©Stina
Lindenblatt
As writers, we know the benefits of social networking. It enables you to
build a platform and develop relationships that will help you when you publish
your book(s). Unfortunately, not everyone understands the purpose of social
networking. They see it only as a way to (shamelessly) promote their books or
service. They miss the meaning of SOCIAL.
I recently discovered that there’s a software that tells people with
Twitter accounts when people aren’t following them back. And what do they do if
you don’t immediately follow them back? They dump you faster than you can say,
“Twitter.” Are we heartbroken? Nope, because these people obviously didn’t care
about us to begin with. They only followed us to up their follower numbers.
They are users. And notice how ‘user’ rhymes with ‘loser.’ Need I say more?
Now when someone follows me, I wait two weeks before checking out their
profile. If it still says, “Follows You,” I follow the individual back. If it
doesn’t, I move on.
What are some of the more annoying abuses of social networking that
you’ve seen? What strategies have you used to counter poor social networking etiquette?
47 comments:
I think following someone just so they'll follow you back is ridiculous. If I'm being completely honest, I've been on Twitter for a few months now and I'm still not totally into it. I prefer blogging.
I do think it's rude when you send someone a tweet and they never respond. Unless that person is a celebrity, I think it's really rude. If that happens it's their loss. :D
Thanks for the tip on Twitter, Stina. I'm going to remember it when I join. So true about the importance of remembering that social networking is about being supportive friends, not just promoting ourselves.
One of the sad things I've noticed about blogging since this Fall is that people are disappearing for long periods of time or really cutting back on reading other people's blogs. I know it's important to not let social networking suck up all our writing time, but it's important to support each other by stopping by and commenting. Maybe not all the time, but regularly. I think blogging is one of the best ways to get the word out about good news when you have it to share and we'll all want our friends then. If we're not around, at some points, our friendships will drop too.
When I see someone who rarely blogs or who rarely stops by my blog but I see commenting on other blogs frequently, I want to be a good friend so I'm not dropping them. But I am limiting how often I follow their blog and am focusing more on being sure to follow the people who are coming to my blog. I work full-time and only have so much time in the day, so I'm trying to make my social networking more productive. And also squeeze in some time for my writing.
I recently came across that program too, Stina. Your Twitter paragraph is what really got me. What is with that? Why follow someone in the first place if you don't think they have anything to offer you or you're not genuine in connecting? I've really noticed that. Building a network along with friendships via cyber space is something I've been thinking about a lot, lately.
Like Tracey, I prefer blogging - but I am giving Twitter a shot! I, too, do not follow someone as soon as they follow me (I wait and then follow). And I have become much better at unfollowing those that only use Twitter for promotion purposes.
BTW - your pic today is stunning, Stina :)
Stina, you blogged about something similar some time ago. And based on that post, I became aware of the Twitter tricks. I stopped following people just because they followed me.
I used to auto follow back on Twitter, but then I realized how dumb that was. If I don't know you, and don't actually interact with you, what's the point?
Rhyming at your sea, I like that haha I use the auto followback there, just makes it easier as I'm all over the place, but I do go once a month and start chopping away at the dead weight. What annoys me is they come to you blog follow and expect you to magically follow back and comment when they do nothing, pfft to them, they can kiss my little rhyming you know
I just joined Twitter recently, but soon discovered that it's not helpful to just blindly follow everyone who follows me. I am enjoying Twitter, but I still like blogging, too.
One thing I've noticed about commenting on some blogs (in response to Natalie), is what I'd call "technical difficulties" -- I can't find the comment button, my account isn't allowed to comment, or I have to type in a code (that never works the first time). Also, I don't seem able to comment on some blogs via my iPad. So sometimes I just give up and move on. Perhaps that accounts for some of the drop in comments (along with too much social media, too little time).
I have no idea about twitter but currently what upsets me most in social network world are the spammers in the comments! I've just been to a cat blog where the poor human just lost her cat and there are stupid spammers with "hey great blog, buy these new shoes". I mean!??!?!?!
:-) Take care
x
I've noticed how my follower numbers on Twitter sometimes mysteriously go down one or two overnight sometimes...I think you've finally explained the mystery!
I use Just Unfollow for twitter. But like yourself I wait a while. Sometimes a month. I'min no hurry to Unfollow someone, but I will eventually get around to it.
This practice happens in blogging too, sadly.
I have so many follow .... they never leave a comment and then I will check out their blog. Like you, I wait a bit to see if they return. Almost all don't.
