Social Media is No Place for Robot Behavior

robot behavior is so annoying but since I have twitter and follow only the serious twitterers. I have never met someone using the robotic tweet generator.

Seems like people are still getting Auto DMs, so in the spirit of the Emma Lazarus poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty, I invite you to "Send Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Twitter Auto DM’s Yearning to Breathe Free!" At this point we might as well archive the best of the worst, right? So if you still haven't deleted them, please post your favorite Auto DMs on my blog at http://cli.gs/auto-dm.

The Internet, and everything it represents, is, was, and always will be, nothing more than one huge marketing scheme.

There are so many ways to refute this I don't even know where to begin.

How about we go back to the beginning, when the Internet was used to exchange academic and scientific information? That kills the "was, and always will be" part of your claim.

Of course, it's still used for that purpose, so that kills "is," too. We don't even have to get into open access, project gutenberg, librevox, and all the other ways the Internet facilitates the distribution of knowledge and information to places and to people that otherwise would not receive it. Often for free.

To be honest and authentic means you have to look beyond the negative and recognize the positive impact of this particular technology, too.

Let's be truly honest and "authentic" for a change, shall we people?
The Internet, and everything it represents, is, was, and always will be, nothing more than one huge marketing scheme. This ruse of "Social Media" is very cute in a sophomoric and lalalandish sort of way, but most experienced people really see through self-righteous pomp and hypocritical blather.....eventually.
Net Freedom; Open source; social networking - simply more verbose propaganda from the manipulators and politico-socio-economic shepherds who have always sought to control human thought with insincere platitudes and beatitudes for the benefit of the elite, and to the detriment of the gullible.
By the way, your last bullet point, if sincere, sort of completely negates your whole rant, doesn't it? (case in point...)

I'm learning as I go, thanks for this post. I read somewhere where you should follow those that follow you...but I'm not so sure. Your points are spot on and I guess I need to make my personal responses look less like robots when I do choose to respond.

Perfectly put Chris! Auto followers and DMs are crazy! My favorite: Follow Me Back when I followed them first! Sometimes - I do take the extra min and go unfollow.

Chris, I first read this post last year and have returned to let you know that the phrase 'click on my junk' has become part of my vocabulary!

As always, great post.

Matt.

I agree with you completely. But, how about auto-follow. Isn't that just more Twitter robots?

Chris, you were the guy that introduced me to the first social network to really steal my heart: Friendfeed.

And I thank you for that, from the bottom of my heart. I truly do. I really love it.

But now there is a situation with my not spending all that much time on twitter and people still continuing to want to follow me there...and the daily number of new followers is increasing, despite the fact that it says on my twitter profile that I don't use twitter all that much..

Is it wrong for me to send these people an automatic DM telling them I don't pay attention to twitter that much and if they want to communicate with me they are better off following me on friendfeed instead (with link to my profile there)?

I want them to unfollow me on twitter, and if they use friendfeed, follow me there. Is that so wrong?

If you called me on the phone and got my answering machine or voicemail, and the outgoing message gave you a number or address of where I was, enabling you to communicate with me directly, which is why you called me in the first place, would you get pissed at me for using automation tools to tell you this?

I am not sending out a link to any of my websites, nor am I trying to sell my followers a useless book (or some other crap), nor am I autoposting "new blog post" notices. The links to posts on my blog are quite rare and almost all were posted manually by me, usually as part of conversations, or because I wanted to ask my followers for feedback on something that would take much more than 140 chars.

My feelings about twitter have not changed. I find that having a conversation there is very awkward, but I don't want to lose my followers. Quite a few are really wonderful people. I try to check in around once a day on Twitter, to check my DM's and @replies just to make sure that no valid communications go by unacknowledged. At the same time, I am still feeding the followers that choose to stay with twitter, all the goodies from all over the internet that has my attention, and I feel the amount and quality of good links shared has even increased, since I started automating my twitter posts by connecting it to my Friendfeed account. (this might even be contributing to the increasing number of new followers).

I don't want to abandon my twitter followers, so my compromise is based mostly in automation. How is this wrong? If they don't like it, they can unfollow me any time they want. Most don't, so I guess they don't mind.

Now if you want to hold that against me, that's your prerogative. But before you do, I want to mention that you are more or less doing the same thing on friendfeed, and I am following you there, and not holding it against you.

Robots do not make laws
they follow them'
humans make laws
but break them

Dawn, you make us marketers sound like the enemy. *sigh* We're not, at least not some of us. Some of us really would like to find a way to work together and recognize that there's more than just one voice in the company. On that note, from my perspective it's important that the marketing and communications people be on top of this stuff. Anything that is being said about the company by any employees should be consistent with the company's messaging and overall direction. I've seen too often where an employee thought they were helping and had the best of intentions, but in reality they hurt more than they helped (e.g. the employee that was twittering for Exxon Mobil. She set up an account on behalf of the company, but some of her information was inaccurate. A company can get in a lot of trouble if they're putting out inconsistent information).

