Twitter is great. I use it daily to communicate, question, interact, learn and promote. The Twitter founders goal of having this platform be the “pulse of the planet” is within fingers-grasp. That said, sometimes Twitter is annoying. Not the platform, but the people who use it. These are the types of tweets that annoy me the most:
The Ambigu-Tweet
These are the tweets that you read and you’re left thinking, “Um, what?” Examples include:
I’m so frustrated right now. You know who you are. How could you do that to me?
And,
They’ll never know. They’ll just never know….
Inside jokes are one thing, but tweets like these scream out, “I need attention” more than a teenager with a tongue ring. Catch my draft? Have fun, but leave the fishing poles at the lake. (Good) attention can’t be caught this way.
The Obviously-Connected-To-Facebook Tweet
These tweets show you that the person tweeting clearly misunderstands the medium. If you go to their profile, you’ll see a long line of updates with the tell-tale …http://fb.me/xyz following after them. Usually nothing more. Examples include:
Join our incredibly self-serving email newsletter. We’ll constantly push and promote our own content and ignore your unsubscribe attempts. You’ll really enj…. http://fb.me/blahblahblah
The people or places who commit these heinous tweet crimes aren’t interested in the “social” part of “social media”. They simply want to pimp their wares. No interaction, just promotion. Endless self-promotion. Steer clear!
The Mega-RT Tweet
Retweeting is part of what makes Twitter so great. You see someone’s content that you like and broadcast it to your audience. It’s like the “here here!” of the Twitter world. Huzzah! RT’ing has come to include the following formats:
- RT @JohnnyCoolGuy
- (via @JohnnyCoolGuy)
- Twitter-style retweets (a.k.a. web retweets)
- And “@JohnnyCoolGuy” (a.k.a. the “quoting retweet”)
It’s great, that is, until it’s not. Sometimes tweets get filled with so many RTs you end up having no idea what’s actually being stated. For example:
RT @JohnnyCoolGuy: RT @SuzyPopular: RT @SocialMediaDood: RT @JimStenson: LOL! (via @RedHerring) // (via @BravoBravoTerryBerry) –> Cool #sad
Good grief. The sad part is, I know you’ve seen tweets like this. I’m sure someone, somewhere knows what this group of people is trying to communicate, but the rest of us are clueless. Pare down RTs if need be, just make sure we know what you’re talking about!
The Are-You-in-Kindergarten? Tweet
These are the tweets that are so woefully misspelled you wonder if the tweeter every had the benefit of primary education. Abbreviations are one thing:
- Your/You’re = ur
- To/Too = 2
- Are/Our = r
But our friends, the “Are-You-in-Kindergarten?” tweeters, abbreviate abbreviations. Their messages are so cryptic you wonder if they’re even speaking English:
@DummyWummy: LOL, r u srs? Ahahahahahahahaha!
@BeachedWhale: ppl bttr noe tht im swimmmng dwn her!
@Trite316: Eeeeeeeeeeeeecht! Uuuuuuuuuung! eeeeeecht …. buuuuuuuung ….. wwaaaaaaaaaack!
Please. Consult a dictionary and resume your regularly schedule tweeting.
The OMG Tweet
Also known as the “I’m having so much fun and you’re a loser” tweet, the OMG Tweet is when someone takes great lengths to tweet about every exciting event in their life.
The female OMG Tweeter:
@SuzyPopular: There’s nothing like freshly squeezed orange juice from my maid every morning!
@SuzyPopular: I hate being stared at everywhere I go. I don’t get it. People just stare at me.
@SuzyPopular: My friends are so great! They just bought me a llama! I love my popular, rich friends! #heart
The male OMG Tweeter:
@JohnnyFootball: I just got asked to be part of the National Board for Self-Indulgent Young Professionals. Looks like they know talent when they see it!
@JohnnyFootball: First day back at gym after 9 months, and I can still crack a 2.4km run in 12 minutes.
@JohnnyFootball: When my own blog posts serve as a reference for myself I feel like I’m doing something right.
There’s obviously some big-time compensating going on with the OMG Tweeter. You know these people. Heck, you may even be one of them yourself! Goodness knows we’ve all tweeted something we regret later.
The OMG Tweeter is particularly irritating because their sole purpose is to make you feel lousy about the life you live. Like their life is more exciting and they want everyone to know it. I don’t know about you, but if you have to stop and remind people that you are, in fact, having a good time, how much fun can you truly be having?
Hm.
If you make these common mistakes, no worries. There’s hope! You can correct your Twitter-failing ways and get back on the track to total Twitter domination! Just don’t say we never warned you.
What are some of your least-favorite types of tweets? What makes you hit the “unfollow” button? Please share in the comments below!
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I think your observations are on point Justin. I find Tweets most useful when they bring some interesting content to the table or provide otherwise meaningful communication.
One type you left out is the “auto-Tweet”. I see too many high profile content providers on Twitter who are obviously not even posting their Tweets but instead have an automated process or even a team of individuals generating their Tweets that all link back to a content site in which the perceived Tweeter has a vested commercial interest. I won’t name any names but suspect you are aware of a few such offenders.
I’m getting enough material for a second post! I’ll make sure to add the “Auto-Tweeter” to the list!
I agree with you Justin. Not enough is said about how we all use social media. You have some great points. I took a more scornful view from acdifferent aspect on my site, link below if your interested.
I wanted to start a hashtag to try and help us think it through more and turn the tide of ‘noise’ back the other way. You can try #redeemingtwitter if you with me on that!
http://www.feba.org/newmedia/?p=495
Thanks for the link, Sam. Good to see you here on the blog! Hope all is well in jolly ol’ England
Hilarious! =) and true.
SAD but true, I’d say
Hope you and yours are well, Ben. Praying for you guys!
OMG, LOL.
+1
I tend to “unfollow” people who:
* tweet 50 times in less than a minute and forcibly take over my twitter
*drop names and seem to think that God loves one name more than another
*people who have more than one twitter account and tweet themselves
*people who constantly are trying to sell something
The “Name-Dropping” Tweeter …. I need to add that to the list!
OMG! So on pt…u mst’ve rd my mnd. Hahahaha.
Seriously, great post! I’ve probably been guilty of a few of those at times. Thanks for pointing out the annoyances!
Hilar. Who hasn’t been one (or all) of those people at one time or another?
I hate these pastors who tweet these judgmental questions “Are you witnessing/praying/following God/…ect. hard enough???” Or are you just a lazy slob who hates God? Um…B?
“Saved by grace, through faith….” Right?
Right … On … The … Money!
You forgot one more though… the twitter account setup primarily to RT for online giveaways.
People still do that? Or is that to spare everyone else from the agony of having to see the contest tweets?
Funny and true.
I think I accomplished all of these today. Such a wonderful feeling.