Just stop it. You don’t get to use Twitter anymore
by A recent post by The Bloggess caught my attention: “25 things about twitter that are pissing me off.”
I can’t say that I agree with every item on her list but I can definitely relate to a few.
People who are making me her us mad:
“People who have their twitter account marked private because they don’t want people to read it. YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET. Also, what you’re drinking at Starbucks is not national security. It makes me want to create a page for my cat and make it private because it’s that stupid.”
Now, there are people who use Twitter to communicate with a select group of people or do not want the world to know that they hate their boss / the company they work for / the product they sell / their wife etc. While it’s good not to broadcast these things I wonder if the locked account people know that people who are allowed to follow them can and do retweet their stuff and broadcast it to the world for them. (Oops. You didn’t think of that, did you.)
“People who I’m really good friends with on twitter but they never post anything to let me know if they are a girl or a boy and their picture is of a dolphin or a rainbow and I want to talk about them to my husband and I’m all “Oh, one of my best friends on twitter is hilarious and you would love him or her” and then Victor’s all “You don’t know the sex of one of your best friends?” and I’m all ” Well…their picture is a dolphin” and he just shakes his head.”
Seriously. Please. Are you a human or are you a picture of a goat.
“People who aren’t on twitter and think they’re better than me, because I was you a year ago and guess what? I had a lot more spare time then. But now I have 11,000 friends. And only half of them are robots. The other half are dolphins.”
And you know exactly who these people are because they refer to the act of using twitter as “twittering.”
“People who ask questions that no one cares the answer to. Like, bad question: “Hey everybody! What’s your favorite color?” Good question: “How many lemurs could you fight off if the lemurs were really mad and you were wearing a suit made out of meat?”
Other bad questions: “does anybody want to buy my ebook?” and “how do you work this twitter thing?”
“People who answer that question “I <3 lemurs!!! They R QT’s!!!” Just stop it. You don’t get to use twitter anymore.”
Twitter is not AOL and this is not 1995.
“Robots.”
Obviously.
“People who ask me to follow them over and over except I’m already following them but I can’t DM them that because they aren’t following me.”
This one’s on my Top 10 Most Annoying Things in Life list.
“Practically everyone who has an auto-response set up to welcome followers. I don’t need you to tell me I’m following you. I just followed you. Also, you only have 16 followers. Just how busy are you?
Exactly. Also, I have yet to see an auto-response that made me think “Well isn’t that a good idea!”
“People under age 16 on twitter. No. Just look what you did to Myspace.”
Two words. PARENTAL CONTROLS.
**Stephanie comes to us from Atlanta, GA. To vote for Stephanie’s post, please leave a comment below. Don’t forget to visit her website, www.radiantveracity.com.
Tags: myspace, parental controls, radiantveracity, stehanie lloyd, the bloggess, tweet & shout, Twitter
Aug 31, 2009
[...] Stephanie A. Lloyd’s submission “Just stop it. You don’t get to use Twitter anymore.” [...]
Aug 31, 2009
stef is the Best
Aug 31, 2009
[...] blog post “Just stop it. You don’t get to use twitter anymore” made it into the Tweet & Shout blogging [...]
Aug 31, 2009
This is a fantastic list. My worst peeve is somebody that post 8 posts in a row from their inspirational calendar quotes. Stop using an intern to appear to be a personal connection. Ewe! You wouldn’t send them to an event to pass out your cards and make friends for you – would you?
Aug 31, 2009
Twitter isn’t as easy or obvious as it may seem, but with a little observation and effort, it can be a terrific tool for connecting. Heed Stephanie’s warnings to avoid irritating people along the way!
Aug 31, 2009
Nice post Stephanie!
Aug 31, 2009
Great job Stephanie!
Aug 31, 2009
Private Twitter= FACEBOOK
I’ll be on myspace if anyone is looking for me…
Aug 31, 2009
I vote for Stephanie’s post!
Aug 31, 2009
LOVE this post!
Aug 31, 2009
I couldn’t agree more about the auto-response. What purpose do these serve? Has a spammy feel and annoys me. Great points Stephanie!
Aug 31, 2009
Yes Stephanie, I think what you are saying here is that Twitter is about authentic relationships. When people use it as a blatant self promotion or use an impersonal approach as robots it is very annoying. It pollutes the Twitter environment. When I look at who I’m going to follow, I like to see a link to a real profile or blog that tells me more about the person who I am following. If there is no link or a picture of a dolphin, I don’t follow. Great post. I hope you win the contest!
Aug 31, 2009
Love this post, Stephanie! You take on some of the little idiosyncratic things that give us pause… Well, okay, the things that make us want to say, “just stop it.” There are of course others (like flooding the timeline with, oh, 23 tweets of quotes or links)… but you can take those up on another day! Great to see you in the contest! Best, Walter
Aug 31, 2009
Great ideas here, now if only the robots and auto-responders are reading and considering your input….
Sep 01, 2009
Stephanie has absolutely figured out how to use social media in a positive/productive way and this post is a great example of why her voice is listened to and is growing stronger every day. I vote for “Just stop it. You don’t get to use Twitter anymore.” Hands down.
Sep 01, 2009
I love this post and your use of humor to drive home a point! Maybe I will start dming the offenders the link to this post. Glad to see you here, wishing you all the very best!
Sep 01, 2009
[...] happens to also live in Atlanta) about a blog contest that she has a post entered in. Her post is “Just stop it. You don’t get to use Twitter anymore.” I don’t know all the rules of the contest, but from Stephanie’s tweet I gather the [...]
Sep 01, 2009
Stephanie,
I couldn’t agree more. People do not understand Twitter.
1. Protected Tweets – do they get it?
2. Stupid Questions – We call that just dealing with the General Public.
3. Auto Response Reply To New Followers- the absolute worst API designed idea.
Good luck getting people to change.
Chad Rothschild
http://www.chadrothschild.com
Sep 01, 2009
Great post, Stephanie and so very true! These are all things that seasoned Tweeters are dying to say.
Best of luck with the contest!
Jessica Miller-Merrell
http://www.blogging4jobs.com
@blogging4jobs
Sep 13, 2009
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