Thanks for Tweeting about this post. I run the Twitter feed at my job (and have for a year), and now that suddenly the marketers have discovered this newfangled technology (sigh), they want to take it away from me and operate it themselves. You've just written exactly what will happen if I part with my password. Which is why, I won't! :)

Amen brother! I am new to Twitter, but I would never do the robot thing! It is sort of like the "intrusion marketing" on TV or radio where they repeat the toll free number three or four times. I would never buy those products either on principle alone!!

I have read with interest not only what you had to say, but also all the commenters. Like anything, any kind of an autoresponder (robot) has its uses, but in a social community - not a chance! Personally I find it a little insulting as the point to being social on a social community is to build a relationship with a real person not necessarily to build a list of names to market to.
Your viewpoint has come at the perfect time for so many.

Best Regards,

Excellent post for all Twitterers. Speaking of talking robots, did you hear that the Department of Defense hopes to build computer programs to talk to toddlers who are writing to their parents who are soldiers serving oversees? Check out the Bob Ostertag post on this topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-ostertag/dod-...

Bravo!

Your point about Twitter being who you follow was RIGHT ON!

Couldn't put my finger on what was bugging me about some of my fellow twitters before I read this... on-line socializing and tools like twitter only work when the majority of people try to provide instead of request.

Twitterers with single-minded, poorly-concealed marketing agendas should be strapped down and forced to watch 3 am infomercials.

Thank you for saying it, Chris. Let's hope people listen. The number of times I was woken up in the middle of the night by a 'Thanks for following' post to my phone, before shutting off that feature...

I totally agree. I am at the point where I don't open any links from people that send me automated messages. If you want me to check out a link send it in a tweet so everyone can check it out.

The only automated Tweet that I do is for my blog. When I publish a new blog a new tweet is sent out but just asks people to check it out.

Thanks for the great blog.
@jayphilips

Chris:

For me Twitter is all about learning...asking questions...finding people who have viewpoints, activities, businesses, etc. that interest me...professionally or personally. Before I follow someone, I look at their twitter profile, some of the people in their stream, their website, and sometimes look for these folks on other social media platforms. And of course that means I don't have a huge, huge following yet, and it takes time--an investment of MY human capital--to look at info on these followers. But hey, it's an investment in cultivating relationships. If I follow someone, I will respond with a "Thanks for the follow" message, but will also try to include a conversation starter in the DM.

If I eventually meet people who I wind up doing business with, I want it to be due to the relationship that we've developed, rather than by shoving a "Hi! Here's my new and improved spammy e-book" message down their throat.

Relationships that are worth keeping require reciprocal cultivation and interest. To get to that point, we have to listen, find those people who interest us, and try to establish communication so more listening and learning can happen.

While spammy stuff will continue to proliferate on Twitter and other social media platforms, let's hope that enough folks continue to understand that social media is for generating conversation, learning, and hopefully strong relationships.

I've got an auto message on my twitter follow. I think I'll stop it now :)
I wanna be seen as a real person not just as someone who wants your click.

Get Real! Have Some Fun. Be Real and Have Some Good Conversations for NO alterior motive but just to maybe help someone or brighten their day

Makes Good Sense to me!

A-f*cking-men.

Oh, Chris, I do so enjoy the way you write!

Great post. Your thoughts on it are very similar to mine. I really like Twitter, but not necessarily all of the twits that misuse it. Unfortunately I think it is just a matter of time before the spam artists kill all that is good about the service. But for now I get more benefit than pain out of it. You know the old saying, all good things must come to an end. I just hope its later rather than sooner. Have a great 2009.
~jon

Dig it Chris. Great post.

The worst part is that if you get an auto response for following someone, it comes in as a DM. It seems personal. And when you DM back it says: Person is not following you which means you cannot DM back! Now that is an "impersonally" personal response if ever I saw one that makes me feel oh so special. Like it's cool for your auto assistant to DM me but it is not cool for me to to DM you i.e. it's cool for you to dis me? Now that is what I call a good relationship - not.

Well, you know Scott Monty and I had it out on Twitter about this weeks ago (I blogged the whole thing). I totally agree with you Chris.

When people respond to these ADM's (auto direct messages), I'd bet the conversations sparked are few and far between. The more likely scenario is that a person may respond to the ADM and hear nothing at all back. Or, as one user told me about Scott, he @replied to Scott after getting his ADM but heard nothing back. How disenfranchising. I hear that Scott is a pretty stand-up guy and the one user may have slipped through the cracks, but if you make promises in an ADM you can't let even one slip through. Scott is tweeting for himself and not for Ford, so slippage isn't as serious. If his were an official account, his ADM would be an impractical promise and a dangerous one.

In general, I think the ppl who use ADMs aren't interested in conversation at all. They want to spew; They don't want to listen. They are more interested in the numbers game (thanking followers? For what? For "coming to my party" as Scott Monty said on my blog? Twitter isn't a soiree. It's a tool. Thanking followers shows you are elated that you have bigger follow numbers).

I personally am at a crossroads now. I need to immediately unfollow these ADMers, but that would be like hanging up on telemarketers. To the phone intruders I used to say, "You need to take me off your list" (before the DNC list went into effect). On Twitter, I've taken to sending them a DM with this message: "I'm sorry. I have to unfollow you. I hate auto direct messages." I'm also thinking about changing my homepage background to contain the same type of message.

