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How To Use Twitter and Not Be a Douchebag

50 points by twism 17y ago

jgrahamc 17y ago
The @ reply information is useful, the rest is obvious and I'm guessing that if you are a douchebag then you won't follow his advice.
- swombat 17y ago
  I'm not so sure... some people jump into Twitter without knowing much about it. If they "meet" the wrong people at the beginning, they may adopt behaviours that those noisy and spammy individuals think are ok, without actually being comfortable with them themselves. Sometimes, you're a douche because you're a douche. Sometimes, you're a douche because you don't know better (yet).
  - axod 17y ago
    I don't see much of it as "douchebag" on Twitter, obviously there's some who are just playing the numbers game etc, but Twitter is obviously also an effective marketing tool. Using Twitter to make money isn't really the same as being a douchebag. Of course for users at the receiving end, it's irritating, but you can't blame people who have flocked to Twitter to promote and market.
    - Raphael_Amiard 17y ago
      or can you ? I never understood this mentality, how is it ok if it's for promoting/marketing purpose ? how is making money always ok ?
      - axod 17y ago
        I didn't say it's ok, I'm just saying it's not necessarily 'douchebag' behavior, if Twitter is setup in a way that makes it very attractive for marketing/promotion.
imp 17y ago
I didn't know the details of the reply stuff. That's good to know. I also hope people stop the automatic DM with each follow. That really is annoying.
- sant0sk1 17y ago
  If I follow somebody and they auto-DM me with some canned message, I immediately unfollow them. It really is a douchebag-indicator.
jnorthrop 17y ago
Am I the only one who couldn't get past the author's tone. I'll paraphrase the way I read it: "Hey kids, I've been doing this a long time, and I know what do to, and you are doing it wrong, so listen to me... And by the way your a douchebag." He comes across as elitist -- about Twitter! Twitter is an open service and you can do with it what you like as long as it is within the terms of service. That is it.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- jackowayed 17y ago
  It was kind of condescending, but I see where he's coming from. Basically, he's saying "a lot of people on Twitter tweet annoyingly. Here are some major offenses that people should avoid." And the tone probably made it a more effective piece of writing. The putting-off effect of his tone is counteracted by people being more likely to read it because it sounds more extreme/interesting and people's desire to avoid being a "douchebag", which is stronger than their desire not to be "someone who tweets kind of annoyingly." That said, it was kind of annoying and elitist. But for accomplishing his goal of getting the most people to remedy these poor tweeting habits the most, it was probably more effective than just complaining about annoying ways people tweet.
tdm911 17y ago
The point I liked the best was 6. Don’t break the system. I know people loved the see all tweets option, but 97% of us had it turned off for a reason. Adding a character to the front of a tweet (which thankfully seems to be stopping) just inconveniences your followers because you're trying to make a point. I don't appreciate that.
tlrobinson 17y ago
Twitter is infested with these "social media experts", aka multi-level marketing assholes. It's quite annoying.

50 points by twism 17y ago

The @ reply information is useful, the rest is obvious and I'm guessing that if you are a douchebag then you won't follow his advice.

swombat 17y ago
I'm not so sure... some people jump into Twitter without knowing much about it. If they "meet" the wrong people at the beginning, they may adopt behaviours that those noisy and spammy individuals think are ok, without actually being comfortable with them themselves. Sometimes, you're a douche because you're a douche. Sometimes, you're a douche because you don't know better (yet).
- axod 17y ago
  I don't see much of it as "douchebag" on Twitter, obviously there's some who are just playing the numbers game etc, but Twitter is obviously also an effective marketing tool. Using Twitter to make money isn't really the same as being a douchebag. Of course for users at the receiving end, it's irritating, but you can't blame people who have flocked to Twitter to promote and market.
  - Raphael_Amiard 17y ago
    or can you ? I never understood this mentality, how is it ok if it's for promoting/marketing purpose ? how is making money always ok ?
    - axod 17y ago
      I didn't say it's ok, I'm just saying it's not necessarily 'douchebag' behavior, if Twitter is setup in a way that makes it very attractive for marketing/promotion.

imp 17y ago

I didn't know the details of the reply stuff. That's good to know. I also hope people stop the automatic DM with each follow. That really is annoying.

sant0sk1 17y ago
If I follow somebody and they auto-DM me with some canned message, I immediately unfollow them. It really is a douchebag-indicator.

jnorthrop 17y ago

Am I the only one who couldn't get past the author's tone. I'll paraphrase the way I read it: "Hey kids, I've been doing this a long time, and I know what do to, and you are doing it wrong, so listen to me... And by the way your a douchebag." He comes across as elitist -- about Twitter! Twitter is an open service and you can do with it what you like as long as it is within the terms of service. That is it.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
jackowayed 17y ago
It was kind of condescending, but I see where he's coming from. Basically, he's saying "a lot of people on Twitter tweet annoyingly. Here are some major offenses that people should avoid." And the tone probably made it a more effective piece of writing. The putting-off effect of his tone is counteracted by people being more likely to read it because it sounds more extreme/interesting and people's desire to avoid being a "douchebag", which is stronger than their desire not to be "someone who tweets kind of annoyingly." That said, it was kind of annoying and elitist. But for accomplishing his goal of getting the most people to remedy these poor tweeting habits the most, it was probably more effective than just complaining about annoying ways people tweet.

tdm911 17y ago

The point I liked the best was 6. Don’t break the system. I know people loved the see all tweets option, but 97% of us had it turned off for a reason. Adding a character to the front of a tweet (which thankfully seems to be stopping) just inconveniences your followers because you're trying to make a point. I don't appreciate that.

tlrobinson 17y ago

Twitter is infested with these "social media experts", aka multi-level marketing assholes. It's quite annoying.