Comments on: Survey: Automated “Direct Messages”

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Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:52:47 +0000

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By: Pamela Jacob

Pamela Jacob — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:51:14 +0000

I don’t mind a message but I hate a sales letter or link…. It just seems like it is disingenuous – and I want to connect with genuine people.

Great article

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:26:45 +0000

I hate those auto-DMs, too. If people are too busy building their list to send a personal thank you, don’t send one. I use Twitter to build relationships, and if the person sends me an auto-DM, it’s clear that we are not on the same page.

You didn’t cover the people who send out DM ads. I have UNfollowed several people who, once I started following them, sent me DMs every day – pretty much duplicating what they tweeted, or inviting me to their blog or website. Hello – I’m following you on Twitter. If I want to see what you have to say, I will check my timeline, or go to your page.

By: Michael Martine - Remarkablogger

Michael Martine - Remarkablogger — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:05:31 +0000

@Deb – to specifically answer your question about accidentally clicking on the forms: it depends on what’s on it. With mine, it’s not possible. The only thing to do with the form is enter a name and an email or close it. Nothing accidental can happen to inflate numbers or create false responses (other than a person deliberately enter in fraudulent information). The form only appears once per unique visitor ip address. I get sign-ups every day, and it even says right on the form that I will sell them stuff, and to not sign up if they don’t want to receive marketing messages. People still sign up. From where I’m standing, that doesn’t much look like “hate” to me.

In all of this, simply building up numbers to throw disposable sales attempts at people is not a very smart long-term strategy. The point in driving sign-ups is to provide immense value to the audience (whether it’s email or Twitter, doesn’t matter). If you do it right, when you are actually selling something, it’s really just another form of value you’re providing. That is where most marketers fail. Nobody complains about the people who are really succeeding at this, because nobody’s mad at them.

By: deb

deb — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:33:05 +0000

How many times do “pop-over, fade-ins, and exit pop-ups” actually work because someone accidentally clicked them? I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve closed a link without engaging because I was tricked into clicking, and I remember that, and I avoid sites that use them profusely. I can’t imagine there are stats that say I’m in the minority.

As for autoDM. It’s about my time. I may not appreciate it, but I don’t mind until it becomes an an annoying habit on the sender’s part.

By: Marti

Marti — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:20:40 +0000

I always send a “thanks for following me” response, but it’s always hand-typed and I try to say something personal about checking their website, or that they have a nice Twitter background. It never crossed my mind that just saying “Thanks for following” could be irritating! I thought it was just polite. I never include a link, and don’t much care for the ones I get that include a link.

Very interesting survey – thanks for sharing!

By: Stacy Brice

Stacy Brice — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:10:52 +0000

Great contribution to the convo, Laura–thanks!

I want to ask Susanna…or anyone else who reads her comment and knows the answer–how do you “fix it” so you never see the DMs sent from bots?

Seems to me that the option to kill those would be something maaaaaany people (including me!) would use, but I’ve never seen such an option in Twitter.

By: Ganesha

Ganesha — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:04:03 +0000

I have a bot that auto-DM’s, but it’s only to provide usage instructions. Otherwise I FULLY hate them.

By: Susanna K. Hutcheson

Susanna K. Hutcheson — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:24:59 +0000

I have no issue with automatic DMs. I use them. I think they’re better than sending nothing and when you get a large number of followers, it would take up a lot of time to reply to each one personally. On the receiving end, I never see them as I’ve got it fixed that way. I don’t miss them nor do I expect to get them. Certainly if my followers object, I can simply not send anything. I think it’s much ado about nothing. But I do appreciate the individual going to the trouble of the survey and graphs and would welcome more scientific study on all of these issues that seem to bother people. With the economy crashing and the war on terror and the ills of the world, I find worrying about automated DMs rather asinine.

By: Greg Cangialosi

Greg Cangialosi — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:13:45 +0000

Thanks for pulling this together Laura! Very interesting data!

Happy New Year.

Greg