I'm not up to 70 ADMs a day but I get several a day (and it's increasing). It's going to eventually get me to stop using Twitter. Like the Do Not Call list, I want Twitter to introduce an ADM blocker ASAP. I want to be able to opt in/out of receiving these vacuous, pointless, disgusting breaches of basic etiquette.

Useful addition to growing field of Twitter Studies. But Twitter and its ilk will seem a tad like the Pony Express or the telegraph pretty soon, and I wonder if the navel-gazing will have proved all that productive. Cheers, Jim

I was just writing about the "social media as an echo chamber" and this post does remind me of it (don't take this the wrong way, Chris. I respect your work a lot and my Vancouver social media friends all speak about how awesome and sweet you are. All the folks from Vancouver who met you at BlogWorld Expo speak very highly of you and I look forward to meeting you in real life sometime soon).

The post I am writing is still in draft form, but I'll send it to you. The reason being that even though I've read no less than 5 posts about why auto-DMs suck (several of them from my friends, more recently from Tris Hussey), I still enjoy reading YOUR perspective.

That is to say that, even though I've read more than enough posts about why auto-DMs suck, it's always nice to read others' perspectives. And that's why you add so much value, Chris. Because regardless of what the echo chamber is saying, you put your own perspective in it. And for that, I am grateful.

Be well.

Raul

haha @Ian D. Nock! Chris, thank you for your detailed reply because it makes me understand many people's perspectives (including yours). I have never used bot-messages except when my blog tweets to Twitter (which is rare since it twitted 3 times before I deactivated it)! And yeah, all my messages are personally sent out without autoreply-bots.

HAPPY NEW YEAR Chris and readers!!

Bang on... the only place I do not like real people is on the radio.

Chris,

I have been wanting to write this blog post for a while. I actually have a gmail filter that deletes any DM notice that has "Thanks for the follow" or "Thank you for the follow" or any other pattern I pick up on. I used these auto replies for about amonth early in my Twitter use, but quickly realized the error of my ways. I think the same is true for most people using them now, just a lack of experience on Twitter has not revealed the error of their ways to them yet.

However, I cannot completely knock the auto DM reply as I am still using them for a client twitter account that auto replies with a nice discount code for the company's website. I have been tracking the replies purposely to help me decide if this is annoying or helpful to these followers. After about 3 weeks running it, we have had 389 thank yous of all kinds and 1 complaint. Now I am sure some did not bother to complain and just either blocked, unfollowed, or moved on. Still not completely decided on whether this example is a good use, but the numbers are hard to argue with, especially the resulting sales.

So needless to say, I see both sides, and think your "your results may vary" line captures it well. I think the most important question to ask when considering the robot activities is:
"Will this offer value or annoy?"

Another important questions is:
"Am I able to do this without automation?"

Great post though. Thanks for creating the conversation.

@jakrose

Yes!

Auto responses grate my nerves. If I want to check out a website I'll do it on my own terms. Getting spammed throws up my BS filter like none other.

Reminds me of the cheesy commercial a few years back when the software salesman keeps knocking on the customers door saying, "Soooooo, How much SOFTWARE do you wanna buy TODAY?"

funny...I was wading through followers and catching up with DM to thank them for following and actually had a couple of people ask whether it was automated...gosh...was I that clinical and sterile in the message...guess so ! Was truly a wake up call though with respect to thank for the sake of thank or actual thank in a meaningful and engaging manner...I still think it's a nice courtesy to thank and be thanked...humanizes the contact more...cheers Chris...best for 09 @MolsonFerg

The robot reply thing isn't that big a deal to me yet but then I'm not dealing with the numbers that you are Chris.Auto DM's are much less of an annoyance than auto Twitterfeeds.

What has pushed me to unfollow pretty quickly are folks whose posts are almost completely automated twitterfeeds. Generally they have posted something that looked interesting so I followed and then usually in a day or two realize that they post pretty much nothing but twitterfeed links. The other group that I have unfollowed has been a couple of the twitter elite that seem to post nothing but links to their own web site blogs or applications. What I can't figure out is why these two groups end up with such large followings for so little value added.

http://twitter.com/digitalbeat

Please don't tell me about your ebook, your blog, your etc.

A couple weeks ago I got an auto DM, I politely DM'ed the lady back and said, hey this isn't working for you. She didn't have a clue why and spent the next few DMs going back to what she was all about and what she'd done in the world. I try every day to be helpful, this time it didn't take. I unfollowed her.

Sadly, now I just unfollow immediately. Auto DM'ers, you FAIL.

(@mainebusiness here) OK, cross off setting up the automated "Thanks for following me." message from today's to do list. Actually I refrained from doing it because I wondered if my tweeps really wanted another tweet from me that really doesn't add value to their day. But I do appreciate the sentiment that people appreciate a courteous thank you - even if automated.

How about doing this instead? Try catching a Twitterer doing something right each day. Send a tweet that expresses how entertaining, informative or valuable they are. Find someone new each day. It's a more genuine thank you that boosts their egos and profile.

