You can be the smartest, most talented person in the world, but if you believe the the hogwash some “Twitter Experts” are pitching you’re putting your business at risk by following goofballs and gangsters on Twitter.
Yes, we just found yet another social media “expert” pitching the idea of an “Auto-Follow” program. These programs let you automatically follow anyone who follows you on Twitter
Not a good idea. If the latest round of Twitter spam attacks proved anything, it was that you MUST NOT do that.
And, Now Your Computer Can Be Hacked
It’s bad enough that otherwise smart people have all bragged to us, “I have 2,000 followers on Twitter and I’ve never even used it much.”
No they don’t! If they have 2,000 followers on Twitter, they have 1,800 porn linkers, swindlers, multi-level marketing goofballs, foreign gangsters and outright spammers.
The numbers are so high that people who are paying attention are leaving Twitter in droves. Why? Because Twitter can’t even oust the accounts that are stealing legitimate brands, like Wordpress.
Pictured below are some of the followers of one of the top speakers in the country. She’s been sold a bill of goods because she thinks she is following people of some worth. But, she’s now following:
Don’t laugh. If you use any sort of auto-follow system, you’ll find that you are now following the same kinds of bozos. Just take a look.
The sad fact is that these days 9 out of 10 people who join Twitter are unsavory types of one kind or another – pornographers, swindlers, used car salesmen types and outright spammers.
Go ahead and keep playing around, if you like. Keep thinking that Twitter is some sort of way to make professional connections.
Nope. It’s become simply a way for so-called “Twitter Experts” to deprive you of something even more important than your money. Your time.
Oh, By the Way
Of course, staying away from auto-follow programs only protects you from following bozos. It doesn’t do anything about the folks who follow you. Here are our latest 3 followers on Twitter:
Oh gosh, I sure as heck can’t wait to follow them back!
The fact is, if you like being cornered by veggie pill marketers, used car salesmen or escaped convicts, you’re gonna’ love Twitter.
21 comments ↓
Loving the critical analysis of Twitter. It astounds me how reptilian-brain-based compulsion to aggregate followers continues to be a source of the service’s growth.
Notwithstanding the truly garbage types out there, I still have found for my niche of job-related interests Twitter helps with a quick heads-up press release sort of info beyond email. I follow about 40 people/orgs, and probably a third Tweet 10 – 15 times a week. the rest, even less. And what they tweet is of interest more often than not.
That’s ben my metric – after a couple weeks, if they haven’t shown me at least 50% of worthwhile tweet content, I drop them. Worst offenders: those who tweet about every 10 days and then send 15 tweets in a row because they’ve logged in, such that now my Twitter stream is nothing but their catching up on mostly inane and mildly amusing blather. Multiple sequential tweets = virtual assasination.
Saw this today too: Maven/Goofball (your call) Joel Comm purged his 80k+ followers and all his follows a couple weeks ago. Read his rationale on starting over and reevaluating Twitter as a resource. http://ow.ly/KtaR
Totally agree Michael and Sheryl. However, I do find quite a bit of value out of following the “right” people on Twitter — folks who keep me up to date on things that I care about. I use Tweetdeck because you can create a group whose Tweets you want to see (and ignore the rest).
What is very interesting is the people that I follow are Tweeting a lot less. Where there used to be 50 posts a day, I now maybe see 10 on a good day. So I do think Twitter is dying because I think the good people that I do follow–you for example–are getting sick of it and have just stopped Tweeting.
It’s too bad as something that is was so powerful is potentially going to go the way of Netscape.
Hi Dan,
Just a note about Joel Comm. I think he falls under “social media seller,” not “social media expert.” There is a site called Backtype.com where you can find out how often someone has been “social,” in this case by commenting on blogs. If you go to http://www.backtype.com/people and put in his name in the search box on the right hand side where it says “Search People,” you’ll notice that Joel virtually never comments on anyone’s blog (including his own, even when people ask him questions or make comments that deserve a response). By comparison, if you put in a real social media expert like Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott or Michael Arrington, you’ll see they comment regularly on their own and on other people’s blogs.
Guess that’s what I really miss about all of “social” networking. It’s much more about social nitwits than it is about social networking.
Hi Sam,
I just have to say that if someone as smart as Sam Richter sees a bleak future for Twitter, then Twitter should be shivering in its boots. Yes, remember Friendster, AOL, Netscape? What looks like the darling of the day can be the trash of tomorrow.
Twitter will not last because it steals our most precious treasure – time. We’ll all be realizing this soon.
