My Twitter Pet Peeves (Or How NOT to be a JERK on Twitter--You Jerk!)

__ Of course, the people who are reading this post are NOT jerks. It's that whole "preaching to the choir" syndrome. If you're reading this, you're probably doing everything right. So pat yourself on the back. If you do ANY of the following--STOP IT! Just stop. It's not cool. I don't like it and I'm certain I'm not the only one who thinks so either. So kudos to you for reading and wanting to put your jerkhood behind you.

The ones who SHOULD be reading this post probably never will because they are (let's say it all together) JERKS!

Yesterday I weeded down those people I follow on twitter. I had to. I follow a lot of people (I love people) and I don't want my stream littered with nonsense that take away from my building relationships with people who interact and have something interesting to say. Or otherwise, the cool people. Cool people are awesome. Jerk people, not so much.

My pet peeve #1 has to be Direct Messaging me (DM'ing) on twitter to buy your crap. I don't even care what kinda crap you're selling me. Could be great crap for all I know and I'm probably missing out, but if I follow you and you instant DM me and say "BUY MY BOOK!" or "Check out my blog!" I  won't do it. I know some people who have gone so far as to unfollow someone who does this. I haven't done that. I like to give chances, but I'm telling you, you have a long road to walk to get back in my good graces. Actually, I've gotten to a point I don't even check my DM's anymore. Such a waste. So don't do this! This is bad. Oh, and DON'T auto DM anyone about anything. I hate this. Don't DM me and say thanks for following you and that you look forward to my tweets--crap, you didn't even have the decency to write it and make it unique to me. I see it for what it is.

Pet peeve #2  ONLY tweeting about your book and links to your book or book reviews. That's it. Nothing else. No fun. All business. People who don't interact and only tweet these types of messages will get the axe from me. Don't be a spammer. Don't try and sell ANYTHING with this method. It makes you look sad and desperate. I want to know you as a person, as an author. Tell me about your kids school plays or about the crappy meal you made for dinner. Tell me what books you're reading (love that) or better yet, tell me a joke. This is what I relate to--relationship building. Then, after I get to know you, I will probably give your book a try or buy your steampunk jewlery. Talk to me. That's all I want.

Pet peeve #3 Retweeting EVERYTHING! Oh, that is annoying. Don't get me wrong, I love a good RT. I, myself, love to RT other people's comments IF IT APPLIES AND IS AWESOME. But I don't RT to simply RT. When your whole feed is one RT after another--POOF, you are gone. You're adding nothing to the twitterverse by doing this. Pick and choose. AND if I have built a relationship with you and you RT something by someone else, I will most likely click on it. If you liked it, then heck, I need to check it out. But RTing and RTing tells me you have nothing to say--nothing of your own anyway. What a waste.

Pet peeve #4 What the heck is with all the hashtags (#)? When a tweet has more hashtags in it than words, you've lost me. When the tweet says something like "Hey guys! #kindle #horror #romance #YA #book #amwriting" you have just officially ticked me off! I say two hashtags and no more. Beyond two it just becomes annoying.

Pet peeve #5  Retweeting the same thing over and over and over (not to be confused with #3). I'm talking same link, same quote, etc... Okay, I know I can be a bit this way. I don't like it done to me, so I'm doing my best to pull back on this as well. I get that tweets have a 30 second life span and so you need to retweet often if you want your link seen by more than a few people. I get that. BUT every five minutes retweeting the very same thing is NUTS. Space it out  little. Once an hour maybe, but no more than that (anyone out there have a better guideline on this?) And for the love of all that's good in the world, do not retweet your own tweet--that is dumb!

Pet peeve #6 The people who follow you and then you follow them back ONLY to find out they unfollowed you in the meantime? That's rude! Poof, you are gone.

Pet peeve #7 I'm not a prude by any means, but I'm not into a whole lot of swearing or looking at your twitter app that is just a picture of your boobs or cleavage. You're a goner when you do that kind of stuff. Oh, and anything racist or sexist is out, too. Just cause you can drop an F bomb or call someone a bleepity bleep on twitter doesn't mean you should. Think about it. You will offend people. Also, remember that any tweet you post is now in the cyber universe FOREVER. Be careful.

I love twitter. I've met some amazing people there that I wouldn't have met otherwise. I think it great for networking and socializing. When done well, it can be a great tool. Do any of the above though, and you're nothing but a big old jerk. And no one wants to be a jerk--yet, there are a whole lot of them out there. So don't add to the jerk population. Be cool. Be yourself. Have fun and interact.

What things tick you off in twitterville? What are your pet peeves AND what have you seen done well? Examples?

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