![]() __ 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?
22 Comments
12/14/2011 04:35:47 am
I'm glad that someone posted this and even happier that it was you, Angela. I was just discussing this with a friend from across the pond, whom I met on twitter by the way, just a couple of days ago. We were skyping and the conversation rolled around to twitter people that do most of the things you mentioned. The only thing we didn't cover in our bashing of twitter meatheads was #5. I don't know how we missed that. Regardless, you're not saying anything most of us haven't thought and I whole heartedly agree witb you! By the way, Merry Christmas to you and yours! :-)
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12/14/2011 04:50:26 am
I actually had someone send me an auto-DM to check out their book yesterday. I was going to check out their book anyways (which is why I followed them back) but their link went to the Kindle store. I looked for it on B&N but couldn't find it, so I asked them if they had a link for the Nook. They said they had it formatted for the Nook but hadn't put it up yet, and then sent me a FREE COPY of the book with Nook formatting!
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What about the people who rapid-fire tweet (a combination of RTs, interesting links, and random musings about next to nothing) like a crazy bird one day and then close the window and forget that twitter even exists for days and/or weeks at a time until they get notifications that several new porn spammers are following her and so logs in to block them and starts the process over again. Not that I am admitting guilt or anything...
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antonio angelo
12/14/2011 09:22:21 am
yup i do that. which one im not telling.
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12/14/2011 12:42:05 pm
I love this! I was thinking about doing a similar post for Netiquette, but honestly don't think I could say it any clearer or better.
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#1 makes me the craziest! Don't DM me for the first time...when we haven't even exchanged Tweets...and ask me to buy your stuff--go to your blog--like your page--listen to your music--vote for you--etc...
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12/14/2011 02:27:39 pm
Great post. I'm very new to Twitter so I'm sure I've annoyed several people by doing dumb things I shouldn't.
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12/14/2011 02:46:46 pm
I recently wrote a post with a similar theme. Using twitter as you've suggested can do far more harm than good to an emerging author's reputation. Well written!
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12/14/2011 11:15:29 pm
Amen! Great post. I've seriously been annoyed by every one one of those things.
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12/14/2011 11:43:21 pm
Thanks so much for this post! As a Twitter newbie, it provided me a good set of guidelines of what not to do! (I was guilty of the hyper-RT thing for awhile--no more!)
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12/15/2011 12:49:38 am
Yeah, I'm not too big on the DMs about buying books or checking out blogs.
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12/15/2011 01:35:05 am
Ha ha, great post. The only thing I would add is when all people tweet are quotes from other people. I don't mind a few good quotes, but say something else, too. Variety is the spice of life!
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12/15/2011 05:48:45 am
Hi Angela! I am with you on #2. I keep thinking why does that one person only share EVERYTHING about her book! She never shares anyone else's news, never RT's anyone else, it's all about her book and never anything about her. As for RT #3 I tend to do that myself! Yep! I'm guilty, but I also share, promote, and comment. Another one that bugs me is having someone follow me, but when I try to follow them, I have to be validated :-) Loved your post hope you are having a great week!
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karly greenup
12/15/2011 05:51:19 am
Awesome post.
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12/15/2011 05:53:08 am
What a fabulous post, thank you for sharing. I have to confess, I do like to send DMs to new followers-but they are individually typed, personalised and don't mention my book (I figure the person following me has clocked that already) unless there's a very good reason. Like you, I get fed up by auto DMs selling me this, that and the other. Thanks also on reiterating the relationship side of Twitter. I am probably guilty of not sharing enough of 'me', the person--but I am intensely private by nature. Will try to fix that and find a happy medium. So, much appreciated! And this... I will tweet about!
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Totally with you on #6. Sometimes I don't leap to follow people immediately (because, um, I have other things to do upon occasion) and it irks me when I get unfollowed so rapidly. Then, too, there's Twitter's weird following rules that I sometimes get caught in and then I have to wait to follow people. Great post.
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12/19/2011 04:46:54 am
Carmen I do a lot of block and report too, especially since they use my twitter name in the same tweet they are tweeting. And if they are an egg! I also have a hard time following people if they don't have anything written in their bio. How am I suppose to know who they are and what they do. And Charlotte, twitter has me on hold at a certain # of people I can follow, until I get my followers up, and I don't want to unfollow people, just so I can start following new people who have started following me, but I always try and thank and RT all of my new followers, so others can follow them!
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