I know it's hard to keep up with HUNDREDS of people, but at least I try to drop by on occasion. Now I do have my blogger friends who I visit often... but that was because it's a joint effort.
User and Loser---BWAHAHA!
Yeah, I hear you! I used to care a hell of a lot more about all of this stuff until I realized how much it took away from my actual writing time. So now I just think about quality versus quantity. Having quality interactions is always best on any form of social media.
I do the same with Twitter, though I'm really not that active there. If someone drops me, I return the favor...I don't want to be 'just a number'.
Amen, sister! I just went through my list for the first time and noticed how many people followed me, until I followed them, then unfollowed me. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to accumulate numbers. I cleaned house and will do that on a more regular basis now. I think I like your method better.
Twitter is still a bit strange to me which is probably why I'm not too active on it. I check out everyone who follows me by looking through their profile and checking out their previous tweets. If it's just a bunch of "buy my book!" tweets then I don't follow back and usually they unfollow soon after.
I find that for me, I use different social mediums differently. For example, I am much more "social" on FB than I am on twiiter. I love twitter, don't get me wrong, but there I am more a mix of chit chat and sharing content I think my audience of writers will enjoy. So I do a lot of writing craft article sharing (especially on emotion technique because this is such a problem area, and sort of what I know). I don't know if people look down on this or not, but I'm thinking not because I have a pretty high klout score (not that I care or pay attention to it, but others do, and I suppose it might help show a person's reach). I seem to get a steady stream of followers there and get a lot of RTs on these articles I share.
My FB is mostly about commenting on the great stuff I see in my newsfeed, and sharing funny stuff and personal stuff. For e, FB is coffe time with friends. I share a few writing articles on my profile, but mostly stuff that shows my sense of humor or cute baby animals or inspiring videos that show that humanity isn't all bad.
Google+, I would say I am the least social on. I loved G+ when it started, but it grew so big so fast, I found it too hard to have meaningful relationships there. I share a lot of writing content, because thee I only follow writers, teachers and people in the writing/publishing/education industry.
So for me, my social level varies. Could I do this better? Sure, of course! I have a blog too, can't forget that. But the real thing I think people need to think about is why they are on Social networks, and what their goals are. Then they need to decide if they can manage them all to meet those goals. If not, it might be time to cut a few social networks from one's plate and do one or two really well so they are reaching their audience and engaging with them! :)
Great post as always, Stina! :)
Hi Stina. Great post! I was going to tweet it :), but there's no tweet button on your non-mobile website. My experience with Twitter has been largely favorable. Even though I don't know most of my followers or even those I follow, we share a common interest -- reading and writing. My followers list has remained largely stable and I occasionally get retweeted. I don't post personal things, mostly links to news items, blogs and retweets that might be of interest to word lovers. I enjoy Twitter in that context. Have a good day!
I recently went through my twitter followers and deleted over 500. In the past, I followed people if they followed me, but I came to the point where I could no longer follow anyone because I'd hit the limit. Going back through, I saw a lot of those that could be deleted for various reasons, but behavior/spamming was a BIG one for me. I no longer immediately follow either. I've learned my lessons, you might say.
Which is kind of silly since Twitter now has a limit on how many people you can follow anyway. I keep bumping up against that number and have to go through the list I'm following and unfollow the nonpeople. Because I'm all about the people.
I only follow people who engage with me on Twitter. Which is surprisingly not that many. Lots of people just click follow and that's it. Which is fine...as far as it goes, but I want socially active and interesting people in my timeline.
Fantastic post, Stina. People who unfollow because someone doesn't follow back seem to be out for mass numbers of followers. Why? I don't understand the need to have huge numbers of followers on Twitter, FB, or other social mediums if those followers don't care about what one posts. What's the point? Just to have high numbers? To look popular? Or am I missing something?
Fantastic post, Stina. People who unfollow because someone doesn't follow back seem to be out for mass numbers of followers. Why? I don't understand the need to have huge numbers of followers on Twitter, FB, or other social mediums if those followers don't care about what one posts. What's the point? Just to have high numbers? To look popular? Or am I missing something?
I get frustrated when someone just constantly pushes their book. If they have a book, that's great! I might be interested in it, as well as in making friends with them. I just don't want commercials all day.
I'm not on twitter but I see the follower issue on blogging too.
