Five Kinds of People to Avoid on Twitter
I know this is an understatement, but I’m going to say it anyway. Twitter is growing like crazy. In the last year Twitter has grown over 1300%. It’s jumped from a million users to over seven million users in a year. No wonder we see the fail whale so much. Those are some serious stats!
As Twitter’s grown at this ridiculous rate, it’s been interesting to observe the way new people are using it. Here are a few types of Twitter users I’ve identified that you probably want to avoid, or at least make sure you’re not one. Feel free to add more in the comments.
Name: Awesomists
Location: You wish you were here.
Bio: My life is awesome.
What are you doing? Sipping a skinny mocha latte and watching whales from my celebrity friend’s yacht.
Name: Unoriginals
Location: Where you were yesterday.
Bio: My tweets are your tweets. I don’t have anything interesting to say myself.
What are you doing? RT the latest thing to come across my feed reader in the last five minutes.
Name: Hypsters
Location: Who cares. You just need to buy what I’m selling.
Bio: Buy my stuff. Hire me. Make six figures in 12 hours. I’m going to make you famous.
What are you doing? The same thing I tweeted an hour ago…links to my blog about my secrets to business success.
Name: Philosophacators
Location: I’m too busy thinking to notice where I am.
Bio: I’m pretty smart…and deep…and sensitive…and don’t forget smart too.
What are you doing? Never milk a cow with only one udder.
Name: Minutiaists
Location: Latitude and longitude of my exact location at this very moment.
Bio: My day, all day, everyday, 140 characters at a time.
What are you doing? Woke up at 6:42. Did number 1. Got a shower. Water took longer to warm up than usual. Shampoo, no conditioner. Same towel as yesterday.
Tags: twitter, twitter people, Twitter stats, Twitter tips
April 1st, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Name: Linkhappy
Location: Places you have already seen on the Internet
Bio: I have no confidence that you will ever see the cool stuff I find unless I tell you about it.
What are you doing? A MUST READ!!!: Five Kinds of People to Avoid on Twitter - http://urlzen.com/ak1
April 1st, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Thanks Stephen. Very nice.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:50 am
[...] okay” 3) Josh Parrish’s “Drink Coffee, Do Good” 4) MicroExplosion Media “Five Kinds of People to Avoid on Twitter” 5) MicroExplosion Media “How To Format Blog Posts Since People Read Vertically [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Sheer genius, Bill.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:56 am
Thanks Edwin.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Don’t forget the social media “experts”! How to get more followers on twitter, more readers of your blog, results guaranteed, just follow my “system” with the “iron-clad” guarantee! BAH!
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
So True Bill!
I make a point to see who is following me. If they look anything like those listed here, I block them. Also, if all they tweet about is what they are eating, drinking and about playing with the dog, I do not follow them back.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I’d like to nominate the Political Poet, the Religious Platformer, and the One Way Streeter to this list. Not that I mind tweets sharing religious or political views, but those who tweet NOTHING but their platform is a real snooze fest. Not to mention the You Should Follow Me, But You Are Not Worth My Time To Follow YOU crowd. Eh, no.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
So that leaves…um…oh yeah twitter tips.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Name:Tweetblogger
Location:At my desk all day typing tweets
Bio:I make 10+ tweets on your page at once because I have much more than 140 char to write! Love to Tweet “blog”.
What are you doing? May be interesting, (but we hate to try to piece it together!) Sorry.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Tamara, good call. Whenever they have a system with a guarantee, I’m guaranteed to not like the person’s tweets that follow.
Mel, good advice. I check to see who’s following me as well.
And to Lisa’s point…I’m a pretty big proponent of following people back, unless they look like they’re not interested in conversation and fall into one of the above categories, especially the Hypster.
So yes, Cath, guess that just leaves us with Twitter tips!
New Tweeter, thanks. I’ve seen that one too. Good one.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Name: Cool DJ
Location: The recently closed Tower Records store downtown
Bio: Spinning you right round baby, right round all day. Every day.
