Comments on: One Thing That Really Annoys Me About Twitter

By: Sue_Anne

Sue_Anne — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:22:04 +0000

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.

By: Mandy Vavrinak

Mandy Vavrinak — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:38:03 +0000

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. :)

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:04:23 +0000

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.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:00:15 +0000

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.

By: Rich Schmidt

Rich Schmidt — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:13:12 +0000

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. :)

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:55:11 +0000

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.

By: Ann Nonomus

Ann Nonomus — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:37:40 +0000

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.