Why Bother Tweeting At All If You Are Not Going To Engage

11 Comments

1. I agree, many of us are simply using the SocNet’s to sell our products. So I try to listen to others, and then chat with local people with similar interests.

   The problem is that amongst the good stuff is a certain amount of chaff.

   I find that the discussions with which to get involved are aimed at a particular audience. So I try to invoke discussion with questions. Not always easy when the crowd is already in a deep discussion, yet still we try….-= stephen´s last blog ..Having a Response =-.

2. G’day @eztephen You’d be one of the best that I’ve met on soc media as far as interaction’s concerned! Thanks for the comment!

3. Thanks for the accolades Allan. I’ve been chatting on the WWW for over ten years, so making the transition to Twitter and similar style chat-sites was fairly easy. Now to make them work better for us.
   .-= stephen´s last blog ..Having a Response =-.

4. @eztephen ‘Making it work for us’ is the key! The conversation is definitely getting easier online, and I’m enjoying moving the conversation between Twitter and my blog using CommenTwitter.

5. @tiddlytwinks One-way tweets and/or links, with virtually no engaging or interaction with followers, has become the overwhelming norm on Twitter.

   IMO. App’s such as TweetLater allow Twitter users to tweet AT followers and throw up links at timed intervals, without so much as being there to respond to questions or comments. To say that I personally HATE that would be an understatement.

   Twitter was (and is?) about conversation. Engaging. Interaction. Of late, I’ve noticed a high increase of nothing but links and a low level of conversation. Unless of course you consider “Quotes and Sayings” to be conversation.

   Your point about Twitter users who tweet something (with or without a link) and then are nowhere to be found, or simply choose NOT to respond to @ replies is a huge problem for many users.

   So much so that it’s become a regular topic of conversation on Facebook, and I can understand why at least some Twitter peeps have moved much of their engaging and interaction off of Twitter and onto FB.

   Twitter for business purposes has its place too, but at what cost when the Twitter stream is only used to talk AT followers, rather than a tw0-way conversation. For those reasons amongst others, I’m spending a lot more time on Facebook and REALLY interacting and getting to know “friends” there instead of Twitter. Plus, there aren’t character restrictions on FB, so the conversations are much deeper than what is found on Twitter.

   I’m not necessarily saying Goodbye to Twitter (yet), but I’m fed-up with the non-stop, one-way broadcasting that goes on with peeps trying to sell their wares or services but don’t give a flip about building personal relationships and trust with followers. Ick..-= Lin´s last blog ..Childhood Obesity: Overweight Children Weight Loss Plan for Kids and Teens =-.

6. Becky Cortino – Thank you Allan, your post resonates with me, especially after what I deemed to be a truly lackluster day this week while many well known Social Media proponents were spewing out their links… and if engaging in convo, it was above most peeps’ heads amongst a select few — to what else, but co-promote.

   Fortunately this is not an everyday occurrence, and seems to come in waves, perhaps related to economic circumstances. I can only hope those who are truly looking for convo and info sharing don’t become discouraged.

   As for me? I got on my soapbox as I have been known to do and said my piece. LOL Appreciate what you share and thank you for asking what I think 🙂 It’s all about relationship and the convo..-= Becky Cortino´s last blog ..Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business with Paul Chaney, “The Social Media Handyman” =-.

7. @Ozegold Thanks for the comment Becky! You? On a soapbox? Keep it up – it suits you 🙂

8. @Ozegold @tiddlytwinks ‘Tweet Later’ is something akin to using a robot to engage in conversation! I personally ‘unfollow’ people who don’t engage in conversation, and would encourage others to do the same.

   I may not see everybody’s tweets due to time zone differences and schedules etc, but I do take an interest and try to respond!

   Constant streams of links make it impossible – which is why I use services such as Topify and Mr Tweet to check people out now BEFORE I follow them.

   Must admit that I do share quotes occasionally, but only if I think they’re useful/funny whatever 😉

   Thanks Lin, have a great weekend!

9. @tiddlytwinks Hi Allan, I’ve tried Topify and Mr Tweet myself, and initially found both to be very helpful.

   Until, that is, those I chose to follow who had a good track record of interaction and engaging suddenly changed their methods and started doing nothing but broadcasting links, quotes and sayings, and even joined the ranks of those who participate in sponsored tweets such as Magpie.

   I’ve been doing more unfollowing of late than I thought would be necessary.

   I have no problem with the fact that many are on different time zones and can’t possibly see every tweet going on within their stream. I’ve found that even using Tweetdeck and having columns of favorite friends and topics to follow along with (including you) doesn’t always catch all the conversations, so much is missed out on.

   Just recently, I turned off notifications on both Twitter accts, because I’ve been bombarded with stupid, spammy DM’s like “vote for me” nonsense from people who have never engaged with me whatsoever but are asking for favors.

   I’m disillusioned with Twitter right now, but haven’t completely given up on it. Yet..

   -= Lin´s last blog ..Childhood Obesity: Overweight Children Weight Loss Plan for Kids and Teens =-.

10. @ozegold @tiddlytwinks I’ve had it happen that folks who used to interact have suddenly started to broadcast, and stop engaging as well.

    It then comes down to a choice of whether their tweets are interesting enough to receive, or whether to exercise the unfollow button!

    What I am finding more as well is people whom I have never followed me are using the “@” reply feature to spam me – particularly id I use say ‘coffee’ or ‘followfriday’ in my tweets. These are usually tweetbots and are a real pain…!

    Still, I persevere, and enjoy the friends that I have there.

    I enjoy retweeting friends’ tweets, and try and add value to my network by highlighting them occasionally.

    Adding value to your network is important for me, as it gives people a reason to hang around.

    I guess that that is a facet that many Twitterers don’t understand, or don’t wish to acknowledge, because it is easier to just cater to the lowest common denominator: build a huge list of followers and send spam in the hope that someone will click their link!

    Have a great week, and thanks for the comment! 🙂

11. @wendishness I agree, interaction does help, I interact on twitter but I don’t use it too much anyway. I have two of my blogs update automatically on there but when I do RT, I try and add something to it.

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