Or so they say.
There are over 200 active twitter chats that are well attended by tweeters who undoubtedly annoy their followers at certain times. As of next week I'll be moderating 3 chats per week on Twitter - #CmgrChat, #HFChat, #MoveChat. For the first on that list I use my personal account, @JPedde, and its entirely to talk with other people across the country (and some foreign countries) that are in a similar profession as me in social media.
The latter two I use my work account @RelocationAlly for, and they are work related topics that provide resources for potential clients, customers, or industry professionals. They have their purposes and using my work account for two of them helps break it up a bit so I'm not bombing my personal account with crazy tweets. However, I do participate in a few chats for fun that provide personal enrichment, exposure, and learning in #u30pro, #jobhuntchat, #smmeasure. They all provide amazing opportunities to meet more people, further my career, and help others grow in theirs. The result is a network I am incredibly thankful for and proud of.
Twitter chats are an excellent way to create, join, or be a part of a community. With 30% of Americans moving every year it is tough to find a physical place to stay in long enough to develop good relationships. People are moving out of their local neighborhood or office communities into online ones where they can share with more like minded people, at a much faster rate.
To me, and you may feel free to disagree, that is the entire point of twitter.
If we are friends, that's what Facebook and real life is for. If we're friends, I want to know more about you, I want to see pictures, and videos, talk on the phone, and hear funny stories that take more than 140 characters to get into and yes, even your tweets. Twitter is a great place to meet these new friends, but it's tough when some people use twitter for work primarily. It's not the greatest tool for Instant Messaging - try Skype or GChat.
People use Twitter for a variety of reasons and they boil down to work, play, or a combination of both. I use Twitter primarily for work and to showcase a professional side of myself. For the most part, unless I'm hanging out at home, I try not to be on it on the weekends. Blurring those lines between work and play and constantly watching my tweets, is tough. I am no stranger to the occasional Saturday Football Game Day Drinking Twittering, or the Friday Night Out with The Guys & Having a Few Beers tweets (yes, that's my idea of a perfect Friday night...don't judge). And yes, I will go through and delete tweets that don't paint me in a good professional light.
There's also a flipside to this.
Twitter chats are annoying to some, but so is College Football, The US Open, Wimbledon, The Masters, the damn Superbowl, and everyone who live tweets a new episode of Glee, MadMen, Dexter, and every other show on TV that I love. There might just be nothing more annoying in this world than people who are tweeting out plot points or quotes from a tv show DURING the show. In a world where everyone waits til the next day to watch their Tivos or Hulu, you are ruining happiness for so, so many people. Sure, definitely post your "Oh that was such a great episode," or "Wow I can't WAIT until next week!!" tweets, but "Wow, I can't believe blah blah is going to have blah blah's baby on this show!" is just downright mean.
What it boils down to, is of course everyone has different tastes. So while I will probably tweet a ton during College Basketball season, hopefully my followers stick with me as I stick through them and their crazy tweets through chats, sports, and entertainment. It's a balance. We don't like every single thing about our friends, and it's no different on twitter. The fun of twitter, is that you always have the choice to turn it off.
Tips to Avoid Annoyance
Do you have any other suggestions on how to avoid high-volume-tweeter-friend overload?
There are over 200 active twitter chats that are well attended by tweeters who undoubtedly annoy their followers at certain times. As of next week I'll be moderating 3 chats per week on Twitter - #CmgrChat, #HFChat, #MoveChat. For the first on that list I use my personal account, @JPedde, and its entirely to talk with other people across the country (and some foreign countries) that are in a similar profession as me in social media.
The latter two I use my work account @RelocationAlly for, and they are work related topics that provide resources for potential clients, customers, or industry professionals. They have their purposes and using my work account for two of them helps break it up a bit so I'm not bombing my personal account with crazy tweets. However, I do participate in a few chats for fun that provide personal enrichment, exposure, and learning in #u30pro, #jobhuntchat, #smmeasure. They all provide amazing opportunities to meet more people, further my career, and help others grow in theirs. The result is a network I am incredibly thankful for and proud of.
Twitter chats are an excellent way to create, join, or be a part of a community. With 30% of Americans moving every year it is tough to find a physical place to stay in long enough to develop good relationships. People are moving out of their local neighborhood or office communities into online ones where they can share with more like minded people, at a much faster rate.
To me, and you may feel free to disagree, that is the entire point of twitter.
If we are friends, that's what Facebook and real life is for. If we're friends, I want to know more about you, I want to see pictures, and videos, talk on the phone, and hear funny stories that take more than 140 characters to get into and yes, even your tweets. Twitter is a great place to meet these new friends, but it's tough when some people use twitter for work primarily. It's not the greatest tool for Instant Messaging - try Skype or GChat.
People use Twitter for a variety of reasons and they boil down to work, play, or a combination of both. I use Twitter primarily for work and to showcase a professional side of myself. For the most part, unless I'm hanging out at home, I try not to be on it on the weekends. Blurring those lines between work and play and constantly watching my tweets, is tough. I am no stranger to the occasional Saturday Football Game Day Drinking Twittering, or the Friday Night Out with The Guys & Having a Few Beers tweets (yes, that's my idea of a perfect Friday night...don't judge). And yes, I will go through and delete tweets that don't paint me in a good professional light.
There's also a flipside to this.
Twitter chats are annoying to some, but so is College Football, The US Open, Wimbledon, The Masters, the damn Superbowl, and everyone who live tweets a new episode of Glee, MadMen, Dexter, and every other show on TV that I love. There might just be nothing more annoying in this world than people who are tweeting out plot points or quotes from a tv show DURING the show. In a world where everyone waits til the next day to watch their Tivos or Hulu, you are ruining happiness for so, so many people. Sure, definitely post your "Oh that was such a great episode," or "Wow I can't WAIT until next week!!" tweets, but "Wow, I can't believe blah blah is going to have blah blah's baby on this show!" is just downright mean.
What it boils down to, is of course everyone has different tastes. So while I will probably tweet a ton during College Basketball season, hopefully my followers stick with me as I stick through them and their crazy tweets through chats, sports, and entertainment. It's a balance. We don't like every single thing about our friends, and it's no different on twitter. The fun of twitter, is that you always have the choice to turn it off.
Tips to Avoid Annoyance
- Tweetdeck offers these WONDERFUL filters. Put in "#NFL" "#HFChat" "Foursquare" and watch the serenity return to your life.
- Unfollow the tweeter.
- Don't want to unfollow someone you like? Ignore their tweets. Scroll through.
- Can't ignore? Really need to unfollow? It's ok. Put them on a list. Put the list in a separate column that you check later on. Still interact with your favorite person who just tweets too darn much. (*Note, this will make it impossible to DM back and forth).
- Join in to their conversation. Pick up a new interest or hobby. There are fantastic resources on Twitter for virtually everything. Enrich your life. Learn how to do your job better.
- Turn Twitter off for 1 hour. Walk away for the day. Unplugging is good for you.
- Follow More People. The more people you follow, the less your annoying High-Volume-Tweeter-Friends will be noticed. More people to follow will drown out the noise in your "All Friends" feed.
- Turn of the "All Friends" Feed. Organize everyone you follow into lists. Ignore your "High-Volume-Tweeter" List during high volume times.
- Unfollow the High-Volume-Tweeter for the hour/day, re-follow post tweeting activity.
- Stay with your favorite tweeter. Love them despite their high volume ways. Make fun of them for it. It's ok. They're aware of their activity.
Do you have any other suggestions on how to avoid high-volume-tweeter-friend overload?