BTW, I have a second Twitter account that is much less active. At the moment it captures all my blog feeds. When I have a strategy for it, it will be more conversational. But I will keep the automated feeds. I like the extra blog promotion plus I hope to converse enough that it doesn't overpower the account like it currently does.

That is such a great post! Totally agree!

I got tired of clicking on people's junk and getting non-personal and very 'cold' messages, so I set this up: http://turnthisthingoff.com/ :) (works for me hehe)

I'm new to twitter and love it. I'm not yet familiar with the autoresponder because I personally create my own messages. Thanks for the tips. This is a good guide for newbies like me. You're right, we should not be robots and we need to be reminded of the proper etiquette in social networking.

Ok, there's 260+ comments already but I just want to add my "I agree" with you comment. I don't like those robot replies thanking me. I manually follow and unfollow. I check out the person's blog or website first. If it's about "make millions on the net easily" kind of site, forget it, I won't follow.

I too would like to make some money from the net, but I add human touch to it. I know I won't make millions, but I will make lots of friends along the way - and that's very important.

This used to be my view on answering machines, then I got one and I love it. Then after that, it became my view on caller ID. Now I have it and I love it. I'm not sure that there is a valid analogy between these things and "Robo-Tweeting" but just throwing this out there for whatever it is worth.

@scottmonty - that's hard. As your friend, I'm biased to say no. But when I think of that usage, it's not exactly bad or icky. It's helpful.

Might not bug folks, I'd suspect. Anyone?

I do a "Welcome new twitterpal @nameoffollower" when someone follows me and I follow them back. I don't use a robot -- I take the time to tweet to each person whose follow I reciprocate because (look, more italics...) it's about people connecting with people.

This simple acknowledgment often sparks a conversation, and pow, two people who may know each other only peripherally are on their way to becoming connected in an actual way.

Because I like to poke at teh stoopid, I often tweet about people who I'm not following back, to call them on their linkbombing, mlm, affiliate marketing, projectile promotional vomiting shenanigans.

This, too, often sparks conversation. And that's what it's all about.

Confession: I use an auto-follow function. But in my defense, it doesn't contain a link, nor does it market anything to people. It simply instructs my new followers on how I prefer to use Twitter.

My auto-follow text goes something like: "Thanks for following me. If you ever want to get my attention, just '@' me."

Am I still crossing the line in your book?

I meant to tell you how much I love this post - but I got distracted by non-robotic behavior on Twitter! :)

Adding this to my "oh why bother coming up with a different way of saying it when I can just link to this post so much faster" bookmarks. :)

just joined Twitter today and already running into robots... you are SO right.

we have them on Gather.com as well... most annoying. Perhaps they need an unsocial network just for them

@Chef Patrick and anyone pictured in the graphic - I'm not trying to single you out. I just wanted to show that it wasn't an isolated thing. I'm getting around 35% robots to not at present. No offense meant towards you.

Regarding the 600+ , I feel you. Question might be: how much do you need to answer? How attentive does twitter (the entity) demand that you be?

At 28k, I'm surely missing the lion's share of flow, but if you browse my stream, you'll note that I talk back often.

Again, no foul towards anyone in the pictures, and the people aren't evil- the tool isn't pleasant. Big difference.

Totally agree with you, Chris! We're not death people, so plz be human (not robot)!

Oh my, lots of commenting goings about here. Not sure this is of use but took me ten minutes to scroll down, so here goes...
I commented before on @CCSeed's post about this auto DM business. http://tinyurl.com/5bnap5 My initial encounter with this DM that seems to be jamming everybody up so was not exactly pleasant but not the end of of my Twittering world either. It seems to me that all the talk of how unappreciated the auto DM is will in and of itself police the practice. So, TY for all the fuss =). This self policing tendency is what I have come to truly appreciate about Twitter. The tweet that has me a little more 'please don't do that' is this DM Fail. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE a funny oops as much as the next guy. One of our favs around here is the an accidental mooning of the FedEx guy. But it's not cool when the joke is at the expense of unsuspecting, possibly shy and ,just trying out their SM wings' folks. I truly appreciate you guys developing such a nice place to hang & Twitter. Have a wonderful night. ~ @DevotionL

I love your twitter posts! I find them very intriguing, but this blog post takes the cake. CLASSIC!! and well said.

I totally agree with you, but I don't stop there. I'd go so far as to say ANY form of automation on Twitter, be it auto-DM, auto-follow, auto-linking, auto-feeding -- really, truly, ANY of it -- makes me lose my interest in someone's stream very quickly. Even the whole "my latest Tweet is now my Facebook status" thing drives me nuts. Social media is not about "saving time" -- you put the time in genuinely that you can afford to put in, and then you have to let go. Ron Popeil would be proud of the "set it and forget it" methods of making social media conversation, but I'm not a fan.

I only really make an exception for bots that provide information I'm seeking.

If you're a human being or a company seeking to interact with human beings, BE human. Do what's possible within your humanness. I don't care if that means you tweet a little less -- I'll care about the tweets you do much more than I might if they were plentiful and auto-generated.

