Why I Will Remain Anti-Social on Twitter
Well…at least anti-social according to some. There was a recently discussion in the AllThingsWordPress group on TweetWorks about using automated tools for tweeting when you publish a new blog post. It’s a pretty lengthy discussion in the thread; and quite honestly, I’m surprised at the number of folks that view auto bots that tweet for you when you publish a blog post to be anti-social.
I use Twitter Tools for this very purpose. It saves me a step so I’m multi-tasking and can accomplish more things at once than without using this handy tool. Like I mentioned in my post on the Auto DM Controversy I send out an auto DM to new followers, and I use a bot to tweet when I publish a new blog post. That’s really about it. These bots are a time management tool for me and I love it.
But apparently not everyone feels this way. I weigh in on my thoughts on the use of Twitter bots in the video below. Thought I’d use video – as it’s more ’social’. 
Please share your comments on the use of Twitter bots: How do you feel about the use of Twitter bots? Do you use them? If so, for what purposes?
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Tagged with: anti-social on Twitter • twitter • Twitter bots • Twitter time management • Twitter tools
Filed under: Twitter Tutorials
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Like you, I’ve been amazed at the negative sentiments toward auto-responders. I don’t consider your use of these tools anti-social, not one whit.
I use a Twitter auto-welcome message; it simply says what I would type out myself, though it saves me the step (and the inevitable speeding fingers typos). My message does not try to direct the recipient to a Web site nor does it try to sell anything. Maybe if fewer senders tried to use the automated greeting as a cold call, fewer recipients would complain that they are anti-social.
I think I’m going to look into the auto-tweet for a new blog. That sounds like a great idea, Traci. Thanks!
Thanks for your comments Esmaa!
Here’s a link to Twitter Tools, the plugin I use to tweet when I publish a new blog post: http://alexking.org/projects/wordpress/readme?project=twitter-tools
Tracy,
I don’t think time saving isn’t really an anti-social action so autoposting your blog is fine with me. They post into the tweet stream, go away in a couple of minutes anyway.
I don’t auto DM anymore because of the replys I was getting but I think that’s a personal choice. I can see the other point of view on DM’s id you have a ton of followers and not time to read.
regards,
george
The irony of the situation Traci is this. While I think it’s just great that you have taken the time to justify your status on the tools that you use and why.
The only rules to Twitter are there are no rules, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be respectful of others, I’m saying that you shouldn’t have to spend the time to defend yourself. I wrote a similar post to this concerning my use of an Avatar rather than an image. I didn’t realize that people were initially apposed to this process but then I thought people are following dogs and cats and well we can’t please everyone I guess.
I think that you are free to use any tool at your disposal to make what you need to do “easier for you”. The people who currently are doing the most complaining and branding of others as “antisocial” have their own agendas. They want to be social “AND” dictate policies as “THEY” want them to be or to create “RULES” as “THEY” want them applied.
Their only recourse is of course to unfollow you if you don’t agree to their terms and contitions and useage policies to which I will and have and will continue to say
“Bye”
Hi Robert – thanks for your comment. This site is a teaching site, and as such, everything I post has a lesson to be learned from it.
So yes, I was explaining my personal reason behind why I use bots – my doing so was, in part, using a bit of my own dry wit, part marketing and part teaching tool to convey a message that everyone uses Twitter differently.
The specific point (lesson), if you will, that I was trying to convey was merely one side to the bot vs not controversy, because those new to Twitter (which is whom my blog is geared toward) often get confused or caught up in the middle of such controversies, truly thinking it’s ‘wrong’ to use a bot. When of course, it isn’t wrong – as you stated; it’s merely a matter of personal preference and opinion. So I post to help them – and yes, sometimes to lighten the mood a bit, as it all seems to get taken so seriously.
I agree, we need to be respectful of others and how they use Twitter, and if we don’t like how they choose to use it – the unfollow button is there for a reason.
I don’t undestand how the word “antisocial” would come into play. Maybe some might think it is annoying in the same way that people who send out frequent mass “Fwd:” emails to their entire address list is annoying, but I am not with that crowd on Twitter bots, at least not yet. If the someone using a bot posts multiple blog posts per day, I might tend to unfollow that person.
Thanks for your comment LynnDel. I agree – I think the term anti-social is what threw me off too. I can see not agreeing, but to go so far as to call it anti-social; that’s where I really became puzzled in their reaction.
Not anti-social, but sometimes a little impersonal. I don’t mind the new blog post automated messages, but I don’t like to get a bot message when I follow someone. I think it’s worse in that case to send an impersonal bot message than not send one at all.