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Looking around the Twittersphere these days begs the question “How much of people’s daily Twittering is done by Robots”?

Well the answer is Too Much.

Why do I not like Auto-DMs/replies?

I like to use Twitter as a means of connecting with other people in real time. When I get a DM or a reply, I hop on my computer and reply back. It takes very little time and shows I care about the person connecting and conversing with me. Now imagine my frustration when I reply to 30+ direct messages and get no responses. What happens is people set these things up and then just ‘let them do all work’.

The whole auto-DM epidemic has actually resulted in me sending less DMs and I scrutinize every incoming tweet to judge its authenticity.

So in the end, if you don’t have time to reply to every new follower, then don’t. I’d rather get to know you through your public tweets than receive an empty welcome.

Why do I not like follow schemes?

You have most likely seen it several times in your public twitter stream

“Joe Shmoe has a crazy idea. 19,530 new twitter followers in 30 days? Check it out …“.

The truth is that this is just a Twitter pyramid scheme that encourages spam. I have spoken with a a lot of other level headed tweeps who agree that this program is spammy.

I personally manually approve every new follower before following back to keep my Twitter stream optimized at all times. I find new tweeps in relevant Twitter directories and via tweeps I am already following. Why would I be interested in a bunch of random new followers.

But that’s just how I tweet. My main quarrel is the spam. Please cut it out and note I will not follow you back if I see tweetergetter in your stream.

– Photo by atp_tyreseus

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  • gloria yamato

    twitter newbie that I am, this is all timely and helpful even though written a while back. Helps to know I’m on the right track and that some of my suspicions about mssges were not so farfetched (today from @wittich #failwhale daily looked like a pyramid meant to gather followers). Thanks for good clear tips and thinking.

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  • http://www.jonbishop.org Jon Bishop

    @murdamw I think you’re missing the point. I’m complaining about people who use scripts to send out repetitive DMs and acquire new followers.

    CommenTwitter is a plugin that automatically tweets ones comment. People already tweet they are “reading so and so’s blog” and thats all fine and dandy …. but i wanted to know more. I think that by tweeting your comments you put more value in the tweet that is ultimately directing people to that blog post (and your comment).

    So in no way is this contradictory. CommenTwitter tweets peoples comments, which they still write on a comment to comment basis. Auto DMs are the same thing being sent out to hundreds of people.

  • http://www.funkyspacemonkey.com FSMdotCOM

    Is Your Twitter Run By Robots? – interesting title. but you use a script so you can auto-tweet blog comments. isnt that a little bit contradictory? i mean, it might be beneficial and encouraging for comments and , maybe, get some attention for your blog but… I mean you write such a post ( which i scanned this time :P ) , but yet, you are using that script to tweet your comment and send out a link using cli.gs which has analytics and provides you certain info. Dont get me wrong, the script seems great, it might work for you, but related to this post only… something does not match… care to expand on this? :)

  • http://www.jonbishop.org Jon Bishop

    @murdamw We agree on all points but I wish I shared your optimism when you say that “this BS will go on for max another 6 months on twitter”. I think people will continue to use these follow schemes and automation services. The key might be in how we filter them out.

    Also, great twitter advice … also good life advice.

  • http://www.funkyspacemonkey.com FSMdotCOM

    first of all i want to apologize because i didnt read your post. dont be mad at me, but to be honest im tired of twitter posts. This is crazy, twitter is JUST A TOOL, everybody should use it , as they know best. Joel Comm got a book out on twitter business success and thousands of other articles on internet on how to think. Basically its a more sublime version of 1984 (orwell). Anyway, i just wanted to get that of my chest :P

    About auto-DM’s – dont like them, as interesting as the person might be or i might think he/she is, i auto-unfollow when i receive and auto-DM.

    About auto-replies – hmmm… never got one before. usually this mofo’s lurk in shadows , and they send auto-DM’s

    About the follow schemes – this one is a sensitive matter. Like i said, people think that if they got a blind herd. they are on the top of the game. But sadly , today with the new media, new ways of marketing, crises and so on… this way of thinking may still work on some cases, but usually it doesn’t. Btw im talking about this on business level of using twitter. ( i believe you too, or you wouldnt mention the scheme). So basically thats it. Usually its ” im giving this away for free if you follow me by friday @2 and you RT this ). Nothing wrong so far. You gain a shitload of followers, and when the contest is over you get unfollowed by a shitload-100. But you still got a shitload of followers. Some of them are not really bright and they are blinded by the herd effect ( as i like to call it ) and sadly they are the easy ones to manipulate. So for a short period of time you’re basically set. I believe that, this BS will go on for max another 6 months on twitter. Hopefully , the game will change…

    To conclude this comment ( because i wrote you another post here lol ) :

    – sorry i was going on and on with this, but i got pretty mad on something ( not telling what ) that was going on earlier – twitter related

    and 2 hints for your twitter ( NOT ONLY TWITTER ) life :

    – its better to have 1 or 5 or 10 people that really believe in you , your product or what youre doing than to have thousands which might not even know that they following you and vice-versa

    – people like/believe in/trust other people not companies and suits. be yourself, act like you always act, and BE PERSONAL.

  • http://www.jonbishop.org Jon Bishop

    How do other people feel about automating DMs/replies and follower schemes