Twitter Gurus Please Stop Whining!

Twitter “experts”, please stop whining about how I am “supposed” to act on Twitter.

Remember how the first generation of bloggers howled when the 2nd and 3rd generation of bloggers started including advertisements on their blogs? And, even before that, how the “information wants to be free” crowd rebelled against commercialization of the Web? And in the middle 1990’s, Internet purists even objected to the addition of images on web pages!

Well, we all know how that turned out…

Twitter’s evolution toward diversity of uses, communications styles, and commercialization is a sign of progress, not decline. Capitalism abhors a vacuum and it’s rapidly arriving on Twitter.

This means users of all sorts. And those users have EXPECTATIONS of all sorts, too.

The Key to Twitter Success: Your followers’ expectations!

If you follow your cousin or your aunt, you’re likely expecting updates on personal topics. But if you follow Dell Computer, JetBlue Airlines, or Hewlett-Packard on Twitter, are you really going to be surprised if the tweets you receive are marketing messages?

My brand as an author and E-Commerce Success Coach is somewhere in between those poles. So if you follow me at twitter.com/scott_fox (and I hope you will), you’ll get a mix of personal updates, headlines from my blog, motivational quotes, and, yes, plenty of marketing messages designed to sell you stuff.

Is that really so surprising?

I’m not a “Top 100” Twitterer, so maybe I’ve got this all wrong. But the 1,000+ people who follow me seem happy enough: They get a mix of tweets that include some personal updates but especially reflect my marketing priorities. If they want more of “Scott Fox” they are also welcome to visit ScottFox.com, my E-Commerce Success blog, read my books, check out my Facebook pages, listen to my free online marketing podcasts, or even email me directly.

It’s not like I’m hiding! I just don’t live on Twitter like some people.

You Don’t Build a Brand on Tweets Alone

I guess the difference between me and some of these “Twitter gurus” is that I’m not building my brand through Twitter alone (and nor should you).

Twitter is just one part of my distributed engagement marketing strategy. Anyone that follows me is probably attracted to do so by the Reputation Cloud around my best-selling book, Internet Riches, my frequent radio appearances and podcasts, and all my other online activities mentioned above.

These folks already know me and have appropriate expectations about the Scott Fox personal brand and what that’s going to mean for my tweets.

Please Unfollow Me

So, if you follow me on Twitter and are surprised to get an auto direct message containing a friendly marketing message back from me, then you didn’t do your homework about me and my brand before you followed me.

That’s fine. Unfollow.

But why did you follow me if you didn’t want to hear from me? The DM was just the first in a series of getting acquainted steps that include building a relationship via Twitter if you want one with me. I’m not going to keep hitting you with those.

I’d liken the introductory DM to handing you a business card if I met you at a conference. Is that so wrong?

Maybe you were expecting an auto follow to build your own subscriber count and bragging rights? That’s even more crass and commercial than the direct message I’ll send you!

Twitter: The Punchline

Twitter is just a tool and I’ll use it however I like. You should, too.

Like blogs, Myspace, cell phones, Wikipedia, or any other new communications tool, there are lots of ways to use Twitter. Some users may like the personal “watercooler” conversations about their kid’s runny noses, others use it for broadcasting marketing messages, and others just to lurk and read, laugh and learn.

These differing but valid approaches show that “rules” about how one should and should not behave on Twitter are by now out of date given the massive growth in the Twitter community. In fact, most of those rules are just stale expressions of the personal expectations of the early adopter “gurus” who proclaim them. Twitter is growing up.

Gurus:  My followers' expectations are what matter, not yours.

[UPDATE: I wrote this post last week before the worldwide wave of re-tweeting that my previous post “4 Annoying Twitter Myths” received. I hope that you all enjoy this rant, too! Thanks for your retweeting on Twitter, Stumble Upon stumbles, Biz Sugar votes and 80+ Diggs! Please share this one, too, if you like it?

And if you’re curious about how much traffic a really popular blog post can attract when it goes viral, check out this post that details what happened to my last post: “Twitter Success Report: How much traffic did I get?” here.]

Twitter bird icons courtesy of Gopal.

