Twitter, as a properly-used tool, can be extremely efficient. But if used the wrong way, can be intrusive and annoying.
For those who don’t know much about Twitter, the term “retweeting” (or “RT” in Twitter lingo) is the simple act of repeating someone’s tweet. If I see a tweet that I like and would like to share it with my community, I simply re-tweet it. Think of it like forwarding an email – your mom emails you a hilarious video and you want to share with your friends, so you forward it. (I use my mother as an example because that woman fills my mornings with laughter as soon as I open my inbox. Love you, Mom!!)
Over the past few months, I’ve been getting many “direct messages” (“DMs” in Twitter lingo – it’s a message sent directly to you that no one else can read) from people I know, asking me to retweet things for them.
My reaction, at this point: I’m very annoyed.
My perspective: If a tweet is good enough to retweet, I’ll do it on my own without solicitation. If you have to take the time to ask someone to retweet something on your behalf, please keep in mind that you might be intruding. Requesting a retweet every once in a while is OK, but always make sure that what you want me to repeat is it relevant to me either personally or professionally. Or would interest my network.
When these retweeting requests become frequent, you must understand that they can become annoying and are potentially pushing people like me away. People don’t like to be annoyed by others and their reaction to the annoying individual(s) can result in a broken relationship. Just like any relationship, once it’s ruined, it’ll take a little bit of work to rebuild it, if it can at all be salvaged.
All in all, request retweets wisely. Take your audience into consideration. And always, ALWAYS return the favor if your tweet is retweeted. Just because the relationship is via Twitter, you mustn’t forget that it’s still a two-way street.
I adore my Twitter community and treat them like gold at every opportunity I get. The result? A perfect example is this morning: I tweeted “Curious about everyone’s opinions: How do you feel about people constantly asking you to RT things for them?”
Everyone started tweeting and giving me their opinions. All of which are valid and offer terrific insight to the retweet requesters:
@mklopez: “#nobigdeal”
@KiddGroup: “Good information will get retweeted. If you want to be retweeted then tweet good information.”
@TamiFromMiami: “Dpnds on frequecy”
@ctiedje: “If they have to ask, then it is a bit odd. However, if you have tons of followers it is easy to miss something you might’ve RT’d”
@robertmurray: “It depends. If I’m connected to the person asking for it and it falls inline with my interests, I don’t mind being solicited.”
@dmachiavello: “RT = FWD, just like email….if it’s “worthy” i’ll do it, but normally i’ll do it on my own accord, usually not when someone asks”
@sunlovey: “hmm, maybe tell them ‘once a week, choose wisely.’”
@ines: “people constantly asking me to retweet things annoys me, especially if they don’t pay it back – it’s all about “overdoing” it”
@ines: “there is no better retweet than the one you don’t ask for – and I love doing favors btw, just NOT ALL THE TIME!!”
@ines: “I have asked people to retweet, but for furndraising stuff – not for my own benefit”
@TheTinyJEWELBox: “RTs don’t have to be asked for. if the content is of value, it will be retweeted. You want me to tell them? lol”
@espiegler: “happy to help friends; otherwise, better b good.”
@DearYvette: “I ignore them. It’s obnoxious. I’ve never asked anybody to RT anything, and that defies the meaning of a RT.”
@SJBain_PR: “Depends on what they want RT’d! If it’s for a cause, then it’s fine. If it’s something dumb… not so much!”
@mmWine: “In a time when ppl have upwards of 3,000 following things get missed, asking for a retweet now & then not bad”
Thank you to everyone who took the time to give me your opinions!
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It looks like everyone’s in agreement! Great post and thanks for the cameo.
One of those things that needs to be said – glad you wrote about his
Twitter is increasingly becoming a waste of time. I saw this tweet yesterday: “Stay tuned for a new blog post.”
Yes, the tweet to announce the impending tweet. What a waste of all of our time.
If u have a tweet that has been RTed several times, do you acknowledge every single re-tweeter.
