Is Auto-Tweet a Dirty Word?

Diana,

I use autotweets for when I’m in meetings and for over the weekend as well. I use cotweet to schedule the tweets. I did set up a bunch that tweet info I would tweet anyway, although i consider these more filler than anything else. I also have a retweet filter set up on my work account to RT info from a bot that I prefilter using yahoo pipes and feedburner.

The scheduled tweets on my personal account are more tailored and I believe more personal.

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I’m not big on Auto-tweets. In the morning I tend to scroll through tweets I have ‘missed’ the night before (being on UK time) I Don’t want to have extra ones to read.

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Great work Diana. I have a feeling you may have softened the subject.

I will admit here, I too schedule tweets using HootSuite.

You mentioned a number of great reasons why it is actually beneficial to your followers.

I spend a lot of time reading and learning online. Instead of bombard the small percentage of tweeters actually on when I Retweet or find a great article, I schedule them throughout the day/night. This also goes for great deals and promotions I find. I want to share them with everyone.

I think the “dirty” line is crossed when you start scheduling the same spam link over and over. I try never to go over more than 2 per hour.

I am anxious to hear what others think!

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Diana,

I am mostly opposed to doing anything that is automated. I, too, have many friend from all over the globe and find that, typically, we get around our time differences pretty well.

I think this topic goes back to the issue of what’s right for me might be different than what’s right for you. And for any other Twitter user.

I don’t mind an occasional scheduled RT of a blog post, but, for me, scheduling tweets is just fake. When I’m there (on Twitter, FB, etc.) I am really and truly there. If you talk with me, I’ll talk back. I have groups of people I follow and try and pay attention to, but I don’t see every one of their tweets, and that’s okay. For me, social mediums are not about Twitter grades, follower numbers of RTs – they are about relationships. And I don’t have relationships with people when I’m scheduling my tweets. I am broadcasting to them. Which is advertising.

Again, that is just my opinion and I totally see your logic. And, if that system works for you and does good things for you, your rep, etc., I think that’s fantastic. At the end of the day, it’s all about what works for you and what makes you happy – don’t you think?

Thanks for another great post that will, no doubt, make people think.

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Automated Tweets are good for gentle reminders for meetings or happenings. I never thought about them used to actually promote dialogue. Interesting.

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Yet another thought-provoking post, Diana! I love the way you think and dare to take on those subjects that others may avoid for fear of their own reputation.

I tend to agree with my “twin” Shelly on this. Primarily I am a believer that you need to do what works best for your experience and those who you engage and interact with on Twitter. For some, auto-tweets may keep them from following you, while others could care less. In the end, your audience is going to be made up of those that respect, admire and care about what you have to say whether it’s automated or not, right? So those that are against automation may not follow you and as far as I’m concerned, it’s their loss.

As Christian pointed out, we all have our own lines we draw that we will not allow. Mine is not strictly against automation, but I do believe that if I am trying to have a conversation with you via Twitter and you are using automation to “appear” that you are online so it takes you 12-24 hours to reply to me, then I am usually going to stop paying attention to you. I may or may not unfollow, but at its root this approach seems dishonest to me and therefore leaves a bad taste. In your case, Diana, it is obvious you are not trying to fool anyone, plus those of us who know you at all are already very aware of your personality, your integrity and your good intentions.

Unfortunately Twitter has its share of abusers and self-serving automated spammers who make automation more of a negative. I guess that’s where I am biased. I don’t like to see unattended, self-promoting automation. If I do, I will unfollow pretty quickly.

Thanks for another great post! I am really interested in seeing how the discussion progresses.

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Diana,

I have thought about using auto-tweet, and was unaware of the fact that you use it.

For me the “dirty” part comes down to who uses it. By that I mean this: if I know that person, and generally what they’re all about, then I trust that they use it for a good reason. The decision is theirs. When it futhers the efforts of teeth-whitening, mafia-recuiting, gift-bearing, trout-slapping spammers, it then becomes “dirty.”

As always a fantastic post. As a community I love that we can discuss these things and embrace that we are different yet function together as one. Thank you for opening the discussion! I look forward to reading what others have to say!

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I used to think that autotweeting was bad, but for certain things, I think it is very useful. For instance, if you want to get something out there to a lot of people, then I see nothing wrong with autotweeting it while you are sleeping so that people in different time zones see it. Like you said, there are benefits, such as having responses to reply to when you wake up in the morning. As long as you are not doing all autotweeting, I think it is fine to do it for a few items, but too much is just “fake.”