What do you think? What did I miss or where am I off base?
What are your most and least favorite etiquette “rules” for Twitter success?

Coming soon: Part 3 of this series “Who I follow on Twitter and Why”

Comments

[Randy Inman]

I don't mind marketing links. I sure put links to my online articles on Twitter from time to time. Ya never know when somebody will send you something you want to try.

[Wayne Cochrane]

Hello Scott.

"Capitalism abhors a vacuum and it’s rapidly arriving on Twitter."

Is Capitalism the ultimate value stick?

Is Capitalism God to you?

Are you assuming that Capitalism is beneficial?

Are you expecting me to assume that too?

You may be disappointed!

“...commercialization is a sign of progress, not decline.”

Are you unaware that this current commercial capitalistic civilisation that relies on constant consumption that we exist in is in the process of destroying life on this planet?

Are you unaware that a “healthy” “economy” relies on continual growth that is dependent on ever-increasing consumption?

[Are you unaware that this current “recession” that was caused by the rampant greed of some leading capitalists is actually good for the “environment” as it is decreasing the toxic transformation and consumption of the planets resources?

So increasing commercialisation and consumption is PROGRESS?

Are you unaware that life on this planet is in decline?
[Well the number of human beings (“consumers”) is increasing (for now!)]

Do you understand that “... commercialization is a sign of progress”
is an OPINION not a FACT?

Regards!
Wayne.

P.S: My Twitter name is WayneCochrane
P.P.S: My blog under construction and doesn't actually have any “content” yet.

[Wayne Cochrane]

Hello again Scott.

“I’d liken the introductory DM to handing you a business card if I met you at a conference. Is that so wrong?”

There are several differences between handing a business card to someone face-to-face and sending an automated DM [direct message]:

1) When you hand someone a business card face-to-face you are aware [I hope!] that the other person actually exists. Whereas you could have some robot computer program set up to send your automated DM “greeting” on complete 'autopilot' and not even be aware [or care?] that the other person exists and is a real live person.
[Are internet marketers who talk about their 'lists' and 'prospects' actually aware that 'lists' are actually email lists of names and addresses of real people and 'prospects' are prospective customers who are actually real live human beings?]
[When I “followed ”* you on Twitter did you check out my profile to discover who I was and decided that I was not interesting enough for you to follow or there was not enough to be gained from following me (and fair enough: I choose not to follow many of the people who follow me: but! I check out the individual profile of each and every one of them first!) OR did your robot program just sent me your automated DM (scott_foxThanks for following. More details and some helpful online marketing resources here: http://tinyurl.com/5te87v2:55 PM Feb 14th) without you even being aware of my actual existence or who I am?]

2) In the face-to-face situation there is some actual TWO-WAY interaction (well, hopefully!): both people are aware of each other and there is the opportunity for each to discover the others' uniqueness before the business card is offered or not and accepted or not.

3) Someone receiving a business card face-to-face has the option of choosing whether to accept a business card before he/she has to convey the unrequested rubbish to the recycling bin.
Face-to-face it is usually easy for someone to assess whether the business card is being proffered with some understanding of serving and providing value or whether it just a crass commercial attempt at self-serving.Whereas it can be very difficult to determine if a DM [or an email] is personal or from robot-sent [autorespondered.]

[I have a new technique for email submission: instead of giving my name I use just my initial: so when the email arrives addressed to 'W' and starts Dear W or Hey W etc it reminds me that this email has been conveyed by a robot and that the 'sender' is probably not even aware of my existence.Helps me to maintain perspective of the reality of the situation that the “personalization” is bogus.(Sent by a VERY PERSONAL ROBOT! {laughter!!!}) So much for trelationship and transparency!]

Anyway, enough rambling on without any sleep!

Your solution if we don't like your robot welcome DM: “Please Unfollow Me”

I may very well unfollow you.

I am considering unfollowing ALL the people [and businesses] who are responsible for cluttering up my inboxes with robotic “welcome” or “thankyou” DM's.
[I know some people do unfollow all those who organize sending them automatic DM's]

Regards!
Wayne.

