With the recent excitement over “TweetBacks” and other similar Blog / Twitter integration, the question is raised… Should you turn on the auto-tweet function? There are a couple of plugins for WordPress that give you the ability to automatically send a tweet about your new blog post to Twitter. At first glance, this seems like a great idea. Why not save yourself a couple of minutes and have the tweet made for you? After some thought, I have decided that that’s not the way to go.
Why You Shouldn’t Auto-Tweet Your Blog Posts
Especially if you are a Twitter user who shares fun links with people all day, it’s painfully obvious when you are using an auto-tweeter to post about your blog links. Usually the format is dry, and it just informs people that you’ve put out a new blog post. Boring! You’ve just put your time and energy into this article or blog post. Why would you waste this chance to get people excited about it? Nothing says boring like “New Blog Post: http://www.xlkjweirjsdrs.” Create a good headline that relates to the title or concept of your article. Make it something your followers are going to want to click.
Another reason not to use the automatic tweet function is because it kills your opportunities for ReTweets. Maybe somebody reads your article and really enjoys it. They’d love a quick way to share it via a ReTweet, but who wants to tweet “New Blog Post:” The better headline you give your article, the better your odds will be that people will want to share that fun headline with others.
A third reason is that nobody on Twitter wants to follow the guy who ONLY posts links from his or her own websites. Sure if someone follows you that may mean they’d like to check out your work, but they don’t want to feel spammed either. If your stream is “New Blog Post:” over and over, that makes you look like you’re just trying to use Twitter for self promotion. Giving your articles interesting headlines will blend them in with the other fun articles you’re sharing with people. If they appreciate your normal links, they’ll be glad to read the articles that happen to come from your site, too.
Think about these things before you get too excited about your new ability to have your blog posts automatically announced to Twitter. Sure it’s easier, but is it really generating the highest amount of traffic to your site?
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article! I turned mine off immediately and now make my tweets with a little more personality! Thanks!
Well thought out. I’d had reservations about auto-tweeting for similar reasons. Thanks for the tips!
I really hate auto-tweets. There, I said it. I get the reasoning behind it, and I know it works for some. I won’t argue that point. I just don’t choose to do it. twitter is still very personal to me and that’s what I enjoy about it. Frankly, that’s what I think attracts followers…at least one of the things that attracts followers. I am not interested in robots, unless they are going to auto clean my house.
Hi,
I had just downloaded one of those auto post tweet programs and before I installed it I happen to read your post. I have to say I am NOT going to auto tweet now. You made some great points. Thanks for the great post and hard work!
Donna Marie
@everyone — Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate it!
@Angela Connor – I agree, I’d be glad to have a robot clean my house, too!
@Donna Marie – glad you got something out of the article!
Jeremy, a good autotweeter is not going to simply tweet “New Blog Post”.
A good autotweeter will have the title of the blog post as the content of the tweet. With the power of RSS you really should come up with a good Title for each blog post, and that title should be tweet-worthy.
Auto-Tweeters have ther place when used wisely
Great write up! I never thought about how impersonal those posts really can be. You made me think differently about it, and that’s a good thing. Thanks
i gust want to say some thing “great job”
Update your Twitter randomly according to your intrest Or, from Rss Feed Or, from your own tweet message list Or, Any combination of the above three
Great point! I’m turning mine off now.
Agree with Andrew Bonar : A very bad system creates a tweet with the same message over and over (“New Blog Post”). I’ve written my own which includes the blog post title with a link to it.
Great article and some really interesting points.
Valid points, all of them.
But as long your friends know the tweet is just a notification of a new blog post it is a good way to let them know you’ve made a post.
So are you saying the technology is not developed and never will be or that even if it could be developed to incorporate a great headline that you should not use it?
BTW I am KCAVON lady in twitter.
Thanks for all the great comments everyone!
@Heidi – I think that a plugin with a dynamic headline would be a decent way to go. I wrote this article a year ago, I suppose it’s about time to take a look and see if anyone has improved upon the “auto tweet” yet…
To those who do auto-tweet – - What are you using?
Thanks for the post. I was researching how to auto-post to twitter but now, I think I’ll take your advise and simply write the occassional interesting twitter title.
Although, if I can find a way (Heidi) to post my blog title, maybe I’ll reconsider.
I was looking for a plugin that will tweet the first line of my blog along with a shortened url AND have the option to have a custom line from the post page. That would alleviate some of the cons you’ve listed (which I agree with). Maybe I’ll develop a plugin that does this. Anyway, thanks for the article! It was helpful.