55 Things Twitterers Should Stop Doing

Posted by Scott Williams
23 Comments
February 9, 2010
Twitter
Stop Tweeting

Image Via: TheOatmeal.com

There are many, many things that those in the world of Twitter can’t stand.  Unfortunately most of the things are here to stay and aren’t going anywhere in the near future.  The beauty of Twitter is that it’s a take it or leave it community; however that doesn’t stop people from having their dislikes.

I decided to go straight to the horses mouth and ask the world of Twitter the following question, in the form of a tweet: “Fill In This Blank: I wish people that Twitter would stop doing [blank]! Your @replies will be a blogpost. Ready,Go!”   The responses came in rapidly and the first 55 responses are below.

55 Things Twitterers Should Stop Doing

  1. ScottWilliams Stop Spamming, Stop Talking About Porn, Stop Being a Copy Cat, Stop Being Negative, Stop Using Profanity // Don’t Player Hate… Celebrate!
  2. Anna_Light I wish ppl who twttr wld stp DMing me in the middle of the nite. DM get sent 2 my phone & wake me up! I stp following those!
  3. mamastephf ..stop ignoring ppl who “speak” to you on Twitter, trying to be friendly. You’re probably not a rock star. Be courteous!
  4. shannonodell Stop telling me what you are eating…
  5. hopealot giving play by plays of whatever tv shows they are watching!
  6. ejswanson 4 square
  7. SassafrasHill – Not replying when you try to get to know them…having 1,000 followers & only following 10 (non-celebs)…
  8. rhukill …focusing on number of followers, instead of quality of content!
  9. ChrisAgne …stop unfollowing me because of who I follow.
  10. DonaldOhse RT Fill In This Blank: I wish people that Twitter would stop doing [blank]! // complaining
  11. CarloSerrano using it to sell lame products
  12. BKSTOKES @replies would be themselves & stop trying to sale cheesy products & especially that all those promoting porn be banned
  13. scottinnj I wish Twitter would stop letting spammers and porn ads on as accounts. It stinks, and I don’t like it!
  14. gbussmann trying to tell me how to get 1000 followers in 20 minutes
  15. russkle reposts of their own tweets.
  16. MrFresh “I wish people that Twitter would stop doing RT’ing greetings to people they dont follow. Send 2 the originator only.” #lazy
  17. melissamoore make you go through their facebook page to follow a link…
  18. benjordan stop future tweeting. “i’m going to show you something great soon. Get ready” We are ready. Just tell us when it’s here peeps
  19. meintweet answer: stop posting where you are at and tell me something interesting about your location.
  20. AlexSantxo I wish people that Twitter would stop lurking and actually post something. Or delete account if not using. Kinda creepy.
  21. dugasjeremy I agree with @katieniles A little personal and blogs and some RTs but all RTs cracks me up honestly..
  22. CathyRigby I wish some people that Twitter would stop posting such negative Tweets! (might have to #unfollow)
  23. elainedarmoc Posting multiple tweets with same or similar content.
  24. CyrilJones I wish people that Twitter would stop updating their status with the current song they are listening to!
  25. iambendavis talking about themselves only
  26. mediapeople stop —- “critiquing the various uses of Twitter. Just UnFollow if you don’t like it. You have a choice. Let people be.”
  27. mikeymo1741 Referring to other Twitter users with out @replying . Very annoying.
  28. tonysteward no more hype. No more hype. No more hype.
  29. chadmissildine stop dreaming small & start believing. Come on peeps, be available & help change culture!
  30. EdmondActive would try to get to know others outside of their small personal circles. The world is too big a place to stay in only one.
  31. Antof9 posting same thing on Twitter/Facebook. What is reason to follow/friend in both places?
  32. beckylaswell I wish people would stop typing “RT “for retweets and use the retweet feature instead.
  33. thegirlburgan …posting their thoughts BEHIND yours in a RT. Post BEFORE to avoid confusion of the original tweeter’s thoughts.
  34. thomreagan RT I wish people that Twitter would stop self-promoting by RTing what others say to or about them & their book/music/etc.
  35. ShawnaSimpson My wish – that some people would come up with an original thought and not just retweet everything, esp if I follow the source
  36. amyurbach would stop only promoting bizz and start interacting with followers
  37. branford …stop trying to feed their egos w/ follower counts and blog click-thrus
  38. mattofact RT Fill In This Blank: I wish people that Twitter would stop [blank]! // being corporate and just talk to me… briefly
  39. mdrfl sending automated happy thoughts. Send personal ones but I don’t like the auto fed ones
  40. akurys Fill In This Blank: I wish people that Twitter would stop posting my DMs as tweets!!!
  41. ArkieCal I have no way of replying to that, I don’t object to any tweets that I read, but I am selective in the ones that are read.
  42. jermtech my answer: “I wish people would stop…” …telling me how to use Twitter! If you don’t like how I use it, unfollow!
  43. CocoaPopps I wish ppl would stop using Twitter to out and out disrespect. Valid complaints, observations, okay, but just 2 b mean? #FAIL
  44. DanielCBerman Random people sending me @replies with links to porn. Posting long lines of text quotes w/no context. Not listening to others
  45. mandiengram Using it strictly as a Facebook fan page feed and not replying to people on Twitter. Also, sending unnecessary DMs.
  46. Antof9 post what music they’re listening to. Especially 6 songs (tweets) in a row. Would like to filter those tweets out.
  47. mdrfl spamming me with stuff or services for sale. Converse. Share. Don’t spam!
  48. alronberg I wish people that Twitter would stop doing ENDLESS commentaries on DUMB sports games and awards ceremonies!!!
  49. brightonrick I wish people that Twitter would stop pasting links to phony sites and spam
  50. brookewalla I wish they would stop posted commercials for something… over and over again.. SPAM?!?!? Uuggghhh
  51. ChadRArnold Vague tweets that are obvious sympathy requests.
  52. mattigan the semi famous quotes from the semi famous people
  53. bigonroad I wish twitter would stop tempting me to be disatisfied with my own life and career
  54. BrianJRussell using Twitter primarily to vent anger/frustration #NonSarcasticSeriousAnswer
  55. BrianJRussell asking people to @reply answers to ??? which will be auto generated into a blog post… jk :)