P.S: By the way Scott, are you aware that someone has registered the domain scotfox.com and that it is for sale? Possibly, hoping to sell it to you or a competitor?
[I first heard you on an audio radio interview and you gave your web address without spelling it, so I went first to scotfox.com, before scottfox.com. Perhaps you could be careful to spell your name to the risk of some people going to the wrong website?]
[And no, I am not the owner of scotfox.com (Laughter!!!): I am not trying to make a sale.]

P.P.S: if you actually are interested in discovering who I am and possibly interacting my Twitter name is WayneCochrane. [My websites are under construction and do not yet have any content.]

[Wayne Cochrane]

Hello Scott yet again.

Scott, for me, the problem is not that some people are using automated robot-sent DM's in Twitter. What I dislike is the lack of transparency [and honesty]. I need to know which DM's are genuine and personal so that I can respond in kind. I do not respond to automated messages. I write and send all my DM's personally but if robot programs can now already extract and add a persons' name [like email autoresponders] then there is no way for me or other people to know which are the genuine personal messages. I do not wish to ignore people who have genuinely responded to me.

So now what? Because of other peoples use of robots I and other people who are committed to remaining genuine and transparent have to add “this is a genuine personal message from Wayne” or “genuine personal message from Wayne” to my DM's? Then I lose 35 – 45 characters from my message!

And we know what would happen! People with less integrity would just add something similar to their robot messages. And then how do we know which DM's are genuine?

Scott, do you have enough integrity to add “this is an automated DM” to your robotic DM's?

So this is the problem:

*****Those people who are using robot messages are buggerring up Twitter for those who are more open and transparent and genuinely friendly and wish to develop actual relationships using Twitter.*****

Regards!
Wayne

P.S: I am not a Twitter guru, I am a newbie. Am I whining?
Or just offering an alternative view?
P.S: if there are 'typos' in my posts it may be because I have had no sleep for a long time or because I am not American as anyone who has visited and read my Twitter profile WayneCochrane would know.

[Mike CJ]

The problem here is that both Scott and Wayne see Twitter as two totally different things. Scott sees it as a place of business - hence the conference analogy. Wayne sees it as a social (and planet saving?) place, so more like a cocktail party, and I'm sure Scott wouldn't hand out business cards at a social function.
Truth is you're both right - Twitter is successful because it is what you want it to be! So both of you, stop moaning and use it exactly the way you want. If you want to send auto DM's with selling messages, do so. You'll lose followers like Wayne, but so what? Wayne, if you only want to interact on Twitter with people who "wish to develop actual relationships" then do so, but don't castigate people who want to use it for business purposes - just unfollow.
If you're interested - I'm right in the middle here. I don't like auto DM's, I do like to chat socially with people, but I also promote my businesses from time to time through Twitter. As long as I feel I'm giving people value as well, I'm happy. The beauty of the medium is that you simply filter out whatever you're not interested in, so do it!

[Scott Fox]

Randy, Wayne and Mike,
Thanks for the comments. Good stuff.

Wayne - I agree with Mike. My point in these posts is that newbies should not blindly follow "rules" that may not be appropriate to the expectations of their audience. A mix of personal and commercial is ok by me but that mix should vary from follower group to follower group.

And yes, I'm a fan of capitalism. I expect anyone reading my material probably is. Despite its shortcomings (much in evidence this year!), I'd still call it the best system available.

Mike - Thanks for chiming in here. I see Twitter as a social place, too, but since that's all the "gurus" talk about, I wanted to make the point that it's now also rapidly evolving to a "conference" environment.

As you say, Twitter can be whatever you want it to be. Cool!

[Wayne Cochrane]

Hello Scott & Mike!

Thanks for the replies!

Just to clarify:

I also mainly use Twitter for marketting purposes.

(Although I am a newbie,I come from a very capitalistic family!)But to me giving value and building relationships is vital to good long-lasting business.In the LONG-term a business that is not honest and focussed on integrity will not survive.
(Where will Microsoft be in 15 years time?)
My understanding is that honesty, integrity, openness and transparency are the keys to LONG-term success.

I have no problem with people using Twitter for marketting (I am doing it myself)as long as it is with integrity!

Wayne