Is Auto-Tweet a Dirty Word?

It is interesting to me how certain topics on Twitter are taboo to talk about. I am fascinated by how that happens since there is no voice communication. How does someone learn what is taboo and what isn’t?

Talking about auto-tweets is one of those topics. Since there are no time zones on Twitter, we all follow people from all over the world. When I first heard the concept of auto-tweets a few months ago, I was intrigued. I thought, “What a great way to make a connection with people that are awake when I’m asleep.”

Of course, tweeting with those people live is the best case scenario, but could an auto-tweet work, even if only as a very watered down, weak option? Is it better to never tweet to those people at all or use an auto-tweet as a substitute?

I am live, in front of my computer, for a ridiculous number of hours each day. A month ago, I started sending out auto-tweets from 12:00am – 7:00am, the hours I am not here. I send two tweets per hour: One is a RT of something useful from someone else from earlier in the day; the other one is more personal from me, like something from this blog or an inspirational quote.

I’ve noticed a few things from doing this activity. My Twitter grade http://twitter.grader.com/ has gone up to 100, my RTs have gone through the roof and best of all, when I wake up in the morning I have tweets from people I normally never get to talk to. I respond with a tweet, which they won’t get until much later since they are asleep when I wake up, and we have conversations, one tweet at a time, that can span a week.

I thought I was the only one I knew using nightly auto-tweets until I discussed it with some of my friends on Twitter through DM. To my surprise, lots of people practice this activity, but it is very hush-hush, like it’s a dirty thing to do. Why is that?

I think everyone, me included, is so frustrated with the spam bots on twitter that we are now programmed to think anytime there is a sentence with the words “automation” and “Twitter” it is bad. I’ve done that myself a million times. But I tried to put the stereotype aside and open my mind to the possibilities.

Is it possible that in our haste and quick decision, we could be missing something, that if used appropriately, could actually enhance our Twitter experience?

I’m having fun with my nightly auto-tweets. I look forward to waking up in the morning and seeing tweets from my friends on the other side of the planet. It has enhanced my Twitter experience for sure.

What do you think?

I use Hootsuite for these tweets: