Annoying Things on Twitter

I remember the day fondly (or sometimes not) that my mother burst into my office telling me about Twitter. We were having a communication problem with Comcast Cable (we’re now ATT Uverse customers as a result) and she insisted that I try out the service because she heard that more and more people were flocking to it to deal with complaints and resolutions. Mom was listening to Good Morning America again, and I’ve learned it’s best to just look at the sites she tells me about whether or not I will use them, because she will bug me relentlessly until I do. At least in the case of Twitter, she remembered the name when she told me about it, because normally she forgets and just assumes I will know the websites that she is speaking about.

At the time she made me sign up I knew what Twitter was, but thought it was strictly for people on the go (using their cell phones). I learned quickly how wrong I was. Within that first week I began following some great people and made sure my cable problem was resolved. It’s been over a year now and I just started using Twitter after a long hiatus. I have a love hate relationship with Twitter. I do my very best to ignore the things that annoy me, but some days the annoying things are all I see. As a fairly regular user these days, I see a lot of things that keep me from following people. Now, I am aware that my one follow means little in the scheme of things, but if this stuff bothers me, it probably annoys the hell out of other people, too.

1. The Overuse of Links – I post links to my blog articles on Twitter. I know most people do these days, too. However, there is a fine line between posting links to your posts and posting ONLY links to all of your posts on your 3,753 blogs. While reading about how to get a cat urine smell out of leather chaps might be important, if you can’t at least tell me Good Morning before you post 60 similar links then I don’t want to be bothered.

2. Blatant Misspellings that are Completely Unnecessary – You have 140 characters. Use them. I will admit, like most people, I cut out commas, apostrophes, and periods in order to get the words in, but I don’t purposely misspell if I have characters left over. Don’t write – “U R Da Bst” when you can say “You are the best.” Things like U, UR, Wut, Wud, and so on just completely annoy me. Granted, this is not for the majority of people I speak with on twitter, it’s more for the people I accidentally come across and run away from for fear of getting a headache when trying to read their posts.

3. The Follower with No Posts – Spotting a spammer on Twitter is super easy because they come in one of a few forms. One of those forms is the person that is following 6,485 people and not one post on their Twitter stream. Other spammers are ones that use the dirty pictures or DM you the minute you follow them sending you to their favorite naked picture of their no-no parts.

4. Following for the Sake of Following – Following people that follow you back is always fun, but if you’re unable to offer any form of value to people why be on Twitter at all? Making conversation isn’t hard on Twitter (or anywhere online, really), it just comes down to what you want to get out of your relationships with people. So, if you’re following people try talking to them. Take the time to learn from them and to strike up a conversation, you’ll be surprised to see how many followers you gain as a result.

5. Using Twitter for Polarizing Purposes – Everyone has differences but if you’re on Twitter to settle a score or to push your agenda then I’m not one to get too excited about your presence. People talking in hate speak (against the GLBT, disabled, various races), people that push religion, or threaten another person’s well being on the basis of their beliefs need to take a breath and think about the things they say before they fill their stream with things that are going to cause others to wonder about whether they want to interact with them as a result of their words.

6. Hashtag Addicts – #ihatewhenpeoplemakehashtagsoutofeverythingnomatterhowlongthehashtagis. Note: the original hashtag was so long that it tried to break the look of my site. The tag ran off into the sidebar and wouldn’t stop! Did you get all that? Hashtags were meant to group posts, which is good. Using one in each post in the hopes of being involved in a trending topic whether your tweet has anything to do with that or not, is not cool. Use them because you’re involved in a twitter party, because you’re watching a show and talking to others using it, or because you have a general purpose, don’t just use them because they are there.

7. Salesmen – Build your brand by making relationships not by shoving your product down my throat. If you have to keep offering my that blog marketing software six times a day on three different Twitter accounts that tells me how much you’re making from it. Not all blogs are the same and not all people using Twitter are there because they are bloggers. If Twitter is your audience you should attempt to sell your wares wisely because not all people are going to want to buy them or even hear about them. However, if you play your cards right and are a good person to follow, jobs and plenty of opportunity can come from the relationships that you build on Twitter.

Using Twitter is just like using any other social media platform. Some people are there for selfish reasons, some people are there because it’s the hip place to be, and other people are there to build relationships. If you want to be a good person to follow the first thing you need to do is figure out which of the three types of users you are or want to become.

Speaking of twitter if you have one and want to connect click the graphic and you can follow me there. Feel free to leave your @ name in the comments so people can find you there, too. While you’re in the comments let us know which annoying twitter habits you don’t like, especially if your complaint list is different then mine.

Photo Credits: Jmilles and CarrotCreative

Technorati Tags: Twitter, Ashtyn Evans, Annoyances, Annoying, Connect, Conversation, Hash Tag, Marketing, Message, Tweet

Written by Ashtyn Evans - Visit Website
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Ashtyn is in her early 30s. She is a mother, writer, college student, and music lover. Ashtyn has had a successful career as a writer since 2003. She turned to blogging in 2005. Ashtyn attends Wright State where she is getting a degree in Psychology. She has extensive knowledge in SEO and Social Media Development.