*puts on snarky hat*
*does a little dance*
I’m on Twitter… a lot. Being on Twitter a lot means that I have time to observe trends that people who spend less time on Twitter (or who don’t care) don’t see. This allows me to develop a lot of peeves when it comes to people posting on Twitter. I see a lot of different kinds of tweets in my timeline, and there are certain ones that drive me a little more crazy than others. The following list of Twitter behaviors are ones that make me roll my eyes or make me want to unfollow people. Naturally, I wrote a snarky post about it.
Please keep in mind that at its heart, this post is a rant. It is not an etiquette post. If you do some of these things, I’m sure I do some things that annoy you, too. Don’t take it personally.
1. Make sure your Twitter stream is full of automated tweets. People aren’t on Twitter to interact with you personally or get to know you.
2. Retweet EVERY TWEET you’re mentioned in, especially when you’re being praised or if someone mentioned you in a #FF tweet. Obviously, people following you don’t know why they’re following you, so you must remind them every chance you get.
3. Be negative and complain a lot. Misery loves company.
4. Never google or attempt to find answers to your questions on your own. Twitter is the new Google. Just ask Twitter. Twitter knows EVERYTHING and your friends are there to do the work for you.
5. Name drop every chance you get. It’s important that your followers know how popular you are.
6. Don’t respond to tweets the correct way (Twitter handle first) so that your response goes to all of your followers without any context of the conversation. It’s vital that ALL of your followers see ALL of your conversations, even if they have no idea what you’re talking about or your conversation isn’t relevant to them in any way.
7. Forget that Twitter is public. Talk about whatever and whomever you want as if you were having a private conversation. It’s not like any one of your hundreds or thousands of followers is going to see it.
8. If you want your followers to see your blog post, make sure you tweet at least two times when it’s published. Yes. This means you should have sites likes Feedburner, Networked Blogs, and Facebook all hooked up so that when you publish a post, all the different sites automatically publish a tweet within minutes of each other. To drive home the point, you should get on Twitter after all these are posted, and then post another link yourself. Because really, the more tweets you can post within five minutes of publishing your blog post, the easier it will be for people to tell that your blog post is VERY IMPORTANT and it deserves a lot of comments.
9. Your followers need to know everything you’re doing every moment of the day. You should be checking in on Foursquare wherever you go, tweeting from Get Glue whenever you watch a TV show, or posting all your reading updates to Goodreads because, quite frankly, if it’s not on Twitter, it didn’t really happen. (Note: I wrote this before the attack on Pam by a rejected writer. Be safe. Stop posting your location for everyone to see.)
10. All your tweets should include “Pls RT.” If your tweets don’t get retweeted, it means you fail at life. Additionally, your followers are too stupid to figure out what tweets should be retweeted, and this is why you need to tell them.
11. You should always reply-all to #FF tweets or other tweets you’re mentioned in along with other people. Other people LOVE when you fill up their mentions column or interactions page with thank yous to other people. And you actually get special bonus points if you continue conversing with the original tweeter so that everyone is dragged into your conversation. Because everyone loves being involved in a conversation they didn’t ask to be involved in.
Tabby_IMReviews September 21, 2012 at 12:08 am
I, no joke, just about died laughing. I love this! I SPECIFICALLY took off my “Post your FB updates to Twitter” thing just for this reason. I’m slow & didn’t realize that when I updated by blog page – it sent it to twitter. Yea – I’m that girl haha.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 9:21 am
I actually keep a very close eye on the services I allow access to my Twitter account for that very reason. I like to be sure if another service (like Facebook) is going to tweet, I know exactly what is in my Twitter feed.
(I also recently disconnected my Facebook from Twitter because it would tweet every time I posted a picture.)
Mary-Sweet Bookshelf September 21, 2012 at 4:06 am
Ha! This is good. I’m sure we all fail in some ways at twitter but there really are some annoying things out there clogging up my feed.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 9:23 am
Yes, I would agree. Completely agree! No one is perfect. (I know I’m not.)
Smash Attack September 21, 2012 at 7:07 am
Hello, My name is Ashley and I annoy you on Twitter. I know I do some of those things.
PLZ RT ME, AMANDA.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 9:26 am
I don’t know if you know this, Smash, but I love you.
True story, Kelly and I spent one whole morning on Twitter adding “Pls RT” to all our tweets to each other.
Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal September 21, 2012 at 9:34 am
True story. Pls RT
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 10:01 am
True story, even writing Pls RT after all my comments and tweets annoys me after a while.
EVEN I ANNOY MYSELF. *head explodes*
(Pls RT?)
Smash Attack September 21, 2012 at 10:05 am
I wish I would’ve been around to see the RT fun. Now I’m might have to be more annoying when talking w/ you on Twitter. Lol
Plz RT
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 10:07 am
Um. Please no?!
Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal September 21, 2012 at 9:38 am
I HAVE NOTHING TO ADD TO THIS! Damn you, Amanda! Pls RT
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 10:06 am
*finger guns* *click click*
Felicia September 21, 2012 at 9:59 am
I do one or two of these things :) Though I try very hard not to be overly annoying there are certain things I do that I know will annoy some *shrug* what can you do? LOL
Great Post!
