Stop tweeting about your emotional break throughs

I'm sorry to say but 140 characters doesn't do your self actualization justice, and frankly no one gives a shit (on twitter anyway). Go to facebook or find some friends. If that doesn't work, try commiserating with the world on fmylife. Of course a shrink can help too. But aren't you tired of people that talk about all kinds of emotional progress. I am. 

So get over yourself, and give us all a break. Or we WILL unfollow you. I'm not just sayin' coz we know thats just plain passive aggression. I mean it. We're over the hype. And, thanks to the dynamic Matthew Inman from The Oatmeal for designing these. 

 

We'd love you to call out tweets that fit this category! If you're a deep diver and want to see the full top 10 list - click here

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm | Social Media Marketing

Comments

[Stephen Coley]

Unfortunately for you, Twitter is not topic specific. This gives every user the justified right to tweet about whatever they like. Fortunately for you, you can chose not to follow those who irritate you with their status updates.

The absolute beauty of Twitter is that it is all permission based. You can follow whoever you like, but why follow them if you don't like what they have to say?

Users shouldn't tweet about what you want to hear. You should follow those who all ready tweet about what you want to hear.

[duncan]

Stephen good point. Of course I realize that and that is the essence of the post. But at the same time the same rules that apply to real life conversations also apply to Twitter. Noone wants to hang out with people that are me me me all the time. UFM is what happens and it applies to me and everyone else. To suggest that one follow someone and expect one type of content is highly idealistic. People are multi-dimensional - you can't predict what they will say. Perhaps if people lived up to their descriptions and their best tweets - twitter would be better but thats never going to happen.

And users should tweet about what people want to hear about. Thats marketing 101. The audience. True. not everyone is in tune with their audience or cares for that matter.

Balanced content is what should be pursued.

[Stephen Coley]

You make a lot of good points Duncan. There are social standards that should be lived up to. However, I find that on the web these standards become a bit more faded.

I agree with you completely that a lot of users do not fit into the perception that their profile has provided. I have followed many 'professionals' only to get an earful of garbage from them.

This is why I check a user's last 10-20 tweets before I decide if I want to follow them or not.

Remember, a great portion of Twitter's users are not marketers. They aren't trying to sell themselves or provide quality content. Most of them just want to be heard.

[Nicki Laycoax]

Has anyone actually read the Tweets that come out of @oatmeal? He says nothing useful at all...

I agree with Duncan about there needing to be a balance of what one Tweets about, but Oatmeal's list is pretty much retarded.

My response to his list:

#1-What you are eating- Simple Tweets like "I'm eating Cheerios" are silly... However, Tweets like "I'm enjoying the best steak I've ever had at Fogo de Chao" results in conversation. #1, it opens up Q & A with people that have been wanting to try it. #2, someone else may be at Fogo, which leads to a Tweetup.

#2-Social Media-There are all sorts of new studies, techniques, applications, etc.. coming out daily. I rely on the people that I follow to inform me of what they find useful so that I don't have to scour the internet daily for helpful info.

#3-The conference or event your are at-I have been "hired" to Tweet from some pretty big events in Indy-Zoobilation and Indianapolis International Film Festival to name a couple. The coverage provided by Twitterers allows folks that are unable to attend events, or may be curious about certain events, live vicariously through the media coverage being provided. It is not going to stop any time soon either. The "Successful Meetings" and "Event Marketer" magazines have articles regularly in them about the adoption of Twitter by conventions and event planners.

#4-Twitter itself-Tweeting about how cool Twitter is is dumb. However, Tweeting about Twitter outages, or even possible ways to improve Twitter gets brains churning about how developers can improve the app, and maybe even develop something greater than Twitter!

#5-Your workout- I strongly disagree with this one. Americans are unhealthy. When I've ever Tweeted about any form or workout, or have seen my friends Tweet about workouts, it reminds me that I need to get my butt in gear. Recently a few of my friends have Tweeted about completing 5K's, running 12 miles, and training for other marathons. It is really cool to see that my friends are so dedicated and it's actually a great conversation piece. Twitter is about conversation!

#6-Your kid, dog, cat, goat or whatever else-Twitter is about conversation. It's about relating to one another. It's about being human. All of the above make you human, and generate conversation. I know from experience.

#7-Speaking out of context-People retweet the weirdest of things. Again, another example of the diversity of Twitter. If you keep a balance, even the weirdest of Tweets keep people interested...

#8-Dailybooth photos-I am one of those guilty of using this service, however did not Tweet my pics. I think it's silly to Tweet those, but different strokes for different folks. A personal Twitter stream is much different from a business Twitter stream. The beauty of Twitter is that we can choose to unfollow folks that annoy us!

#9-A quote here and there that provides motivation is acceptable. Begging for attention by saying things like "I just don't know what I'm going to do".. "I can't believe how selfish he or she is being".. And other crap like that, is better left for your close friends. I don't want to hear sob stories that are cries for attention. What I don't mind hearing is that someone has been successful with a new client, new goal, etc...

#10-The number of followers you have-This is probably the only one that I totally agree with. This is like saying "OMG, I'm so totally popular".. Who cares. If you have a well-balanced Twitter diet, your number of followers will grow like a ch-ch-chia!

My advice:
-Do keep it balanced
-Don't beg for attention
-Don't fill your stream with cuss words
-Don't have extended 2 or 3 word meaningless, useless conversations
-Quit singing-If I wanted to listen to a song with you, I'd be hanging out with you.
-Creating hashtags for your name and various forms of your name is dumb.
-Be a resource for your followers
-And stop giving yourself names like the "Twitter Ninja"

[duncan]

BTW this isn't a comment ;)its a full post! Thanks though!

duncan