Ironically you may be reading this note because you clicked on a link from my Twitter account.
My site is setup to post links to Twitter, every 15 minutes, if there was a new post here on my site. I try to add a little context by adding the category before the Twitter status (e.g. “Link:”) and I also include the title of the note so that people can choose whether or not to click the link from Twitter back to my site.
But I could see this getting pretty annoying for some.
Someone whose opinion I value, Justin Blanton, had said in October 2007, on Twitter no less, that he didn’t like the whole “use Twitter to link to your blog” method of letting people know when you update your site. In some ways I agree with him but in others I find it fairly useful when I am not near Twitter to automate the process. I’m torn.
This process all started when I started to post mobile photos with my iPhone. At first they were going to Flickr and so I once Flickr updated the RSS feed for my photos, I had a script that would notify Twitter of the new photo. Once I began to post my mobile photos here on my site, I figured I would do the same thing.
This slowly expanded into, what is now, a script that will post to Twitter every single time I publish something to my site.
So, I ask – should I continue this? Is it annoying? It is useful? Should I only do it for mobile photos and nothing else? Please let me know in the comments.
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You obviously know where I stand on this (i.e., don’t do it!).
No.
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.
Rather not, get annoying, see problogger.
Btw: how are the magnolia related links done?
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.
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.
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My sarcastic answer:
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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.
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?
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.
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?)
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.
I would say, have it send 1 tweet saying, “cdevroe updated his website today, check it out!”
clarification: 1 tweet at the end of the day.
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.
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!
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.
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.