Otherwise, use the timesavers and apps to organize input, not output.

I agree Chris, I think @jessethomas says it well. I am getting business for Twitter and there's nothing automated about it. It's real conversations with real people. Hello, networking is real and it's social.

I also don't like automated tweets, imo, it just says that you are too busy but want to ad spam. No thanks. Just don't twitter. It's o.k to say no to some things if you are spread to thin to be 4 real.

It's hilarious reading this blog post today, Chris, for exactly four months ago, I wrote a very similar blog post: Why I Don't Want Robot Friends.

Though, I focused more on Twitter broadcasters and less on direct messages, but the same concept applies. Good stuff!

I'm trying to remove the auto msg but social too keeps timing out. i had this problem last week as well.

Chris, thanks for putting me on blast as one of those people :)

It is ok though, I'm not mad. I see your point

I am new to the twitter community and still learning the best way to do things. After being on Twitter for just under a month I have accumulated 610+ followers. This makes it a little difficult to comment everyone back. My initial thoughts were to send my followers an automated message thanking them rather then nothing at all.

After reading this post and everyone's comments you have made me a believer, I will remove my automated message back right now.

This topic obviously needed a strong, venting post to allow a massive comment stream to clear up once and for all the general feeling about Auto DMs. I have never used them and can tell immediately when receiving one that's it's a robot. I respond to people personally even though it takes more time, because I want to start convesations off the right way. But let me add this food for thought, while we're engaging in an Auto-DM smackdown:

1) assume the best in many folks, especially people new to Twitter. There are plenty of people with good motives who've used Auto DMs (some have commented in this stream). It takes time to learn the ropes ... so give folks a chance to learn best-methods. Some Auto DMs, however, are clearly over the line. Some know exactly what they're doing ... treating everyone like numbered cattle to be prodded with "money maker" pitches after reading a MLM ebook on "how to get 2000 followers in 30 days". Don't follow, ignore or BLOCK.

2) Chris ... I think you could've made your points in this post without posting pictures of all of the people in their Auto-DM examples. Even though you crossed out Twitter names ... one DM in particular looks harmless (though I agree Auto DMs are offensive in general). To post a guy's pic who sent you a note saying "thanks for the follow, message me to chat, and I look forward to tweeting with you" ... is over the line IMHO. That guy might be mortified to be spotlighted in public like this (pictures are recognizeable) ... when his intentions might've been all good, while his methods not so good.

I'm as fed up as the next person trying to wade through all the spam crap and auto DM link pushing. But I urge caution ... so we don't strut around acting like everyone who joins Twitter should instictively or instantly know all the 'rules'.

@ben - Perfect! You're absolutely right. You're using it for experimental comedy (or so it appears). Thanks. You're right, of course.

Dude, you're such a fag. Stop telling everybody else how to use Twitter. Not everyone comes to Twitter with the same intention.

Chris - yes, makes total sense! It's a good discussion, because there is no handbook on Twitter etiquette, although some real world stuff - like I wouldn't sell you the first second we say hello - apply immediately in this world too. The people who are doing that are the same ones who call me on the phone and launch into their pitch before they know jack about me or my business.

What is confusing when you are new though, are the more subtle things like the "automated message". I thought I was being nice, and I guess that's the great thing about social networking...the community helps you learn if you are willing to listen:) --Barb

@Chris - just playing devil's advocate. Either way I signed up for messages (Email or twitter) from someone. Either way I can choose to stop following/subscribing.

I get 6 per day so I do not mind. You get 70 - that must suck. I see your point.

@Barb -- I quite agree about Twitter as business and personal. TOTALLY and utterly agree.

What I disagree with is the presumption that robots make that I'm your prospect. Make sense?

I think it was very classy of you to leave the offenders' names out of your post. (@prstini)

Chris and all,

Thanks for the post and the comments. As someone fairly new to Twitter, I wasn't initially sure of the "protocol" when it came to welcoming people who decided to follow me. As I started to follow people, I received some of the automated thank you messages and thought - that's nice, maybe I should do it too. As more people started to follow me, I began to recognize that many were using the automated reply as a way to sell me. I thought that a bit inappropriate given we had no relationship yet. Thanking me, but then directing me to their website to buy their stuff, encourage me to listen to their latest podcast or go read their articles felt self serving. That's certainly not who I want to be and even though my note just said thanks, I can now see how I might have been turning people off without realizing it.

Soooo, after considering all the comments, I have turned off my automated reply and feed letting people know about my latest blog post. Chris, I'll borrow a page from your play book on that one. Thank you for the suggestion.

Finally, let me say that I do think Twitter can be social and personal AND it can also be used as a business tool when done right. Just like I might tell someone at a party about the work I do, or the latest article I wrote, I want to be able to do that with Twitter also. What I'm hearing others in the community say is that this is a natural by-product of what happens as you participate, help others and get to know people. I wouldn't meet someone for the first time and launch into a sales pitch, so I totally agree that when someone does that right out of the gate on Twitter, it is a major turn off.

BTW - I'm @barbaragiamanco on Twitter.

