Comments on: Should You Send an Automated DM to New Twitter Followers?

By: Andrea J. Stenberg

Andrea J. Stenberg — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:17:25 +0000

It’s funny how it goes in cycles. For a while DMs were almost all automated. Then there was a while where I was getting only real DMs. Now the tide is switching back, although there are fewer “click on this link and buy…” DMs. The latest trend I’ve noticed is Spam @replies. Where someone tags you in a message (ie: @andreastenberg) but the message is a promotional link. It’s still spam in my eyes. Hopefully that trend will stop soon.

By: Lee Pound

Lee Pound — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:32:37 +0000

Andrea, I agree with you that most auto DM messsages are spammy. I sent auto DMs for the first year I was on Twitter and saw so much spam that I finally stopped doing it. It’s better to watch the @reply list to find people who really want to interact with you.

By: Andrea J. Stenberg

Andrea J. Stenberg — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:43:52 +0000

Glad I could help. It’s annoying & frustrating when you do something then can’t remember how you did it!

I’ve created both an electronic and paper folder to help me with that. Usually when you sign up for various services you get an email confirming your registration or password. I keep those in a separate folder in my email so I can refer to them later. I also write down the url of the site along with the user name and password on my file folder for web registrations. It helps to have things all in one place.

By: cherylbrewer

cherylbrewer — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:44:21 +0000

THANK you! I could not find how to remove my auto direct message anywhere. I think they are annoying and very impersonal but I could not take it off!!! You answered my long search. tweetlater. Now it is off and I can sleep at night.

By: Happiness Magazine

Happiness Magazine — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:42:51 +0000

Makes sense to build relationship one at a time. It is too easy to get carried away by the number game. Over long term, what matters most is quality of follower, not how many followers. Thanks for sharing an interesting info. In fact, this article stopped me short from creating a automated message to new followers.

By: viviana

viviana — Sat, 15 May 2010 06:41:59 +0000

Andrea,
I am so happy i found your article before setting the automatic DM to my new followers! (via google search). i would really like you (and many other Internet users for a fact) to write a little bit more on the DON’T DO WHAT YOU DON’T DO IN REAL LIFE in this virtual space. The feeling that people do exactly what they don’t do in real life on the Internet is getting stronger every day! I can’t believe the messages about people dying of cancer and suffering used by people to increase THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS!!!!! I am absolutely appalled how insensitive people have become using someone else’s handicap or illness to show the other fellow “advertisers” how concerned they are. It’s so weird people don’t realize that once you are in contact with a “group” of this kind, you can tell how the word spreads for 2 days, and then they are all OLD FRIENDS of the person who is suffering. Sorry I got carried away, Andrea, thanks so much for making me see another dark side of the Internet. Thank you for taking your time to write about politeness in virtual space.

By: Keeping The Social in Social Media | SEO Blog by Lead Generators

Keeping The Social in Social Media | SEO Blog by Lead Generators — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:55:56 +0000

[...] with messages to thank your followers for their interest, but as Andrea Stenberg informs us in her fascinating article, doing this in an automated fashion might just defeat the object, and take the “social” out of [...]

By: Mary Lou Kayser

Mary Lou Kayser — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:09:18 +0000

I found your website because I was searching for a way to change my automatic DM to new Twitter followers. After reading this post, I am now going to get rid of it because like so many people said in the comments, all those DMs promoting things get really overwhelming, not to mention tiresome! Thanks for sharing your insights.
~Mary Lou

By: Jochem van Drimmelen

Jochem van Drimmelen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:21:17 +0000

If you decide to send automated DM’s to new followers, do it well. For a company it could be something like “Thank you for following @company. We’d like to encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences with us.” It’s a direct opening for dialogue, and that is what social media is all about.

For a good overview of do’s and don’ts, please refer to http://econsultancy.com/blog/4160-twitter-dm-autoresponders-15-tips-and-40+-examples

By: The Exception to the Rule « The Art of the Attempt

The Exception to the Rule « The Art of the Attempt — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:09:38 +0000

[...] Andrea J. Stenberg wrote a post entitled “Should You Send an Automated DM to New Twitter Followers?“. It’s clever and insightful, but more importantly, it affirmed that which I already [...]