Bad Twittermonkey!!

So…someone has posted on their blog…a list of things that annoy people on Twitter¹
10 Stupid Mistakes On Twitter

There is a sort of unspoken line drawn in the sand it seems…and he’s found a decent amount of things done of Twitter that manage to annoy people when used too much.

I find that these types of lists are sometimes just content fillers, but this wasn’t…it was pretty legitimate , so I’ve linked back to him.

Here’s my comment – to start…

The Devils Advocate says,

“If you don’t like my music, my interesting quotes, my retweets of interesting news in Dallas and around the world, and most importantly a note telling my friends that I posted yet another rant about people that need to stop existing…save yourself some trouble and annoyances…don’t follow me. I am not tweeting for your particular brand of entertainment. ”

The Sympathizer says,

“…heh..I couldn’t think of anything to really sympathize on. I don’t follow people unless they are friends, news, or people I find interesting. If my tweets aren’t entertaining enough for you…well…there is a button for that ;)”

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the notion, I just find it a waste of my time to spend more than the time it takes to write this considering it.

-Tony

Now, rather that concern myself with what everyone else likes about my tweets…I will comprise a list of things the Twitter user might do to enhance their experience on Twitter.

1. Decide what you want out of Twitter.
Are you looking to receive news or disseminate it…or both? Why? Well if you’re just using it to keep tabs on what friends are up to and get the latest news on your favorite hockey team…that’s easy…follow them. If you want to be able to send your updates only to those you chose to allow, then log into your Twitter account on the website, go to Settings, and near the bottom of the form you will see a check box labeled “Protect My Updates”. If you put a check-mark in there, then click on the “Save” button, from this point forward, your Twitter feed is subscribed to by permission only and not publicly advertised on the website. However, If your like me, and have a blog that you have fun writing in, and have even more fun since your friends actually read it…well..there’s a usefulness that Twitter really fills…it’s an awesome syndication feed…seriously. If I post to my blog, you can bet your grandma’s stinky socks thats I am going to auto-tweet the subject and a link to the article. This is my hobby, and people do actually follow me. Maybe not on a serious level but enough news feeds follow me that I am not going to stop.

2. Do not follow everything in the world immediately after signing up.
If you’re like me, and already very well versed in RSS², you’re going to see Twitter as something just like a Feedburner, but cracked up and on ‘roids. If you don’t know what I am talking about…think of every feed on Twitter and a newspaper…now consider this…exactly how many newspapers do you really need to subscribe to? Me, I have a couple local news people subscribed, a few friends…and a couple people that do a really good job of keeping me from getting bored at work 😉 No need for more. Since I don’t really have conversations directly with friends via Twitter (text messaging, IM, and cell phone usage galore), it’s easy for me to just post things I find interesting and let my friends IM or text me directly if they need more info or whatever. Anyhow I digress…if you add a hundred Twitter-Maniacs to your follow list the first day you’re going to really unhappy…we’re talking a-thousand-fleas-in-the-jockstrap unhappy.

3. Look for your favorite newscaster, or sports team, or public figure on Twitter. It’s best to find out their public twitter from their official website, as there are a TON of people on their way to being serial stalkers trying to be someone they are most definitely not. Read their feed first, then decide to subscribe to them…or not. I kindof lucked out and am subscribed to a few people that are amazingly good about posting things I am likely to be interested in reading about. I guess it gives me a feeling that I am a little bit more aware of the world.

4. Do not use Twitter tied in with other services or social networking websites – unless this functionality is specifically what you want. Reasoning? Simple, Facebook is a great example. If you Tweet a lot, you’re going to flood your friends NewsFeed on FB. This can go vice versa if you’re following a bunch of other people using twitter to update…you’re getting flooded.

5. Report abusive users actively. Unsolicited advertisers are my big pet peeve and get blocked and reported every single time I see them.

Anyhow, these things keep me pretty happy on Twitter. Enjoy.

-Tony