TwitterWhile I’m active on Twitter, I don’t claim to be an expert on the social media platform. Even so, there are some things that even non-experts ought to know not to do with Twitter’s direct message feature, such as:

1. Sending boring automatic direct messages, particularly “thanks for following.” Yes, I know the social media management tools make it easy to do that, but most people are smart enough to recognize that it’s not a true personal message. I appreciate my followers and I try to show it by Tweeting great content and not wasting their time.

2. Sending messages with typos and other errors. While Twitter’s 140-character limit might occasionally call for creative abbreviations, mistakes are distracting and are a negative reflection on the sender’s credibility. Take the time to proofread.

3. Begging. Does the online equivalent of street-corner panhandling really work? I don’t know, but I’m not impressed by people who send me messages pleading for me to like them on Facebook or engage with them on another platform without giving me a solid reason to do so. Make your content an exchange in abundance.

My personal Twitter strategy is organic. I don’t pay for followers and I don’t automatically follow back. When I get new followers, I personally check out their profiles and then decide if I’m going to follow them. Yesterday, I began following some Twitter users who had just started following me, and immediately received a couple of (probably automated) direct messages.

Here’s one:

Thank you for Friendship, Share-like [link] and [link].

The links were to two different Facebook pages – and no, I’m not going to like or share them. And a mutual following on Twitter does not constitute friendship (which isn't a proper noun and shouldn't be capitalized).

Here’s the other:

PLEASE LIKE MY FACEBOOC PAGE. PPPPPLLLLEEEEAAASSSEEE: [link]

And that was the one that prompted this blog.

How do Twitter users bug you?

Jacquelyn Lynn
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