I am asked frequently…more like every day…why I am not active on Twitter anymore?
Since I have not addressed this question in a few weeks I though I would rehash the issues Twitter has that more than just me are experiencing which explains one of the many reasons I don’t spend any time on Twitter.
Set the Record Straight
First of all, I have been on Twitter since it was in invitation only Beta. And to set the record straight, since then I have posted over 70k Tweets. Off and on I have had as many as 13k Followers. My current records on my Twitter profile do not reflect these numbers for…well…one of the many reason Twitter is not a social network to take seriously… they removed the count I had.
In 2009, Twitter did a across the board purge of Tweets posted and it reduced everyone’s number of posts and Followers. Plus in 2010 I personally spend 40 hours going thru my mass of Followers and uncircled thousands of clowns and abandoned accounts. At that time I set a personal policy to restrict who I Follow on Twitter to only people I have met or who carried on a intelligent conversation.
So, as you see, I do know how Twitter works and how to use Twitter for social networking. However the real reason I burnt all that energy to clean up my presence on Twitter was due the deluge of Spammers and Trolls who still today are roaming Twitter unchecked. As recently as yesterday, I was asked by a client to show her how to use Twitter and during my training exercise we each had to report over a dozen Spam Comments and block one Troll.
I am still waiting for someone to explain to me how deleting spam is part of being Social.
Consumer’s Perception
With this said, I still find it hard to believe anyone who says they are getting any traction professionally on Twitter. If anyone is they sure are dealing with a lot of adversity to get anything productive of what they post on Twitter. And if they are not seeing the high levels of Spam and delinquency they must be using a third party block or something. They should be concerned damage is being done to their image without them even knowing.
I get very concerned when I get comments.. I am getting a large portion of my business from Twitter! Consumers are very savvy and from what I hear consumers tell me is they don’t take Twitter as serious as they do Google+.
This is just one reason why I am not active on Twitter and the major reason I balk at advising any of my clients..or anyone for that matter..to use Twitter outside of just a place to validate their digital footprint.
Bottomline: There are better places online to spend your valuable time.
Hopefully Twitter will get their act together and start screening their peeps at the front door to better control who can use their platform.
Let know how I can help.