Look, you've already helped someone (krissy, yay!) so many people do this crap outta ignorance, i think.

brilliant post. Took the words right outta my mouth.

With regard to Keith Burtis, these are my sentiments as well. In fact, it seems like I lambasted somebody the other day when they did this very thing. I ended up getting called by several demeaning names, but I didn't care at all. It was their stupid mistake, and I just clicked "unfollow." Easy.

Okay, I'm going to turn off that auto thingy, LOL. I was encouraged to turn it on by somebody of great prominence, so I thought I was supposed to. It's not that I don't have a mind of my own, but they said it was the right thing to do! Also, it automatically, I believe is set to allow anybody who wants to follow me, to follow me. What do you think of that? Should I attempt to fix that? I have no idea how that happened! I unchecked the box that read "allow autofollow" or whatever it was. Somehow SocialToo suddenly allowed everybody and their uncle to follow me, LOL, and sent them a message. At least the message was already prewritten by me, and wasn't obnoxious. :) But I think I will go turn it off. I'll have to go turn off auto follow (who knows how that got on, I don't want others to auto follow me, do I?) also, though, correct, so I can send someone a message when I follow them? Otherwise, how will I know they are a new follower and have signed up. I will have to look at each new person who wants to Follow, make a decision, and then write a DM.

You may be horrified that I am even asking the question, LOL. I am extremely careful on who I follow but haven't paid attention as much to who follows me. I figure if they want to follow who really cares. Unless I find out there's a problem. And they are gossiping and spreading lies through their network about me. Then I will block them. Oh, another question! If you block someone, can they follow you through an RSS feed? And how do you follow someone through an RSS feed on Twitter? Sorry, I'll go look these things up on Google. Sorry to take up your time, Sir.

Anyway, I'm off to change my settings on SocialToo. Perhaps I'll get rid of it. I don't even remember what it is for! I've never needed a tool to find friends on Twitter! I've used Twellow in the beginning when I found it by accident through the google search engine, and chose from people from there, but never used it as a troll type thing. At one point I found out other networks were talking about me, and saying I was using a Troll service to find followers. I forget what the Troll services name was. I looked it up and was horrified. Why would they think that? They couldn't believe some of the people I had in my network. So I just asked people b/c I wasn't intimidated. I found them through Twellow. I guess they thought I had too much guts to ask. They could have asked also.

I guess I am getting off topic here with the Troll topic, but I am mentioning b/c I said I had SocialToo, and I can't remember what it is used for, but if it is used to find friends, that is not what I used to find my friends, and I just wanted to go on record has saying that, LOL. I just picked up SocialToo very recently b/c somebody important told me too, to thank people for becoming my friend.

Now I am off to change my message. Don't know if I'll be dropping SocialToo also. Thanks for the important post. Sorry I blabbed on and on.

Krissy :)
visit my main blog: Sometimes I Think
visit me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/iamkrissy

Fantastic post, Chris! Happy New Year.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for (yet another) awesome blogpost. You really hit the nail on its head Boss! I made this mistake of setting up auto DM using SocialToo.com after listening to one of the Social Media Gurus but realised how silly it was of me to do the same and I stopped it.

P.S.: Could somebody "follow" me and let me know whether they got an auto welcome DM or not. I don't really trust SocialToo.

Best Wishes,

Shinil.
@shinils on Twitter - http://twitter.com/shinils

Sylvia, people like you are the reason I don;t "block" or "unfollow" people who do this. Most are just trying to greet us. that's ok-- it's still unnecessary and I prefer you didn;t but it's far from evil. In fact, I just followed you now.

Chris,

First my apologies for the auto reply to you even though it did not include a message to go to a blog or website.

I really appreciate your candidness. I've only used Twitter for a few months and overwhelmingly I've read suggestions to use autoresponders.

Personally, I don't mind the auto responses when they do not include spam or other stupid statements. I have a few followers that are busy executives and I can understand that they may not have the time for a personal thank you to their thousands of followers.

Moving forward I promise to be a better Twitizen.

@emergingtech

Chris,
Your post inspires me to start using an automated DM:
"Thanks for following, @yourname! Look forward to hearing all the details of your mundane life. Be sure to visit my cheesy Web site and buy junk."
BTW, I think the 'bots prefer to be called "Android Americans".
- Brian
@linksmonkey








- Brian
(http://twitter.com/linksmonkey)

Chris, get out of my head!

it all started back when some mid-level manager at some tech company or other - maybe Osborn - decided that sending a reply whenever they received an email - probably a tech support question or complaint about their laptop being too big to fit the carry-on requirements - was better than making the already annoyed customer eat static. At the time it was a 'wow gee whiz' thing and probably served its purpose. Now, as these things so often do, it's become a standard, and when you don't have a robot sending back a 'thanks for complaining' message everyone gets suspicious. Though I've resolved to stop talking about Twitter it gets REAL stupid when it ends up there, or on MySpace or Facebook or wherever else that it's totally without context and inappropriate. But mid-level managers don't care about that, they just want to do things the way they've alwys been done.

