Why are the Twitter continuance rates so bad? Why do so many people try Twitter and then leave? Up to 80% of new Twitter users will stop using the service within a month. What's wrong with this statistic? Is Twitter hard to use? Part of the problem is definitely the spammers.

Okay, so I've written a lot about Twitter in the past few years. And some of it is "how to" some of it is "here's how I think you should do it," and much of it is "auto-bot, twitter spammers, and pornsters are killing twitter, here's how to fight back." So I guess there might be a problem. And it's not getting better.

Yesterday I was amazed when my Twitter Follower count (how many people are subscribed to my tweets) went up by several hundred in one day. What I was more amazed by was the list of some of my new followers.

And this was a long list. What's going on here?

Jibberish Twitter IDs and random names. What's the point? What's the game with creating a bunch of zombie Twitter accounts? How does that provide value or commerce for anything? And then this morning I am reminded of these type services.

A site that will do it all for you. Let the robots do all your Twitter management. And guaranteed followers. Perhaps the two things are connected.

Automatic Twitter Software. Ah, very nice. Auto what? Auto-SPAM. I love the idea of MASS TWEETS. What the heck do you suppose that is? Will this crap software write the tweets for you? In what language, ESL?

Okay, so Twitter is hard to learn. And trying to sift through the barrage of auto-SPAM-tweets is one of the most arduous tasks. And the "adder" … well,  different *adder* comes to mind when I see their name.

Yah know, the adder is a pretty bad ass snake, right?

Okay, so what can we do to fight back?

1. Don't auto anything? In social auto is bad. It turns social into robot-social. And unless you are a machine or a coupon outlet, you need to express your humaness with every tweet.
2. Report spammy Tweeters. You can use the "Report as Spam function on Twitter.com" or you can use a tool like TwitBlock to cull the crap.
3. Use a tool like Klout to up your own reputation online and learn what followers are REAL and which ones are bots.
4. And spread the word. Let people know that Auto-DMs piss you off.
5. Ask auto-checkin friends why they checked-in at McDonalds?
6. And then try and tweet like a human. As they say, you only get what you give.

@jmacofearth
permalink:  http://uber.la/2011/07/killing-twitter/

See The Twitter Way for more.

• Transformers 3: The Micro-Review, "Where's Megan Fox, Again?"
• When Did You Stop Listening to Twitter? And Who or What Killed the Tweet?
• Goin GEO: I Am the Mayor of My Mind
• Get Your List On: Twitter Lists, the New Social Cred System
• The Reverse AD on Facebook, What If You Want ZERO Clicks?
• The Death of the Facebook POKE; We All Need to Get Along Here

See Also: My Visual Resume and Introduction to Social Media Marketing

Be Sociable, Share!

•