Thank you Michael for this article. I met you and Sheryl through the speaker’s association a while back. I was considering joining twitter (due to prompting of my web designer), but kept hesitating wondering how much time it would take, etc. So I presume it’s best to hold off altogether? This would be a relief.
Thanks Lisa,
That’s such a tough question. From a deeply personal standpoint, it shocks me that the time I’ve spent on Twitter could have been spent reading another Faulkner, Garcia Marquez and Anne Tyler. I find my own soul in reading, nature and contemplation, and the time I’ve spent on Twitter to have been squandered.
Will others feel the same way? Not sure. One thing I do know, the folks selling the idea that you must stay current with social networking are the ones making the money. Perhaps it’s time to tell them we have more important things to do.
Theres is a lot of noise out there, but Twitter is seving some very useful purposes for events. Monitoring what is happening, etc.
However, this may all change when Google Waves takes hold.
Hi Corbin,
Thanks for the comment. Corbin keeps his finger on the pulse of useful technologies and if he’s still positive, it gives us some hope.
Like any other marketing channel, Twitter takes work. Once people get beyond the ‘numbers’ aspect from an ego point of view and develop a focused plan with specific goals they hope to achieve, it can be used effectively. I only give ‘big number’ people a week, two at most to see if they have anything of value to offer. If not, I disconnect with them and move on. All those ‘hotties’ don’t even make my list.
Michael,
I have personally been reevaluating my own Twitter usage recently. I have 3 accounts, one for family and friends back in England, one for a community group I manage, and one for my business. I follow about 15 people on my personal one, but rarely use it. I couldn’t actually tell you how many followers I have or people I follow with the community account, but it’s only used to get information out to others. Kind of defeats the purpose of using Twitter to be social if I ignore everyone else!
Not being a suck up here, but in reality, one of the few worthwhile relationship building I did was following you and finding your blog (I think through Darla Dixon?). There is so much irrelevant “stuff” posted on here, and if I see one more media expert tweet I will scream! Just recently started using it to find other people who are in the same industry as I, but at a further stage in their business, knowledge level or career. If I am going to use it, I feel it needs to make me a better person in some way right? I don’t understand people who follow thousands of others. If I see 500 new tweets on my phone, what a waste of time going through them all! About 2% (if that) are worth reading.
Hi Terri,
I guess that is the kind of work I’m not willing to do. With 9 of 10 of followers on Twitter being Twits or worse, it’s just not worth the work. But, that’s just my opinion.
Oh Megan,
Your comment did a lot to delay the fast rise of my cynicism. I couldn’t agree more that the preponderance of “media experts” on Twitter is just stupid. How can people believe their nonsense? And, why oh why are we so willing to forfeit our precious god given time and talents to inanity?
Don’t worry about “sucking up” – it’s actually very, very appreciated!
Great post Michael!
Even though I embrace the technology and getting found, I have purposely stayed as far away from Twitter as possible. I wouldn’t have the time to do it right so it would look like a half a**ed effort; and I don’t want anyone knowing me THAT well…
Kurlan,
You are the voice of reason in a sea of madness. One of our next main articles will be a profile of the people who are smart enough to stay away from this sort of nonsense. I’m thinking, am I right, that Seth Godin does not waste his time on Twitter? Yes, just found this with a Google search from Seth’s blog:
“I don’t use Twitter. It’s not really me.”
Michael,
It’s great to catch up again with your always well written content! I am very passionate about this topic, so here goes, haha!
I was watching a video recently where Pete Cashmore, the Founder of Mashable.com, was being interviewed, and he gave the analogy that Twitter is like any other medium – there’s no ‘right or wrong’ way to use it, it’s entirely up to the user.
Your post reminds me of his video in that I think the way you (and others who may be following and giving attention to these spammers) use Twitter as a whole may be what is leading you to develop the “irrelevant, stupid and just plain dangerous” feelings about Twitter. If you find that the people that you are following are predominantly bozos and spammers, either stop following them or simply don’t grant them your attention and time.
I think there can be benefits to using Twitter. You can use TweetDeck and only pay attention to specific groups (that you create) of people whom you admire and trust, and then the only voices that consume your time are entirely your own choice, ya know?
Also, I think it’s important when dealing with anything that might overly consume your time to follow a schedule. Perhaps you can avoid wasting excessive time on Twitter if you schedule to only spend 1 hour per day on it, but also spell out the top 3 clear reasons that you want to use Twitter.
Finally, I have to share a success story of Twitter – especially since it involves the Golden Compass and Michael Benidt! Earlier this March, I was Tweeting about connecting with people planning to attend the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco before leaving for the conference during the first week of April. Well, Mr. Benidt saw me engaging in this activity and gave me an opportunity that is something I will remember for many, many years.