Chris-- thank you! this is my kind of bitchin' (in fact I have bitched about this frequently, as you probably know, and also blogged about it, which-- well, more people will see this).

My point-- not all these robo-DMs are spammy "click my link" crap-- though those are the worst- but they are still clutter, no matter how well-meaning.

Dear Everyone: Cut. It. Out.

P.S.--I do find the auto-DMs with just a "check out my blog/site" message to be annoying. How would I know if I'm interested if you don't tell me what your blog/site is about?

Here's a thought for Twitter; maybe they should depreciate DM's completely. Unlikely but it would keep things a little more pure as I see it. DM's can be left for other avenues that are more refined (like Facebook or vanilla eMail).

Chris,

I take a clue from Gary Vaynerchuck. I always thank the follower with a nice message, I do not use robots.

I can see where if you suddenly have three-thousand new followers that an automated DM would acknowledge the kindness, but still I would respond to each one individually and personally.

This is the only way to achieve success in social media networks, and especially highly visible ones like Twitter. A personal response does two things. It acknowledges that the follower has value, and starts a meaningful conversatiobn with someone who does not know you except by your 'tweets'.

I'm a student of web marketing 3.0, and I can assure you taht I remember you because of your kindness in remembering me, a newbie. It is now in my interest to help you in kind. Attending your presentations at BlogWorld Expo and
( #ASW09? ) in Las Vegas have been beneficial to insure tha I conduct myself on-line in an appropriate style.

Thanks Chris, you still 'get it'.

Respectfully,

Nicholas Chase
www.twitter.com/nachase

When I started really getting into Twitter, I got annoyed with the people I would follow, who wouldn't follow me back. After all, Twitter is about conversation/relationships, right? Can't do that one-way.

Then I realized that the folks with lots of followers who don't follow many back, are here for a different reason than I am. And that's ok. And it's ok for me to then unfollow them -- no disrespect, they are here at the party to dance and be watched, while I'm here to socialize (bad analogy, sorry!)

That said -- I do use an auto DM. Since I get 20-50 new followers a day, it's not logistically possible for me to individually reply. I have something valuable to share with my followers, which is a free ebook, and I want people to know it's available, so I use the auto-DM to let them know about it.

It seems to work for me...about 10 percent of my followers do sign up and download the free ebook. At least once a day, someone replies to say thank you for that ebook. And I *do* respond personally to all of those thank you's. I look at who they are and send an appropriate "you're welcome".

So, if you follow me, and the auto-DM message about the ebook annoys you -- by all means unfollow me, because you probably aren't going to be interested in the other things I have to say and share. And that's ok. :)

Terri Z @TerriZSoloCEO

I consider myself a fairly new twitter user and I think when newer users see others using autoresponders many thoughts cross their minds. For me - I absolutely hated it. Then I started to wonder where they got that app and you start to think that you should be using it too - since that is what the "bigger" twitters are using. I'm glad to see that a "bigger" twitter hates autoresponding too. Many of us are learning from many of you - set a good example for new people to follow (because new people will be following, learning and mimicking).

Some great points and comments here. 3 that stuck out to me:
1) From zenaweist...Don't shout at me, talk to me.
2) From chrisbrogan...Share the good stuff, which isn't always your personal blog post.
3) From mia carla...Be human.

IMO, Twitter is like an online networking event. Now tell me, would you go to a networking event and immediately start spewing to ppl you haven't ever met before about your Web site and blog? Or would you have a conversation with them and then maybe give them a card or exchange e-mail, blog info, Twitter handle, etc so you could continue the convo later on?

There is a difference there. And it shouldn't be any different on Twitter.

One more pet peeve, pls do not thank me for following. A better thank you will be the meaningful conversation we have down the road.

Thanks for calling out those who think robot behavior is the way to go. Twitter is a place to engage in good conversation and not be hit up with an annoying dm when someone tries to follow you.

I am not a fan of the robots, but then again I am not a fan of the holiday cards sent which aren't signed and just pre-printed with names. If I am that important to be part of your social network please take the time to toss me a message which is not canned and in seconds of a follow. The whole purpose of networking whether social or face to face is to make a connection. Saying thanks for the follow and click here for more information doesn't bring that connection. Instead why don't you type a DM saying something personal and already start to make a connection from that point you can build on and bring even more value to your network.

@Ron - but a feed is a feed and you understand what you've signed on for. On twitter, the closest equivalent I can think of is an answering machine, only one of those messages that pretends it's really you. I'm not saying that automation in and of itself is bad, unless you found that missing paragraph. I'm saying that if you're joining a social network, then using robots to do your personal lifting might not really be advisable.

@Shama - you, I know, are probably being very human about it. Is everyone? Are MOST people? Of the 70 robots I got yesterday, one passed my own little Turing test. So maybe you're the exception to my rule? But in general, nothing for me, thanks.

To all - one recurring theme of people who like bots- I want to thank xyz for following me, because it seems rude to leave silence. So, that's like adding a number to your phone book, calling it, and then saying, "Thanks. The number works." It *kind of* makes sense, if you leave it there. But carry the analogy further? Does THAT make sense?