OK – so there are a lot of different views on social media. None are right, though a few may be off the wall
Some keep their social media to chatting about various things, not necessarily “media” related, but more social. Others are very singular in purpose, always tweeting about the same topic, often their own content. Others are like paint splatter on the wall, covering a host of topics and tweeting about everything, their own content and others. I think for anyone to say one style is best and another is wrong would be them trying to wear the Guru hat.
The same goes for tweets and retweets, asking about tweets, and using DMs. I”ve been called to the carpet for using DMs to chat about things. No transparency there. Hey, sorry, not everything I have to say is meant for everyone to read. Twitter is near instant communication. People check it more often than Email. Few people use IM anymore. And lord knows no one is going to pick up the phone. Likewise, with ever growing lists of followers, people often miss things that normally they would be interested in, or retweet for someone. Therefore, the occasional “hey, can you RT this” isn’t the worlds worst request. Granted, some people still keep their lists nice and manicured, and therefore they are deluged with not just requests for RTs, but also the original content. However, when 90% of your followers have 2 to -3 to 20k people streaming past their eyes, you will make every attempt to ensure they see your work, which includes repeating yourself more than once a day, or asking for an assist.
Twitter is social media. Yes, we are here to be social, but the media is not to be lost. It’s a great way for people to communicate their projects, business ideas, etc. Without that, and with people limiting that, it’s just another AOL chatroom.
Tonya, i semi agree with you. Twitter has definitely reached a saturation point, and a lot of things get lost. However, how is posting “huge blog post coming tomorrow” any different than “omg i got the cutest shoes” or “I just got home from a date with Joe” or any of the other things that MANY of us chatter back and forth about on twitter daily. Setting the stage for a post is no more useless than anything others have to say. And the cool thing is, if someone is doing nothing but blathering on about things we find useless, we can unfollow them. Lord knows enough people have unfollowed me
On that note, it’s time for a glass of wine! CHEERS!
i agree w/a lot of what matt says. just like communication in any space, you have to be respectful and recognize boundaries and listen as much as you talk. i do think that people see twitter as a way around working to develop relationships and trust, and that’s what’s so annoying. we’ll forgive a lot of people who seem to be willing to do the work but make occasional missteps, right? but maybe people who are like that on twitter are like that in the walking world too.
Matt, I also agree with a good amount of what you’re saying, but when it comes to asking for a retweet, sending it in a DM could be a bad idea. What if that person finds you intrusive? Best case scenario, they ignore you. Worst case scenario, the stop following you and then you’ve lost them altogether.
Trying to get a message to be read by someone who follows “2 to -3 to 20k people” IS nearly impossible, but how much worth would you give that person when they themselves saturate their list of following. There is absolutely no way that someone who follows that many people could read everything that streams past their eyes and for that reason, I discredit them immediately. They’re the type of person that wants to be involved in everything and as a result, misses out on, well, everything.
All in all, if someone likes what they read and want to retweet it, they will. Asking for it comes off as a little pushy, but if done every once in a while and to people you know and trust, you may be forgiven.
When you cross that “every once in a while” boundary and start asking on a daily basis, you’ll end up with frustrated people like me. I’ve started getting emails (yes, emails!) of people asking me to retweet things for them. Want to know what I did? I blocked them and have ALL emails coming from those people sent directly to my junk folder. Unfortunately, if those people ever have something valuable to email me about, I’ll never get it and at this point, I don’t care to read anything they send. They broke my trust by invading my space.
Word of advice: If you do request that people retweet you every once in a while, make sure you do things for them, too. It doesn’t have to be after they’ve helped you. It could be before you ever ask for a retweet. A helping hand goes a long way and people won’t forget how you’ve helped them. You’ll have a much better chance of people being willing to help you if they know you’ve helped them.
I completely agree with your post, Agustina. If a friend ask me for a favor, I’m more than glad to help, but if becomes a daily chore, that’s it. Somebody not too long ago passed the limit when this person woke me up (SMS notifications…) at 8am on a Saturday with a DM about retweeting something that I totally didn’t care about. That person was subsequently unfollowed.