Sometimes I wonder if poor etiquette is people just not being aware of what's polite. I'm sure I made mistakes when I was just beginning. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but if they continue to be user/losers then I feel fine with not visiting anymore.
great tips, Stina. I think following people to get them to follow back is fine, but if you unfollow them once they have followed back--well that's just rude. :S
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Great post and comments! I get irritated when someone tweets a long stream of names or only writes "buy my book" posts. I enjoy chatting with people about writing, daily life, sharing links to interesting articles. I probably do too much sharing but there are so many good things out there! :-)
See Twitter totally ruined my loyalty to follow back. I usually don't anymore unless the person really stands out or I know them cuz I found once I follow them they unfollow me later. Which is like you said really annoying!
btw LOVE the butterflies! How beautiful. And they're real!
I only follow writers on Twitter, and if they write something that I have no connection with, I still don't follow them. and I certainly don't follow them if they are clearly using Twitter just to market themselves, even if it is for a book.
I'm pretty picky.
But if the person looks like they don't know what they're doing on twitter, or they're new, I follow them because I was new once too.
I don't actually spend that much time on twitter to be honest. I prefer blogging/reading blogs and writing.
I go on twitter maybe once or twice a week for a few minutes.
Smart post. :)
I never expect anyone to follow me back. I follow blogs and twitter accounts I'm especially interested in and that are helpful in some way for me. I hope that's why people follow me, too. I don't want someone following me just because they want a follow back! It seems like that defeats the whole purpose of having a twitter or blog.
That REALLY annoys me too. I feel bad when I get unfollowed :( But I'm trying to get back to networking and following people I'm interested in, it's been feeling good :) Now I actually have fun on Twitter :D
Whounfollowedme.com - I use it all the time.
I'll mention my books when something big happens, but outside of that, you won't get a hard sell from me. I enjoy posting about the achievements of others more.
I've found some great connections with Twitter but I do hate when you follow someone and then they send you a DM about their book or some other thing they're selling. Ugh!
The number of people who expect to have fans and followers just, well, because, baffles me.
I still prefer FB and blogging to Twitter. I find it hard to keep up with all those tweets! And trying to keep up with too many different social media outlets means less time for writing. And then there's LinkedIn. I'm on there because someone invited me, but I don't really understand it and I don't have time for it. Which is also why I've avoided joining Pinterest. I know it's a huge timesuck.
It also irritates me that so many people use these forms of social media to advertise their self-published book or whatever.
No that's definitely my biggest social media pet peeve. I still prefer Facebook over Twitter, but that's just me :)
eww, that sneaky, snarky twitter!
i am going to start keeping a notebook on my blog friends' info because i cant keep and want to really know them... twitter is the ultimate superficial tool! no thanks, fair weather friends and annoying self promoters...
but maybe you can steer me to a positive guide for twitter. seems like shopping at marshalls, have to sift thru a bunch of junk to find the gems.
Something I've seen recently on Twitter is a "BUY MY BOOK" spam that gets generated from time to time. Such a turn-off!
Late to the game. I made the mistake of auto following. I've got to get back on and unfollow at least 200 people.
I've never quite gotten the hang of Twitter. I should probably just delete my account.
I don't really get all the ins and outs of Twitter. I do notice that people with bigger numbers of followers don't follow as many people. Do they drop them so they don't have too many people in their feed? Can you have too many people in your Twitter feed?
There's one guy who I'll bet has followed me on Twitter at least a dozen times. Maybe two dozen. And then he's gone. Why does he believe I would even think of following him back at this point? I still founder around doing my own thing everywhere - there's a lot of conflicting advice out there.
Social media is a bit like real life gone wild. There are a bunch of people I interact with in a "real life" in a fairly cursory (although pleasant) way, and others with whom--for whatever reason--I gel, and want to interact with more.
When I first started blogging, I got very excited when people followed me, and I would race off to follow them back. Then I would scratch my head when they never visited my blog again. Now I know better: for many people on social media it's merely a numbers game. So I have to remember a simple fact: quality (whether of relationship, work, or whatever) is always more preferable than quantity.
Thanks, Stina, for letting me ramble!
Yes, I've seen tweets from a few people that even boast about some program finding and dumping their nonfollowers. They sound canned; probably the tweets are auto and programmed. Most of the rest of the time, these people are tweeting only to promote their book with little snippets they think will reel people in. Not.
It upsets me when people befriend you just so they can plug and promote their books or ask for favours.
I've received tweets asking me to follow the person and I dislike that. I also dislike people who do a massive follow and then a massive dump to inflate their numbers.
Interesting post. As many have said, this happens on blogs, too. Some people follow you only because they are trying to make you follow them back; then you never hear from them again. I've become more cautious about whom I follow. I really want to follow and be followed if we have a genuine interest in each other's blogs. I'd rather have quality and true connections than meaningless quantity. Thanks for sharing:)
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