I'm so glad my Bot isn't like that. I'm working with The Robot right now, and became a huge fan of the automated response (http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/25/motoro...). I especially like the lack of human contact. It's awesome!

I prefer to keep the robots within our social networks where we can monitor them. If we kick them out they may establish their own networks. From there it is only a short step to Skynet.

I am in the minority here. They do not bother me.

They do not trick me and usually I ignore them, but a one time email like that on where to find more info is not bad, in my opinion.

If it was more than one, I would have an issue with it.

I subscribe to your blog feed to email, Chris. I am guessing you do not manually email me that every day.

A better discussion may be around - What is responsible automation? If you think any automation is bad, then you are not very realistic and you are missing the point of technology, which is to make us more proficient. Can we be proficient, automated and authentic all at the same time?

Amen. Seriously. This crap drives me nuts.

Here here! I made the mistake early on of following anybody and everybody, and now find it hard to find the people I'm really interesting in hearing from. My New Year's resolution: clean out my twitter account, and leave only those I can learn from, be inspired from or get a laugh out of.

Hi Chris,

I'm pretty new to twitter, and although I don't do as much as I used to, I made a point with my 1st few followers to DM or @ them a welcome. It was all personal messages, nothing was "robotted", but I'm not sure how people would know that, because I think most of them were something along the lines of "Hi, thanks for following me.. ", because I thought it was the polite thing to do. Sometimes, I'd add something more, if it made sense in context, but now I'm scared to send anything, because if it's a simple 'hi' or 'welcome' people might think I'm robot-boy.. which isn't my intention, my intention is to say 'hi' to a total stranger who's following my tweets :) in the hopes that over time, they won't be such a stranger anymore - know what I mean?

I suppose I'm kinda new, not sure what the social norms are yet, but my heart is to be polite and friendly - sucks if robots do that better than me :)

oh, my twitter is: @cameronolivier

cam.

I have found a big mix of this view on twitter. I do not mind AT ALL receiving an auto welcome DM if it is strictly a WELCOME, not a sales add of ANY kind. I use auto DM's myself and just say please Tweet Up and say Hey! I mean isn't thats what it is about anyway? We follow someone, shouldn't we 'The Follower' reach out too? When I follow someone, I think its up to me to start interaction with them. After all I picked THEM. They might not have come looking for me. I think this whole Auto DM issue has gotten way out of hand. I am busy and love twitter to connect but realistically to take time to open up a webpage to welcome every person is crazy. I respond to anyone who @'s me. And I reach out all the time to people who I follow that do not follow me.

Yup, yup, yup. This the crux of successful social networking: be human.

I think once people know it's not cool, they will do otherwise.

"Oh, gee. I can't cut and paste everything?" No. You can't.

Get used to it. Spend some time. Invest yourself. There are no shortcuts in life.

Alright Chris!!! For once, I might disagree with you. = )

I think there is a fine line between using auto responders and ABUSING auto responders.

I make friends on twitter, lots of 'em. But, I also don't have time to answer every single "so, tell me about yourself." So, I have a link to my about page. No SALES. Just sharing who I am. I don't feel bad about this. The people who care to know more, click. Those who don't-don't.

When I welcome a new follower, I genuinely express my gratitude. It doesn't matter who they are. So, I see nothing wrong in thanking them via auto responder.

All in all, I think auto responders can be useful if used correctly.

I have never used the auto-reply feauture on any social networking site.

Boy! You certainly hit a nerve judging by the number and immediacy of the comments stream. The wonderful thing about new media is that although companies and hawkers are trying desperately to find ways to use them, they are failing miserably. Anyone who relishes this unusual new world of sharing simply 'ignores' the 'boorish guy at the party who cannot stop talking about himself'. Thanks for giving voice..

Alex

I agree I hate robot messages. It's all about finding people you would like to connect with them, and engage in conversations with them about whatever. Also, auto DM's should be banned for life.

Amen to that. I know that they're not mal-intentioned, but, for sure, auto responses just make me feel cheap. Thanks for outing them. Hopefully, we'll have some converts who realize that the power of true communication can't be harnessed without a human... no matter how busy that human may be. :)

@shane - if a Roombah DMs me a link to their free ebook, I'm unfollowing. :)

I agree on the robot responses. There is one robot I love, though...the ROOMBA! It's a fine robot and it does its job.

I took a survey on this (but never got a chance to publish the results), and people were pretty clear about HATING auto-dms with "links to my stuff" "free eBooks," or anything self-promotional. Most people agreed that a simple "thanks for following" was okay. Feelings towards companies using these tools were pretty specific and different from the "rules" for personal Twitter accounts.

Realistically, I think they're probably not nearly as irritating when they are in frequent. For most users, they're just not that frequent. For accounts that are fast-growing, they are a real annoyance.

I also think the numbers we saw are probably outdated, as in the 6 weeks since I did the survey, use of them has become MUCH more prevalent.

I couldn't agree with you more on this one. I absolutely HATE those stupid "Thanks for following" messages because it is so obvious they are robots and even more obvious that they are nothing more than a ploy to get more clicks. I agree -- makes me want to unfollow the sender on principle.