What do you think about this list?  Add your thoughts to this list of 55 Things Twitterers Should Stop Doing.

  • http://www.vibesnscribes.com/?cat=3 mrfresh

    …and the number one best answer above: #42 jermtech my answer: “I wish people would stop…” …telling me how to use Twitter! If you don’t like how I use it, unfollow!

    Actually, I’ve been tweeting for 3+ years so I am one of the early users. When @ev and @biz created Twitter, they did as a platform for a person to let the world in on their everyday life, nothing more than that. That being said, in my humble opinion, for someone to say “stop telling me what u are eating” or “who cares if you just brushed your teeth” doesn’t understand the original idea behind Twitter. That in itself is ok, because since it’s inception, it has evolved greatly…for the good, and the bad. I personal RT someone’s quote if I feel it has great value to the general public and I want to share that with those who follow. No way would I check to see if all my friends follow the source. #26 is interesting, but unfollowing doesn’t solve the problem of people I don’t follow wishing me a nice day, etc just because they blindly retweet one of my followers wishing me the same (#lazy).

    Finally, #8 is THE GOLDEN RULE of social networking….period. There comes a breakdown point when your network is no longer social…

    Twitter may continue to evolve, I personal love Twitter primarily for the information resources it provides in my areas of interest/learning – tech, music production and engineering. I may be at the point where I have just as many Twitter IDs that push such info to me and whom I don’t ever expect to follow me back…in this way, I get want I need [(selfish, right...? :-) ]

    Twitter may continue to evolve, at any rate, good post! Thanks!

  • http://joannamuses.com Joanna

    Create or use new words starting with tw- words like twiends and twellowship are so unbelievably lame it makes my head hurt, followed by a strong desire to unfollow

    Using long hashtags no one would ever search for- a hashtag like #haiti might be helpful because people would likely search for that. Hashtags as a way to make a statement like #summercampissoawesome are not helpful. If you want to say it, say it normally, not in hard to read hashtag form

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  • http://joannamuses.com Joanna

    Retweeting everything a particular user says- I was once following someone who started retweeting every tweet by mashable. They quickly got unfollowed. I already follow mashable, i don’t need a duplicate of everything they say

  • http://www.theprairiemaid.blogspot.com Cheryl

    Stopping by to congratulate you on you Okie Blog Award nomination! Nice site! Best wishes.

  • http://www.makeminehappen.com Carrie B.

    For the record, I’m @thegirlburgan above, but I just wanted to say that I think I love @jermtech and @mrfresh. I think you just summed up my opinions perfectly. ;)

    Great post, Scott. Thank you!

  • http://twitter.com/Antof9 antof9

    I’m trying to decide if #32 is from a new Twitter user, or someone who has been around for a while. If we only use the Retweet feature (which many people still haven’t embraced and don’t like), we have no way to make a comment on what we’re retweeting. I think that’s the only one I disagree with.

    Interesting post!

