Most of the time I love Twitter but, sometimes I find it confusing and a bit annoying.
Twitter can be a great source for finding and sharing information and finding others who have similar interests.
But, here are my issues/questions about Twitter.
1. How much Tweeting is annoying? I suppose this varies from person to person, but when I open my Twitter feed and there are 8 or 10 tweets in a row from the same person, I have a tendency to ignore them all.
2. What should I Tweet about? Constantly tweeting about my books, although that is my job, seems a bit too self-serving and that doesn't feel quite right to me, but I also don't necessarily want to tweet about the fact that I just dropped a glob of peanut butter on my computer (I think I got most of it cleaned up). I want to interact with other people and build my following, but I don't want to seem like a big suck up either. Or, is it just understood that we are all on Twitter to suck up to each other so it's not a big deal?
3. Twitter Peeve: Political Tweets. Although I am very interested in politics and have taught college level American Government courses, I rarely discuss my political views with anyone other than my husband and maybe one or two friends. Why? I've found that most people who ask about my political views aren't really interested in a discourse of sharing ideas, they just want to know if I agree with them (which makes them happy) and if I don't, then they feel free to attempt to browbeat me into submission. Since writing is a job for me (which is also very fun) I see my blog and Twitter as my virtual office, where I would not discuss politics. I really wish people would have two Twitter accounts, one for their "work" related tweets and another for their thoughts on sports, politics and photos of their children.
What about you? What do you think of Twitter? How many Tweets are too many? And, am I the only one who gets annoyed with political tweets?
If you'd like to follow me on Twitter I'm @CelesteJones130 I promise not to Tweet anything political or sports related or send out photos of my child.
I do not tweet so I can't offer advice. I will tell you it would drive me bonkers to hear every little thought that passes through someones brain!! Enough! I would say.
ReplyDeletePS... downloaded your book this morn!
Thanks, Minelle. Hope you like the book!
DeleteThere are lots of good things about twitter and I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from using it, I'm just not sure that I'm using it effectively.
Celeste, I totally agree on all points. I just started twitter, and I really am having a hard time getting into it. I am familiar with facebook and have seen all of the above.
ReplyDeleteI know I need to do something but what and how? And is it worth it? Does any one read it? Or care?
Good Post topic- a lot to think about...
I do think it's worthwhile and it sort of takes a little while to get into the groove of sending tweets. I don't do a lot of tweeting because I think "I tweeted that yesterday, I'm just repeating myself" but I tihnk I need to get over that.
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading your tweets!
I hope I'm not the one cluttering up your twitter feed!
ReplyDeleteOh the things I could say about Twitter...but I'll limit myself. The basic issue is that Twitter started as a "social" medium for people to connect with their friends, and from there became a business forum. So how to you play by social rules, but still conduct business? (I do plan to blog about this topic myself). If you promote too much ("Read my book. Read my book!"), people tune you out or unfollow you. If you don't promote at all and stick to chit-chat, as an author, you're wasting time that could be spent doing something that would sell books.
It's a mistake for anyone conducting business to mix politics with business -- you risk offending your customers.
Regarding too many tweets, do you use TweetDeck or HootSuite? You can set up columns and filter out only those tweets you wish to get. I use TweetDeck and have columns for favorite tweeps, spanking, erotic romance, etc. It helps clear the clutter.
Cara--I'm not on twitter a ton, but I think you do it about right (IMHO). You tweet about your books, but also promote others and occasionally tweet something personal, but not TMI personal. Because you don't send out a ton of garbage, I scan down the feed for your tweets because they are usually informative or lead me to someone else of interest.
DeleteI've heard of HootSuite. I'll have to check those sites out in order to reduce some of the clutter. Thanks for the comment and suggestion.
I don't have a Twitter limit, but I will say that many political and really angry tweets are the ones that turn me off. Also, for the most part, I don't tend to follow friends on Twitter. I have FB for that. Twitter, for me, is centered around my interests or people who I admire or who intrigue me.
ReplyDeleteWelcome katsmeow! I think that's a good description of Twitter---things of interest and admirable/intriguing people. Since those angry tweeters probably aren't admirable or intriguing, it would be easy to cut them loose.
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
I get overwhelmed by Twitter too. I even get overwhelmed by FB and it has a somewhat slower pace. A social media expert once told me I should tweet about work once day (and not tweet so much about my puppy).
DeleteI think there's a good middle ground of tweets that are about what your business is, but that aren't about you. Like talking about a mainstream romance book with a spanking scene or something.
Sometimes I feel like with authors that we are all just talking to each others. And yet, I love talking to other authors, so...
You can see have no answers!
I love talking to authors too. And, they're readers. I've found lots of good book recommendations on twitter...but then I feel overwhelmed by all the books I want to read. I just can't win!
DeleteI like your point about commenting on things that are related to your business without being specifically about you. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.
Found this article...on Twitter...thought I'd share. http://theselfpublishingtoolkit.com/twitter-made-easy/
ReplyDeleteI'm totally new to twitter, but I got 40 clicks to my free book on amazon from tweeting it, so I'd say it was worth the effort...
ReplyDelete