeter from the post.
Good thoughts – Rich. I think if that’s what I’d really felt, I probably would have reacted very positively, which is probably a good lesson for me and all of us – with 140 characters, an exclamation point is a powerful thing. Few words can equal much damage. Point well taken and I’ll definitely look through that lens next time.
One more thing I’ll throw in there – food for thought. People who use Twitter to see what’s popular in a niche such as design tend to lean toward loving all the links. Others who are more interested in conversation, quotes, questions, etc. tend to like the lighter load of tweets. I think that’s okay. You just have to consider who your audience is and keep it fun for everybody.
Brandon,
I tend to agree…. I average between 20 and 30 tweets a day, with some days being significantly higher (for instance, during #blogchat or #pr20chat). I’ve been told I “clog up [tweeter's] stream.” I suppose if you only follow 20 people, yeah, you probably “see” more of me than you might want. But just unfollow! I do it… I might follow someone back, for instance, thinking they’re going to be interesting/valuable to my stream. Day 3, I see teeth-whitening & get Twitter follower tweets from them. I. Just. Unfollow. It’s the beauty of Twitter. For what it’s worth, I love how you share/tweet.
Hasn’t this always happened with online media? People that have been involved in email and email groups know all about the “top posting” vs. “bottom posting” discussions that would always crop up. Same thing with people criticizing those in IRC, USENET, and others. There are always going to be people who think they know the right way to do things and aren’t afraid to share their tips with others.