One thing is constant: change. Twitter is no exception !
October 17th, 2009
How has this happened ? I mean, here I am, a self-professed “blogaholic” and yet I am ashamed to note that I haven’t posted here for more than two weeks. (Blush !)
Well, I guess I shouldn’t beat myself up too much. Some people are very effective blogging just once a month, so I guess that this just proves that there is no right or wrong. And besides, I have had some catching up to do recently and I do have several “irons in the fire” at the moment.
But it’s important to “step away from the mouse” every now and again and that’s what I did yesterday. I had a lunch time appointment and because it was a beautiful autumn day, I walked. As I did so, I had an experience that I am sure most people are familiar with. (I’m actually searching for its name: not deja vu, but it must be something like it. Let me know if you have any ideas on this !)
You know what it’s like to turn a corner, look at a building that you are familiar with only to suddenly find that a new shop or office has replaced what you are used to seeing. I kept having that feeling yesterday ! (“Jamais vu” ?)
At least six times in the space of half an hour, I heard myself muttering, “Well, that’s new … how long has that been there ?”
And as I turned for home, besides thinking that I should get out more (LOL), I realised that if there’s one thing that you can be certain about in life, it’s that things will change !
With that in mind, be aware that Twitter are making changes as the popularity of their service continues to grow.
First, they are making it easier for users to report spam. If you check out the drop down menu that you see when you click on the Actions icon (the little gear wheel) on your list of followers, you’ll see that you can report a member for alleged spamming. More on this on Twitter’s blog.
Also, there are indications that Twitter are tightening up on people that tweet duplicate content, not just on one account but on multiple accounts. Obviously, this is also spam related. It’s most likely to affect people that use the various services available to schedule automated tweets.
I have had people blast 20+ different tweets at my timeline all at once, seemingly ALL affiliate links … what a turn off ! Besides being anti-social, this kind of practice could also be against Twitter’s Terms of Service.
Personally, I see the next few weeks as being extremely interesting for social media in general and Twitter in particular. I have seen a few articles lately that suggest that it is becoming a truly viable method of driving off-line traffic, so with the holiday season on the horizon, smart retailers will be looking to take advantage of every trick in the book to maximise their income.
Categories: General
I think automated Tweets are fine…if used properly. That, of course, is where they fail as a rule. I do that occasionally but set it up to send one Tweet a day at different times of the day.
I do love the spam report feature…used it a fair bit already.
Not sure how this “duplicate content” thing will shake out but my guess is it will tie into reducing the spammers. So, if you have multiple accounts and use all of them the RT something…probably no big deal. On the other hand, if you’re using them to broadcast the same Tweet several times…You’ve been tagged/suspended.
Cheers,
Rod
Like Rod, I’ve had the “opportunity” to use the spam reporting feature at Twitter also. It was a gratifying feeling, to know that I could do something about it. Remember the good old days of email, when you had to buy a separate product to deal with spam? It’s good to see this become a default feature in just about all communication apps., and especially in the social media area.
I’m not sure if what you described even has a name… but I think “jamais vu” is good! In my case, when it happens to me, I just think I must be losing it… where did the time go? When something new shows up and displaces a memory of what used to be, it has to be related to the passage of so much time that I’m either preoccupied, distracted or just plain forgetful. It’s not Alzheimer’s… how about Old Timer’s Disease? Or, how about CRS… “can’t remember stuff.”
But you’re right… with the holidays coming very soon, look out… it’s a “jungle” out there.
@Rod – I think you nailed it when you talk about tweeting the same thing over and over. But I must admit, “re-tweets” were something that I hadn’t thought about in this context. I still consider myself a relative newb to Twitter, so I could be wrong here, but I thought that RT’s are usually thought to be OK, even encouraged.
@Roberta – thanks for stopping by ! I like “CRS”. I vote for preoccupied & distracted
All the best,
Roger
Hi Roger nice to see a new post from
you , have to say twitter at the moment is so full of spam i have lost total interest.
also i can hardly manage keeping up with Rob canyons course , so twitter is very low priority for me , got your link to this post from facebook
cheers mick
Hi Roger,
I enjoyed your refreshing post about your being outside and forgetting about the computer mouth and all that stuff.
It is so important to get away from the computer once in a while.
I do it but nor often enough. It is when my body just rebels and my mind has had enough of slouching behind the desk that I just turn the computer off and get out and to the tennis court.
A good and engaging game of tennis makes me completely forget the online world.
More often than that I just get out for a nice half hour walk which helps but longer breaks are much better.
As far as twitter goes I’m not still sure what are the game rules of using it properly and sensibly. It seems to me that too many people are competing at who can get the most followers.
When I see people with really small amounts of tweets and thousands of followers it seems obvious to me that something is amiss. And I’m talking about unknown people, not movie or athletic stars.
When all the spam is hard to do and when people use twitter for real communicating and building relationships I’ll get more involved with it.
Vance
Rog,
It is amazing how inspirational it can be to just go for a walk, isn’t it? I have to say that I haven’t joined the twitter band wagon yet — yes I’m sure I’m one of the last hold-outs, but your post gave me a information to consider as I inch toward using social media more. -Norene
I had my Twitter account compromised and sending all sorts of spam last week so i ended up getting rid of the account.
I still think its worth having for the traffic so will probably have another crack at it soon
That’s a drag Peter – let me know what your new account is and I’ll make sure to follow you.
Roger
Hi Rodger,
I am a student of Mark Terrell’s and I am just learning how to use twitter it looks a little confusing and always changing but I am going to get into it. Thanks for the info and I would love for you to stop by my blog and leave a comment. Thank You
Karen