What are you doing: Bliping every song I hear. Too bad I’m stuck in the 80’s.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Wende, I’ve seen that too…and here’s the video to go with it (which I never had seen before but you encouraged me to hunt it down.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJv5qLsLYoo
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
That leaves just about, well, nobody in the tweetverse to follow. Right on! Enjoy your elitist friends, don’t forget to not share anything!
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
TwitTalker, I wouldn’t say that leaves out everyone. Here’s my take on how to use Twitter. Thanks for the comment.
First, legitimize your Twitter page: http://budurl.com/k4p3
Then, consider answering some questions beyond the standard, “What are you doing” question: http://budurl.com/6l69
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Hey, I
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Tknopeasnt, fair enough. Any particular Awesomists you recommend?
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
That’s the great thing about Twitter - there is something for everyone. If you don’t like what your reading - just don’t follow that person. Simple as that!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Bill, AMEN to the “guaranteed results”! sigh. I really do love Twitter, but it’s quite a lot of work to filter through all that stuff, isn’t it? And I am the only one who feels a twinge of guilt when I “unfollow” someone?
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I’m still pretty new to Twitter but I’ve already found folks I would call the “One-dimensionalists”
Bio: I tweet on one subject only. It is who I am. It is why I’ve called us all together here. After all, what else is there?
What are you doing? Driving people to the point they want to @ me with “Hey, buddy…how ’bout them Celtics, huh?”
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Christina, agreed.
Tamara, I don’t unfollow too often, but when I do, I don’t feel guilty about it at all.
Dave, thanks for the additional profile. I’ve seen a few of those too.
Ok…I have a request from someone…how did you guys hear about this post? I’ve gotten WAY more comments than usual and I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. Anyone have insight for me? I’m certainly not complaining, just very curious.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Bill. This is my first night on Twitter and as I was twittering away - I saw your comment “5 kinds of people to avoid” listed as a special place to start. Seems like knowing five kinds to avoid would help me to not wind up in that category right out of the box. Thanks. Sounds like good advice. Hope I can remember it! Can you give me “5 kinds of people to follow” so I can start off ‘right.’
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 pm
To answer your question of why you are receiving so many hits?
The official blog of Bill Seaver, a social media marketing consultant and speaker based in Nashville, Tenn.
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April 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Bill, I follow Twitter Tips and a tweet came from them (him? her?) today with the link straight here. It was not an re-tweet…but I don’t know where they got the info.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 am
Twitter is the most awesome in connecting businesses and making new friendships that I have ever used. Its got Facebook and MySpace topped hands down! You have to know how to choose your relationships wisely and keep them abreast of your business– not about how you made your cup of Java! I agree wholeheartedly. If you get too big to communicate with your followers, shame on you! An auto reply doesn’t cut it with me! xoxoDaniFawn
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 am
Ha ha ha!!!! Good job. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one to find these types annoying. I thought I just didn’t get the point of Twitter ;o) I’d add one though…I’m now being following by someone called FluffyTheCat…whose only tweets are “Meow” four to five times a day. Wow…get a life! Needless to say I refrained from following back.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:23 am
i came here via http://evanshawblackerby.com/
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:12 am
all of twitter should be avoided. for christ’s sake…. twitter is just chat without the “mental construct” of a room. the lack of a mental construct of a “room” and a “subject” makes it feel kind of like your own little “micro insta blog”, but, in truth….the only difference between twitter and CHAT is in our heads. and chat is for morons. finally.. who (with a life) actually gives a CRAP “what you are doing now” in 140 characters or less.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:01 am
Patty, thanks for the comment. What kind of things are you interested in? That would help me know who some good people for you to follow might be.
Dave, thanks for insight. That must be where many people came from.
Healthy, agreed!
Swaitela, thanks…and I would probably not follow the cat either.
Terry, thanks for the info. I knew Evan had linked over here. I really appreciate him.
Kevin, thanks for the comment. I don’t agree with you and I don’t want to argue with you about Twitter, so we’ll just agree to disagree.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:42 am
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