What I've learned from using Twitter

It’s been a little over a month since we’ve actively been on Twitter (twitting, tweeting, and possibly twatting) and over that time period I’ve learned several things about how Twitter works and how people utilize it. Here are my observations:

Advertisements

These drive me nuts, it’s the companies who mass follow people and post solely advertisements about their company. In my opinion this is not what Twitter is for - it’s as if they’re trying to dupe people into following them back to get more exposure to their ads. Yes, I know this is obvious - but it irks me. What really gets me is when competitors add you and then post advertisements. Cmon guys!

Marketing

These are almost the same as above - only usually they’re trying to market a website or product. I’ve come to realize Twitter is a great platform for this - but I still think it’s mildly annoying. I can understand a company or individual signing up for Twitter and posting advertising of sorts and allowing people to follow them - this would be useful (see Woot).. but when you follow hundreds of people trying to dupe them into following you back it seems a bit shady.

Chatting

I love when people utilize Twitter to carry on conversations amongst 1-3~ people. Twitter is a perfect platform for this as it makes people be concise (character limit). It’s also a fun and carries a community feel. I simply wish people would utilize Twitter more like this and stop with the constant advertising / marketing schemes. Some companies that I have actually followed back include @TMZHosting, @MDDHosting, and several others. I realize they’re competitors - but they’re also good people and are not abusing the trust put into them when they follow people. They actually carry on conversations with customers and non-customers alike. I like this.. a lot! Kudos!

I say things

I couldn’t think of a good name for this - it’s the random person who follows you and simply posts random things. I suppose this is what Twitter was ultimately made for.. but it makes me scratch my head sometimes. Example: “I just watered the grass”. Who knows, these people don’t bother me - maybe they’re on a whole new level of Twitter obsession I’ve yet to reach. We’ll see.

This blog post was ultimately to rant about the people abusing (or utilizing) Twitter for pure marketing purposes. It drives me nuts, have some tact and let people follow YOU if they’re interested. My annoyance gets compounded when a competitor does this. I don’t disagree with an occasional coupon or promotion - this is to be expected (especially when companies are utilizing Twitter) ..  but don’t use it solely for that!

Any who this was simply a rant - hopefully someone can identify with my observations.. or possible bring me down to earth on some of the things I mention. Either way thanks for the people following - I’ve had quite a blast just chit chatting and reading peoples tweets.

Cheers!

**WARNING** This is an opinion piece by Cody Robertson - it does not reflect Hawk Host Inc.