Who Gives a Tweet? Are your Tweets boring?

[Harold Mansfield]

I've been saying that Twitter is full of garbage, self promotion and affiliate links for most of this year.
Seems like someone has figured out a way to rate your Tweets to see if you are wasting your time or not:


A trio of researchers from MIT, the University of Southampton and Georgia Tech have put together an online study/app called “Who Gives a Tweet?” that aims to give people feedback on their tweets, and gather info on what tweets people are likely to enjoy.
Who Gives A Tweet? (http://needle.csail.mit.edu/wgat/)
Source article:Are Your Tweets Boring or Beneficial? (http://mashable.com/2010/12/30/who-gives-a-tweet/)

[AaronConway]

There is a lot of trash out there that's why you need to be selective about who you follow. I won't follow somebody just because they followed me or to build up numbers. Unfortunately, not every tweet or blog post can be thrilling and exciting (unless you're James Patterson or John Grisham) but every once in a while you'll hit a grand slam. You never know what will strike a cord with somebody so your writing should be honest and be yourself.

Aaron

[vangogh]

For awhile I thought my tweets were less than interesting so now I tweet less until I can figure out something more interesting to say. You do have to be selective in who you follow and you really should be trying to make your tweets interesting to other people. They don't all have to be gems, but they should be something someone might want to read.

[Paper Shredder Clay]

Twitter is no more polluted by spam than any other web service. I follow quite a few people and have a few twitter accounts setup relating to different items. When I come across a spammer, I immediately report it as spam. I think Twitter could do more to push spam out, but overall I love Twitter. There are blogs and people out there I would not be learning from if it wasn't there. Interesting thought though rating tweets. Personally I don't like the idea. People know spammers right away.

[daveb]

SKype is worse. You get spams every now and then. Twitter spams are less harmful because they get "tweet-out:" easily lol

[Harold Mansfield]

SKype is worse. You get spams every now and then. Twitter spams are less harmful because they get "tweet-out:" easily lol

Really? That's interesting. I don't get spam on Skype at all.

[KristineS]

We have a Twitter feed for our company, which I manage, and we've done pretty well with it. I try to keep what I call "random tweets" to a minimum. You know, hi, I'm having a sandwich, it's snowing, that kind of stuff. I do talk about what I've eaten, or the weather, but only in the context of the business. It takes more thought, but the tweets have more staying power.

I also think there's a sweet spot. No one could possibly make every tweet they write a gem. If your overall average is good, though, you should be able to maintain a good rate of followers.

[ChrisHeggem]

I think it comes back to content. If you're tweeting just to tweet, you are providing very little value to the TwitterVerse. The way you add value is when people value what you say. Look at your own feed. Which tweets do you find valuable and learn how to follow in their footsteps.

[vangogh]

Absolutely Chris. It's the same everywhere. It comes down to what you're adding to the community. Sadly a lot of people think of it the opposite way. The think of what they can extract from the community instead of what they can give to it. Ironically the latter ends up in resulting in more coming back to you.

I think it's a great idea to follow a few people who's tweets you find valuable and think about what it is you find valuable in their tweets and what in their tweets you could also deliver to your followers.


witter is no more polluted by spam than any other web service.

Very true. You can find that same pollution in just about any service on the web and in life. It's certainly not a Twitter-specific thing.

[skylargivens]

Thanks, looks like a pretty cool tool. I always suggest to my clients that they only tweet things they themselves find interesting. And never, under any circumstances use "hard-sell" techniques. Twitter is not a selling tool but a way to build trust with your followers and drive traffic to your website... which is where the hard-selling should happen.

[vangogh]

I agree completely. No social media should be used for a hard sell. That's not where the success is. It's in interacting with people that you might not otherwise interact with and building a trusting relationship.

On and off people who I follow will send me what amounts to an ad in a direct message via Twitter. My response is always the same. Delete the message and click the unfollow button.

[Patrysha]

If I tweeted everything I found interesting my followers would be confused as all get out, I think. I tweet a variety of things personal and business...but I do edit my thoughts and consider how the audience is going to perceive it...most of the time...

[KristineS]

On and off people who I follow will send me what amounts to an ad in a direct message via Twitter. My response is always the same. Delete the message and click the unfollow button.

I do that too. I also tend to unfollow people who have a Twitter feed that is basically one long ad. I don't mind some selling but if all you do is post links to the cool new products on your website over and over again, I'm hitting the unfollow button.