Keeping Up With Twitter

[yuri21]

Hmmm... can I ask a quick question? For all those people who get at least 10 to 20 new followers per day, how do you keep up with it? I think I'm going to drop returning people's PMs and just... continue tweeting a couple times per day. (Using Seesmic here.) Because most of my PMs are nothing but soliciting! And I'm tiring of sounding like a spam bot, repeating the same old message.

Edit: Oops! Should've started a new topic. Thanks, mods.

[Lynn Terry]

I simply ignore solicitations or spammy DM's (Direct Messages).

I am on Twitter for the connections & conversations, and so that's all I focus on there. Mainly my real DMs (not automated junk) and my Replies.

[yuri21]

Oooh... so most of them are Automated PMs(I didn't even know you could do that)? But you just add those people anyways? (If not, it's Twitter list cleaning time! )

Thanks 'cos I've been reading some etiquette guides for Twitter and this got me a little worried.

And how does one tell apart real DMs from Automated PMs anyways?

[Lynn Terry]

Some of them are, yes - I just ignore those. It's some program they're using to send you an "auto welcome message" when you follow them. So you don't know who uses it until after you chose to follow them.

I don't worry about it, just ignore them and keep tweeting.

As for Twitter Etiquette... you can only worry about yours, not theirs.

[yuri21]

Oh, so can you drop those people with an automated program? 'Cos it's irritating, annoying and my list is getting flooded! :O

So far, I've chosen to not follow people with private tweets(unless I know them) and with tweets that're too heavy on proselyting.

My Twitter Etiquette: been brushing up on it. Sometimes, I violate the rules but I'm getting better.

[torontocarol]

I don't necessarily answer when people first follow me. I just try to tweet and retweet when I can and answer questions when I can.

[DeirdreJ]

I am very picky about who I am following. I know it seems time consuming but I always check out their info/site/etc before I follow back. So many people are using AUTO DM software these days and it is such a turn off when I get a spammy DM. Unless I truly believe their tweets will benefit what I am doing or my interests, I don't follow back. That may seem snobby but everyone uses Twitter differently and I like to keep my stream very focused.

@deirdre_j

[TraciKnoppe]

I keep up with those I follow by using TweetDeck. I have tried, and occasionally use, other programs - but prefer TweetDeck. I organize some people into Groups, so I can better keep up with them: like the SSWT Elite members.

I have opted out of receiving auto DMs. SocialToo or SocialOomph has that feature/option and they tell you on their site how to opt out of auto DMs.

I do not auto-follow. When you follow someone, you are accepting to receive what they tweet about. If I auto-follow, I'm basically telling the spammers: "sure send me your spammy tweets" or telling the porn people: 'sure send me your nekkid photos'. Since I do not want read or see these things, I do not auto-follow.

I also have turned off receiving email notification when someone follows me. I sometimes go and check out new followers and will follow some back, but it's when I choose to.

[yuri21]

Thank you, everyone for all the tips. The last straw was when I got a couple more follows from people I didn't know when I was craving for the times when I could see only a few people's tweets that were actually important. ;D To think I wasted precious time on this when I'm not even done with Day 4 30dc yet.

So, I've decided to "unfollow" a lot of people and even start blocking some people(who seemed a bit too spammy or with content that's little to do with IMing).

And I'm very sure this thread will be useful to anyone new to Twitter. Keep on rockin', people!

[drmani]

Oh, so can you drop those people with an automated program? ...
My Twitter Etiquette: been brushing up on it. Sometimes, I violate the rules but I'm getting better.

The nicest thing (imho) about Twitter is that there is only one "rule"... and it's this:

"There are NO rules on Twitter"

It's the ULTIMATE permission-based medium. Anyone can choose to follow or unfollow you depending on what you do. And that privilege is yours, too, with regard to "them".

Realizing that early helped me enjoy Twitter more!

All success
Dr.Mani
(@drmani on Twitter)