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good thinking I use hootsuite for exactly the same purpose and experience identical effects . glad to see I am not the only one who practices it . by the way found this via twitter . brian

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I agree that it’s up to each of us how we want to use Twitter. A couple months ago, I blogged about an experiment I was using with Cotweet. Up until that point, I was tweeting in real time. The problem is that it was starting to take over my life just to stay up to date with things. I also had a lot of complaints from people because it was nothing for me to pump out 100 tweets in an hour. I use Cotweet pretty much the same way I was tweeting before but I stagger responses and sharing of links/quotes/retweets over the day. I rarely duplicate tweets with the exception of ones that are popular and even then I don’t typically do it multiple times in a short period of time.

I typically spend 2 x 30 minute time blocks a day on Cotweet tweets and then another 30 minutes to 1 hour a day live tweeting. I’m personally happier and I find myself less stressed than I was before. I DO feel the need to respond to all tweets – and that was a big issue for me before time-management wise.

My unfollow rate has also dropped considerably on a percentage basis and I don’t get complaints even though the number of tweets is still the same.

The only offside is that many people don’t realize that I’m not actually there tweeting in real time and they can sometime get frustrated that I don’t immediately respond.

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Hi Diana

I think the auto tweet is definitely something that should be seriously considered if you are on twitter to promote your business or service.

I have a couple of friends who love twitter but only have 50 or 60 followers, they don’t mind the fact that their friends won’t see their tweets until later when the time zone allows.

If you are offering a service or promoting your business it certainly makes a lot of sense to have tweets going out to the twitter stream when the majority of the world are online and if you are in NZ as I am this means auto tweeting.

Anyway thanks for the oppotunity to chat.

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((Hey Diana! i think that this is a another great topic since the words “Auto Tweet” always sounded to me like “Robotic Attention Seeker”.. Reason being that the only people who mentioned “automated tweeting” for some time were spam bots and egotists. i think that’s prevented some people (incl. me) from realizing the benefits that can come from utilizing an automated system. Clearly, though, you can be kind, personal and engaging even if you use em. I think you’ve proven that. Keep up the good work, girlie!))

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I hadn’t actually thought of this use for autotweets – very interesting. Not long ago someone (maybe Guy Kawasaki?) mentioned that there was value in tweeting the same information repeatedly over the course of the day, as different people would be exposed to it. This is certainly in the spirit of that strategy, and seems like it works!

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Posting duplicate content within 24 hours is supposed to remove you from the twitter search box, I’m curious if it is ever enforced and/or if the additional traffic makes up for it.

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You are right on the money! Many people that ‘sniff at ‘ auto tweeting just don’t understand or think it’s all about spamming. You gave your own example of how to responsibly use this tool. I also use hootsuite to schedule an occasional tweet (one at a time) because it also gives you that column which shows mentions of you elsewhere. It’s easy to spot a spammer versus a real person with that tool and then reply only to the real person.

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[...] Aaron on January 25, 2010 I was reading a blog post called Is Auto-Tweets A Dirty Word by Diana Adams aka  @adamsconsulting. Ask anyone on twitter and they will relate auto-tweets to [...]

Diana,

Nice post. I also use HootSuite to schedule tweets, especially overnight. I have “met” some really great folks due these tweets. I will continue to schedule tweets as I have been. Like you stated, we are interacting in a global community; it’s just plain silly to think you can be awake 24 hours a day. I am thankful for tools like HootSuite and have no problem telling people about scheduling tweets, the do’s/don’ts, how to’s.

NJT

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I loved your description of the success you’ve been having with your auto-tweets. My thought is this:

Auto-tweets = good
Auto – DM’S = The Devil

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I’ve been sort of anti-auto tweet from the beginning but what I’ve noticed is that people who autotweet get WAY more followers quickly because there’s a perception that they’re on more.

I think I unfollowed LoriMoreno in the early days because she was one of the first early autotweet quotebots. I thought it was kind of cheaty when I was spending so many REAL hours a day interacting with people and having meaningful conversations and really putting myself into it.

I found myself tonight downloading tweetdeck and really thinking about it once I noticed another friend of mine who started only a few months ago had twice the number of followers I have — so I guess I need to decide if it’s really the number of followers that’s important, or the quality of the connection I have with the followers I have.

Something to ponder.

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