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 10:00 am
I just hope that whomever I’m annoying likes me enough to overlook my faults. Heh. :)
Hannah @ Once Upon A Time September 21, 2012 at 10:21 am
What’s the Pam thing? I haven’t heard ANYTHING about this?
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 10:26 am
Bookalicious Pam (you know her, yes?) was attacked by a rejected writer. Excuse me. “Allegedly.” It was all over Twitter for a while, since Pam tweeted about it.
Hannah @ Once Upon A Time September 21, 2012 at 11:17 am
Know of, yeah. Yeesh.. Physically? :<
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 11:37 am
Yes, physically. Go look at her Twitter TL or her blog if you want the details. I don’t have them.
Hannah @ Once Upon A Time September 21, 2012 at 11:46 am
Oh fuck…
SaraO@TheLibrarianReads September 21, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Blah. I’m pretty sure I don’t tweet enough to annoy ;) I’m more like a silent lurker. Very creepy twitter watcher, lol.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 12:33 pm
I’m a lurker, too. Jury is still out on whether I’m silent or not. Honestly, I’m guessing they’ll find me not silent. (That was a lame joke.)
Kristilyn (Reading in Winter) September 21, 2012 at 12:17 pm
So much YES! Especially to RT-ing everything, or RT-ing every single post you’re mentioned in. That drives me nuts! It wasn’t until we talked that I knew I could turn OFF RTs. Best knowledge ever.
Favouriting posts drives me nuts, too. I don’t see the reason behind favouriting every.single.tweet.
Another way to not make friends (like I’ve said before) is to have MULTIPLE accounts and tweet the exact same thing to both accounts. Because, obviously, that’s why you have multiple accounts.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING! This is awesome. :)
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Sometimes I wonder if people realize that retweets only go to their followers. What’s the point of retweeting a #FF tweet to your followers when they already follow you? It seems rather pointless and redundant.
I don’t like when people favourite (LOOK!) every single tweet, but I do enjoy it when it’s done sparingly, because then I know I said something really funny. Or stupid. Or important. Whatever.
Kristilyn (Reading in Winter) September 21, 2012 at 12:54 pm
You know, really, I should be using the American spelling on your blog and you can use the Canadian spelling on my blog. It seems only fair.
Let’s try it:
Gee, Amanda! This is a colorful post! I will mark it as a favorite!
See! It worked! I will say that my fingers hesitated a bit.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Bwahaha! I LOVE IT. Let’s do it!
(My fingers hesitate over the Canadian spelling, too.)
Ashley Prince September 21, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Haha. Yes. I love this. The only one that I do (I think) is number 8. I keep forgetting that I had my blog connected to Networked Blog. Lol. I have just un-syndicated it by the way. So no more annoying two minute tweets about my posts.
Thank you for this post. :D
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 3:24 pm
I think there are A LOT of services out there that want (or require) you to connect your Twitter account. It’s pretty easy to lose track of what is all linked up. I recently forgot that all my Facebook page pictures automatically get linked on Twitter. I was seriously embarrassed. :)
Alissa September 21, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Oh, how I’ve missed you.
Granted, I rant and whine a lot on Twitter, but I like to think I have enough positivity to balance it out. :P
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 7:50 pm
*smiles beautifully at you*
I see a lot of negativity on Twitter, so I usually foist it all off on Kelly rather than Twitter. Sucks for Kelly.
Mary @ BookSwarm September 21, 2012 at 7:02 pm
OH, HOLY CRAP YOU”RE SO RIGHT ON THE MONEY!! I’ve stopped following a chunk of people because they RT-ed EVERY. LITTLE. MENTION. Excuze moi. Y’all are just NOT that damed popular. Oh, and you’re clogging my feed.
Snark, snark. Love the post, chicky.
Still, it can be fun (in that omg-look-it’s-a-car-crash kind of way) to watch the implosions and psychotic behavior that goes on…
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I may have to do a post on retweets, too. I’ve unfollowed people for too many retweets, though I also discovered that you can now turn off retweets for specific users. Now I can follow people and not see all their retweets. Win-win.
Generally, watching that kind of behavior on Twitter is fun for the first few minutes, then I start getting upset and annoyed and eventually walk away. I had to do that today. *glares at Twitter*
Brie @ Eat Books September 21, 2012 at 9:02 pm
This is the best thing I’ve read all day. And yes, I RT’d this post on twitter ;)
Number 4 is my BIGGEST pet peeve! It is NOT faster to ask “twitterpedia” than to google it yourself.
I don’t like #FF period. It’s like middle school all over again – the popular kids getting picked for FF’s. Lame.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 9:46 pm
*finger guns*
#4 is one of my biggest pet peeves, too. Kelly and I have worked really hard on the Bout of Books blog so that we don’t have to answer frequently asked questions, but we still get them ALL THE TIME. It’s like people don’t want to do anything for themselves. Or that Twitter holds all the answers.
