Auto DMs on Twitter Annoy Me
It is late, I am tired and I should probably be in bed instead of blogging. I made the mistake of checking Twitter before turning off my computer and found one more AutoDM that pushed me over the edge and forced me to stay up past my bedtime to write this rant post.
What is an AutoDM?
A Direct Message (DM) is a private message sent via Twitter.
An AutoDM is an automated Direct Message you receive on Twitter after you follow someone. That someone has used a program to automatically send you a DM when you follow them. The DM usually says something like:
Thanks for the follow… check out my blog.
Thanks for the follow… buy this.
Hi nice to meet you please send me an @ message and introduce yourself.
Thanks for the follow… check out my Website
Thanks for the follow, I’m following you back and look forward to reading your tweets.
The problem is AutoDMs kind of ruin the whole point of Twitter for me. Twitter is for starting conversations, sharing information and building relationships.
If you send me an AutoDM it feels impersonal and like you are trying to sell me something. It just feels icky. If you really want me to check out your blog, buy your stuff, look at your Website or introduce myself to you why don’t you start by introducing yourself to me with an @ message.
A lot of people I know use AutoDMs and I’m not trying to ruffle any feathers but I wanted to let you know how I feel about AutoDMs.
How do you feel about receiving AutoDMs? I’ve actually been unfollowing people that send me AutoDMs lately.
Apparently I am not the only one who dislikes AutoDMs…
After a quick Google search of the word AutoDM I found the following blog posts:
The Ten Commandments of Twitter
Hate AutoDM’s on Twitter? I do. Here’s how to block them
The Twitter AutoDM: Useful or Hurting Your Cause?
There are ways to block AutoDMs. I’ll save that for another post.
Good night!
I don’t get very many AutoDMs – I guess because I follow a relatively small number of people. They do annoy the heck out of me, though, and I think you’ve got exactly the right idea – the more people that unfollow them because of it the less likely they are to keep doing it.
Looking at the list you gave (which I think covers about 95% of them), these are the thoughts that come to mind (epic as usual):
Thanks for the follow… check out my blog. — Put a link to it as your profile link, then everybody who views your profile can find it. I’m hardly likely to think “Oh gee, I wasn’t planning to read your blog, but I will now that you spammed me about it!”
Thanks for the follow… buy this. — Um, no. If you really, really have to, advertise it in your bio or your background, but honestly, get a clue. Twitter just doesn’t work that way.
Hi nice to meet you please send me an @ message and introduce yourself. — Do it yourself – if you’re really all that curious, you send *me* an @. I don’t really think you care about an introduction – you just want me to tweet at you so all my followers will see it and follow you too. Not. Cool.
Thanks for the follow… check out my Website. — Same as for blog – give me the link, if I want to look, I will.
Thanks for the follow, I’m following you back and look forward to reading your tweets. — A) If you are actually following me back, Twitter just sent me an email to tell me that, so thanks for wasting 45 seconds of my life I’ll never get back. B) I kinda assume that if you’re following me, you’re looking forward to reading my tweets. (I admit not everybody does, but still.) If you’re not, don’t lie to me.
It would probably make more of an impact to @ them and say “I’m unfollowing you because you use AutoDMs and that’s not cool”, because if they’re clueless enough to be using the things, they probably won’t get why they’ve been unfollowed. But, that would be tacky itself – probably more so than AutoDm-ing is.
Alas.
Hi! Don’t you love insomnia blogging?!
I don’t get as many AutoDM’s as I did a year ago, but I did from my Uncle’s company the other day-frustrating!
I also use SocialOomph (formally TweetLater) that has an option to not receive AutoDM’s from their users…pretty slick. Be bold, let people know that they are considered spam by sending Auto DM’s and to remember the “social” in social media!
Cheers!
-jen
@jenHarris09