I wrote an article as a guest blogger all about pre-networking, and it opened the doors for a friend who liked it and offered me to write an article for his company’s lifestyle magazine. Once I did that, the founder of a start-up in Chicago read it and liked it enough to offer me a position as an unpaid intern for the fall semester.
It has been a really terrific experience, and I would argue that none of it would have been possible without Twitter. So, my belief is that Twitter can be used for good things…and if nothing else, it’s a platform for staying in touch with people you care about and striving to learn continuously without wasting time.
Apologies for the extremely long comment, haha! Hope all is well.
~ X
Touché John,
…because you are one of the folks we’ve most enjoyed meeting through Twitter. In fact, you may be the most fun and most engaged person we’ve met through Twitter (apologies to others reading this).
But, of course, that is simply my point. The idiots, hypsters and gangsters are ruining Twitter, FB and LI. Whether you think of online social media as a great meeting space (say, a public park) or a wonderful forum for ideas and discussion (say, a public square) our online parks and squares are being polluted.
It’s because we care a lot about the integrity of these public spaces that we point out the dangers. It’s not because we’re negative. It’s because we recognize just how important they could be.
And, sorry, John, but have to disagree with “there’s no right or wrong way to use Twitter.” Of course there are rules – and they are the same rules of civility and respect that apply in the real world. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean that “anything goes.”
Thanks, John, your comment really deserves an entire article, so we’re working on it!….
I am in John’s camp – but do appreciate your pointing out and commenting on the “dangers” and/or abuses of Twitter – Isn’t this pretty much a mirror of our society – “real time”.
Michael – you and I met on Twitter.
I do not use “auto follow” and I use Tweetdeck both on my Desktop and iPhone. I have a good number of insurance friends that I follow, as well as, a smart group of social media folks that I converse with. I also ha ve a large list of local and national news sources I monitor – l get great value from these interactions. I pay no attention to and give no time to the “clutter” of the abusers.
For me it is not about the technology – rather it is about the sociology – the transformations in our culture that are taking place that I find fascinating.
Michael,
Thanks for your thoughts. As someone who is hired daily to speak to organizations around the world on the effective uses of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, I find this conversation very interesting.
No where on my website or on any of my Social Media platforms/profiles do I ever use the words “authority, guru, expert”, etc. I actually take pride in the fact that I don’t consider myself an expert but a passionate student of these tools. When people introduce me onstage as a “Social Media Expert”, I often say “don’t put words in my mouth, it’s unsanitary”.
All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they like, know and trust. Way before the internet was invented, people did business this way and if all the power in the world turned off tomorrow and no one could get online it would be the same.
The paradox is that so many people think this is all about technology. Nope. It’s about relationships. Always has been and always will be. This is as true as gravity. A person can argue with this just as they can argue that gravity doesn’t exist as they’re falling off a building. People will always be the same, only technology changes.
I am seriously reevaluating my Twitter connections and purging like crazy. Although I have derived a lot of business through Twitter, I see the need to be more selective about who I follow and who follows me.
I love people and use technology, not the other way around. Unfortunately, I feel that many folks have it backwards and they have all the evidence to prove it.
Thanks for sparking this conversation and thanks for all the great content that you provide.
To your success,
Kev
Thanks Rick and Kevin,
Rick, as I said to John above, we value social media and fear for its future. We think we need to do more than just “ignore” the clear threats to these meeting spaces. We’d like to see more “social media boosters” write the kinds of things that real social media experts like Chris Brogan do about the threat of spammers and such. Here’s just one example – http://www.chrisbrogan.com/spam-is-a-perception-mine/
Kevin, it sounds like you are reconsidering your Twitter strategies – we’d like to learn more. We’d love to see you blogging, so that we can interact with your ideas – agree, disagree and continue the discussion.
Thanks to both of you for your social media work and for commenting.
Oh wow, I would definitely not auto-follow anybody. I used to think that I should be inclusive and follow most back, but I’m getting pickier and have been much more careful recently. I don’t click on their Twitter page to check them out either, unless I’m using a 3rd party site like Tweetdeck.
Michael, I hope you are doing well, sorry I have been so busy lately. Give my best to Sheryl Kay too.
Hi Darla,
Definitely stay away from automatically following anyone, but the bigger question is, “When 99% of your followers are yo-yo’s, what’s Twitter worth?” For us, increasingly, it means a decrease in the time we spend on it – not an increase in the time we want to waste decoding who’s good and who’s not. Ugh.
No worries, we know you are busy drawing beautiful art for people, Darla.
Leave a Comment