I also agree about #FF. I stopped participating because it does seem to be a popularity contest. There is always someone left out, you know? I’d rather talk about any number of other things on Twitter (like peens or drinking wine).
Sarah (@sazbah) September 21, 2012 at 10:18 pm
BAHAHAH!
AMANDA.
I LOVE YOU.
PLS RT.
I know I do this: “8. If you want your followers to see your blog post, make sure you tweet at least two times when it’s published. Yes. This means you should have sites likes Feedburner, Networked Blogs, and Facebook all hooked up so that when you publish a post, all the different sites automatically publish a tweet within minutes of each other. To drive home the point, you should get on Twitter after all these are posted, and then post another link yourself. Because really, the more tweets you can post within five minutes of publishing your blog post, the easier it will be for people to tell that your blog post is VERY IMPORTANT and it deserves a lot of comments.”
Because I forget I have the ruddy stupid thing hooked up to Twitter ( I SO NEED TO CHANGE THIS).
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 21, 2012 at 10:48 pm
SARAH.
I LOVE YOU.
PLS RT.
I think #8 is an easy one to do, honestly. So many sites require you to hook up your Twitter account. Not cool.
Sarah (@sazbah) September 22, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Yeah, but I’m a supposedly intelligent human being. I could, you know, disable the auto-post :P
Kelsey September 22, 2012 at 7:00 am
Yeah, I’m guilty of doing a few of these at times, but I do try not to be annoying! I did the thing where different services tweet my post, but I totally forgot I already had it going already when I started up the other haha.
I love your PLS RT post too, so funny and I see so many people doing that! If I like the post and want to retweet it, I will, not because you give me instructions to, you know.
Thanks for this, made my day!
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 22, 2012 at 9:47 am
Oh, trust me. I’ve done some of these at times, too. It happens.
I agree about asking for retweets. It’s generally not needed because I am smart enough to know when something might need to be retweeted, you know? And I generally like to assume that everyone else is smart enough to know, too. (Though I’ve gotten in trouble before, for assuming people are smart enough… and then they’re NOT. That’s not retweet related, though.)
Shaunesay September 22, 2012 at 8:07 am
I do remember the PLS RT fest. I think Goodreads is the only thing I have hooked up anymore, and I’m sorry but I’m keeping it! :P
by the way, you’re AWESOME pls rt!
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 22, 2012 at 9:49 am
I can stand Goodreads as long as it’s used wisely. Plus, it makes sense for updates during read-a-thons. :)
Anya @ On Starships and Dragonwings September 22, 2012 at 11:14 am
Yey swan fountain :D Can I ask a serious question though on #1, is it all right with you to have some automated tweets or not at all?
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 22, 2012 at 11:25 am
I’m on Twitter to interact with people. Automated tweets don’t allow me to do this. Now, keep in mind this is just my personal opinion, but I feel that automated tweets are more about promotion than interaction, so I ignore them. I’m a firm believer that interacting and connecting with people is a better marketing/promotion strategy than automated tweets. I find automated tweets to be impersonal and they don’t provide much context for the link (as in, why should I click through?). But that’s *my* opinion. There are people who swear by things like Triberr and Tweet Old Post and say that it increases traffic.
Ellie September 22, 2012 at 11:45 am
I do 4 because it’s quicker and sometimes I’m at work when I ask these things and can’t spend half an hour googling. Technically I shouldn’t be on Twitter either but Twitter often has all the answers without having to read posts that could contain anything. :)
Auto follow annoys me much more than anything else. And stupid replies to things from businesses/spammers.
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 22, 2012 at 11:49 am
Oh, you mean like the FeedBlitz founder who responded to Feedburner related tweets with links to his own service? Or the authors who crashed the #boutofbooks hashtag to plug their own books? >=|
Amy @bookgoonie September 23, 2012 at 10:39 am
People reposting their blog links not only 5x at once, but multiple times during the day.
People that obsessively pimp tweeting for other bloggers. I think this is cool, but if I get 20 from the same person in a row…I’m thinking not very discerning.
I don’t get why you don’t like the nasty negative tweets. Those belong on FB. heehee
Amanda @ On a Book Bender September 23, 2012 at 11:14 am
Oh, anytime you see a tweet that has “[post title] [google link] via @TwitterUser” it’s most likely Triberr, which is a type of automated tweet. I’m not a big fan of Triberr.
People use Twitter as their own personal whine box. And I understand needing to whine to someone. But… I just don’t need to see everyone’s complaints all the time.
Sana @ artsy musings of a bibliophile December 31, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Oh yes, this is awesome. And I hate the ‘Pls RT’ tweets. Seriously it’s like what the hell bu I do have my Goodreads connected to Twitter and I like it that way.
Very useful post, Amanda!
Sana @ artsy musings of a bibliophile
Amanda @ On a Book Bender December 31, 2012 at 5:12 pm
I don’t think having Goodreads connected to Twitter is a bad thing. It’s more about knowing what you’re sending to your Twitter account–if you spam your Twitter account with all your activity on Goodreads, that’s no good.