  • http://murphy24p.wordpress.com Steve Murphy

    Stop re-tweetting Rick Warren and John Maxwell… We ALL follow those two and saw the tweet in the first place!

  • http://www.linkedmediagroup.com Linked Media Group, Inc.

    Outstanding job on this…….love it and RTed it out to Followers. Great Work and very cool………… Thanks :-)

  • http://spiritualcombustion.muddycreektech.com Bryan

    Great comments and I definitely agree with many of them… It occurs to me that if everyone were to take all of these comments to heart Twitter would be pretty boring.

    Bryan

  • http://georgienba.blogspot.com georgie

    I think this is a GREAT list!
    congrats on your okie blog nom…i am out visiting all the candidates in order to send in my ballot!

  • wealthydude

    fellow twitters:

    my beef is with ppl who become obnoxious in their tweets, like repeating the same tweet all over again…I’m not like blind or stupid mind you.
    respect is one word every twitter should have when doing their tweets..

    Now, tell me,a tweet is a “quick,short update”, yes?

    So be it!

    Julio (@wealthydude)here

  • http://www.sweetbusinesses.com Teasastips

    Loved the way you called ‘em out. Wonderful post! Of course, found you on Twitter!!

  • http://twitter.com/WriterRoxanne WriterRoxanne

    Terrific piece …but one more thing Twitterers should stop: Stop tweeting without using a mental filter.

    Some folks tweet whatever comes to mind, forgetting that broadcasting your random thoughts may result in making you look like a complete imbecile. I know it’s a compelling temptation, and I am sometimes guilty. But just because you think a thought, it does not mean that the thought must be shared on Twitter — especially if it blatantly demonstrates your utter lack of thought.

    A cursory glimpse at tweets on Trending Topics is often enough to make one say, ‘a mind is a terrible thing to waste’.

  • http://@JasonON JasonON

    I rarely “converse” on Twitter, rather I use it as a “shout out” sort of service. In other words, I shout out whatever I want my followers to know and unless they DM me, I don’t sit and stare waiting to see if someone @’s me.

    My biggest complaint about Twitter is the people that send entire 140 character tweets just @’ing 8 or 9 people or the RT RT RT’er or the gazillions of “social media experts” who do nothing more than tinyurl to Mashable. And yes, the people with multiple accounts that send the same tweets from all their accounts.

    I send a lot of articles I’ve read with a short note with my opinion; quotes and something personal if I think it’s of interest, but personal stuff I’ll keep to Facebook or Buzz.

  • http://mac247ca.wordpress.com mac247ca

    aren’t 95% of these things the reason that twitter was conceived to begin with?! I mean besides the spamming which I TOTALLY AGREE is really annoying but everything else is exactly what twitter was made for…

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  • http://www.pfunn.com pfunn

    I’m glad you included the replies from folks who told you, in effect, that the whole idea of a blog post like this is ridiculous (26, 42, 55). If you care about what others think about your tweets, you shouldn’t be on Twitter. There are things that I don’t care to see in my Twitterstream, and I unfollow those folks, but I would hope that those folks DO NOT stop what they are doing. Personally I love reading the minutiae of people’s lives, what they’re doing, what they’re eating, what they’re watching, what they’re thinking. I love the Twitterers who seem to be in defiance of the so-called “Twittiquette.” In fact, I once wrote a blog post encouraging such defiance, “Steal This Twitter”: http://michaelalanharvey.com/?p=12.

  • kashif

    may be this sentence is missing ‘Stop using Twitter’.

  • http://www.braidedrugscenter.com braided rugs

    I simply cannot tell you of my gratitude which I hold to you now. For eternity bear in mind the positivity of your work and at no point stop writing!

  • Sas

    I like the insights…though i believe one should remember: everyone has their own reasons for tweeting. Confessional, diary, inspiration (onto themselves at that moment), education, promotional, love, fandom, friendship, conversation/monologue/dialogue. Plus age and demographic play a part. However someone ones to tweet may not be relevent to who or where you are in life as well on what you tweet “what’s happening.” (Remember it all begins with that question afterall…) Tweeting is personal or exchanging of facts-one can’t put a button on it. It is what it is….55 things only pertain to those who use it thusly. Even so i learned a little perspective from this piece…and saw myself too:)

  • Katdish

    Just a personal pet peeve: I wish people would stop RTing #FF in which their name appears. A simple thank you will suffice. Unless your intent is to promote that someone has deemed you worthy of a #FF. As with most things, I look at motivation for one’s actions. Perhaps that’s cynical on my part, but I think it’s telling.

  • Cindy

    I wish people would stop #followfriday

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