Tuesday, April 3, 2012

6 Things Guaranteed to Keep You from getting New Twitter Followers


Twitter doesn't have to be hard!
After an intense few days of learning about copyright issues, I thought we’d tackle something a little easier. Today I want to give you a short list about Twitter—specifically things you’ll want to avoid if you want new Twitter followers.

Number 1—always talk about yourself. With the 140 character limit, Tweets that are always, Me, Me, Me, are guaranteed to not only keep you from new Twitter followers, it will help you lose the ones you have.

Number 2—hyjacking the Twitter feed. This means posting three or more tweets in a row. Again, it’s that nausea inducing litany of Me, Me, Me.

Number 3—loading your Tweets with hashtags. Not sure what a hashtag is? Here’s my post on Twitter 101 to help you decipher the code. Multiple hashtags are sure signs of spammers, bots or newbies. All accounts no one wants to follow.

The Dreaded Twitter Egg
Number 4—the dreaded egg avatar instead of a picture. Again, only spammers, bots or newbies don’t change out the egg for a real picture. You only get the opportunity to communicate who you are in a 140 character bursts. Trust me, no picture does NOT inspire me to follow you.

Number 5—a locked twitter account. Twitter is all about being FOUND. A locked Twitter account is the ultimate oxymoron. Some people restrict who follows them because they mistakenly believe their followers' Tweets will end up in their Twitter stream. Not true. Only the people YOU follow show up in your twitter stream.

Number 6—a description that promises you'll be commenting on the random or inconsequential. Twitter is all about focused bursts of info and interaction. Keywords and hashtags help us follow specific topics. Random nothingness is NOT what I’m looking for on Twitter.

Now it's your turn. What are some of the things you don't like in the Twitter accounts you follow?

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

5 comments:

  1. Good list Edie. I would also add those annoying auto follower direct messages. Very impersonal and have actually caused me to unfollow someone I just started following.

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  2. I totally agree! I especially hate the ones that direct me to a link to buy their product. Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. Yes, yes, yes! The dreaded me-me people - ick. And the locked Twitter - what's the point?

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  4. Ugh, totally agree on the direct message; usually this happens on people I follow back (I have stopped following everyone back; only follow back those people I'm genuinely interested in following...if they drop me since I don't follow back, oh well, I guess). Seriously, it tells me right away, "Hey, I only followed you in hopes you'd follow ME, and then I could tell you to buy my product." Makes me feel used. I know that's silly, but I get this feeling like I'm being targeted by a slimy used cars salesperson! :P I try to make genuine connections with people.

    I also hate when people only tweet about what they're doing. I don't care that you're at a hair appt. Tweet a good article I can read. (Occasional tweets like this are fine; it's just when that is most or all of what someone tweets when I unfollow them.)

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  5. Another one - the same (or essentially the same) tweet three and four times a day, for multiple days. Even FridayReads tries to vary their nagging - when I get this interesting link over and over and over and...it becomes far less than interesting. I'd rather follow someone who tweets once a day than someone who tweets once an hour with one _new_tweet a day.

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