Colin Devroe - Latest Comments in Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Stephen James — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:45:41 -0000

I vote for not automated tweets. If you only posted to your blog once a week, it's not the end of the world. If you are trying to attract people to your blog, you should write out a teaser tweet that links to your blog.

There should be editorial control. There should be control the other way too. One could include certain tweets in the RSS of one's blog. They are semantically the same as Asides. I do not include tweets that begin with '@', so that half-conversation do not end up in my feed: How to ignore direct tweets in Wordpress explains in a post I wrote.

Including tweets in the RSS feed of your blog is great if your tweets offer nuggets of information or opinion. If they are "I'm eating a cookie now," then no they should NOT be included in your RSS feed. If you don't want a tweet to end up in your blog feed, then @yourself.

An added bonus is that I can receive comments on my tweets, since they become blog posts in their own right. Twitter doesn't allow comments that stay connected to a certain tweet.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Vinny — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:49:59 -0000

No way. I have actually stopped following the folks who have automated tweets. The biggest offenders, sorry to say, were Viddler's who selected every option in the Twitter controls. I don't need to know every click. I know that's not what you're planning, however if I want to follow the blog, I get the feed.

Anyone who gets Twitter knows how to get a feed. Give the user some choice. I'm betting if you could compare the Twitter followers to RSS subscribers, you'd find a near 100% convergence.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Colin Devroe — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:11:44 -0000

Thanks to all who gave me their feedback either through the comments above or on Twitter. I really appreciate it. I've already turned off the automated script, so I will no longer be automatically twittering links to my site.

Thanks everyone!

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Zach Hale — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:19:15 -0000

Please do not re-tweet when you update your blog. If I want to follow you're blog, I'll follow your blog. If I want to follow your tweets, I'll follow your tweets.

I would like to follow both, but right now most of your twitter activity is duplication of notifications so I have a hard time following both.

I vote remove auto-posting to twitter.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Daniel Nicolas — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:21:36 -0000

clarification: 1 tweet at the end of the day.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Daniel Nicolas — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:21:11 -0000

I would say, have it send 1 tweet saying, "cdevroe updated his website today, check it out!"

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Rudy Amid — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:30:27 -0000

Yes, ironically I am reading this post via your Twitter link. :-)

If the updates doesn't occur frequently, let's say every 60 minutes (like Problogger), then it's acceptable to Twit blog updates.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

mturro — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:21:07 -0000

I don't like the idea of auto posting to twitter. For me twitter is always best when there is some personality behind the conversation. What makes twitter great is the call and response, not just the call.

That being said, if you have something on your blog that you think would be of benefit to a conversation on twitter then go ahead link to it... as long as you stick around for a bit to entertain any conversation that might ensue.

Bottom line - every tweet is an invitation to a conversation... it's bad form to send out an invitation to a conversation that has no hope of existing.

(Did I use "conversation" enough?)

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Justin Ruckman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:03:56 -0000

No. I'm learning to filter out automated Twitter posts as I read through my feed now. If all the services are cross posting automatically what's the point of having them all? I think hand selected links on Twitter are always better.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Lea — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:53:56 -0000

I twitter my updates because assuming everyone's signed up to your twitter also follows your RSS isn't always true. For example, to help save time I've actually eliminated my RSS feeds completely and pretty much rely on Twitter to let me know when someone's posted something (either their own blog or interesting link) b/c they usually don't post every post, just the ones people find interesting.

So, I guess my answer is don't automate posts to twitter, but maybe only pick and choose which ones you think are extra interesting or you really are eager for feedback?

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

kerri — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:41:14 -0000

Totally no. If I want to read your blog, I'll read your blog. If I want your Tweets, I'll read your Twitter feed. It's like asking me if I want to mow your lawn when I come over for a cocktail party.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

sandieman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:37:25 -0000

My sarcastic answer:

[viddler_video=a90e2833]

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Lachlan Hardy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:20:32 -0000

[viddler_video=5496ad4d]

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

raj — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:13:21 -0000

Hello Colin,

What about two separate Twitter accounts? One for your personal lifestream (existing one, "cdevroe") and one for your blog updates (like "cdevroe.com"). It duplicates RSS function in some way but still.

Even better: using "personalized" words in your blog updates tweets, like "cdphoto" and "cdpost" (weird I know but keep reading), would allow people to track only the updates they are interested in, without following the blog twitter account.

My two (twisted) cents. :)

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Diana LeRoi-Schmidt — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:02:55 -0000

Looks like I'll be in the minority on this one.

I'd say Yes. You don't post to your site multiple times a day, and it's also not the only thing you use Twitter for.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

milo — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:59:38 -0000

Rather not, get annoying, see problogger.
Btw: how are the magnolia related links done?

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Stu — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:56:14 -0000

Colin,

You could get tricky and only Twitter certain categories, or certain tags .. Could write a little "update Twitter" checkbox in the Wordpress Post page (i guess that'd have to be a plugin).

Or you could not, heh heh.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Jason O'Brien — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:03:24 -0000

No.

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Justin Blanton — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:31:53 -0000

You obviously know where I stand on this (i.e., don't do it!). :)

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

Derek Steen — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:10:59 -0000

[viddler_video=234f487e]

Re: Poll: Should my site send Twitter notifications?

John Reynolds — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:40 -0000

[viddler_video=6a0d41aa]