Happy sending Auto-DMs? Think again!

By
Zargon
 – September 14, 2009Posted in: INTERNETS
Happy sending Auto-DMs? Think again!

I want to make a small exercise with you all. Let me take you on a journey. Its a beautiful spring day, you are walking on crowded street, the sun shines and you are feeling in heaven. Everyone around you looks just great and you identify with them in some way – all enjoying the terrific day.  You randomly stop in front of a shop and admire a watch that is on display. Someone stops right next to you, admiring the same watch. You and that stranger share some thoughts about the watch, and then about the weather, about the city, about the people around you both. You’ve made a new friend – and decide to go and have a coffee. You exchange contacts.[Insert terror movie from the 50s music here]

The very moment following that exchange of contacts, that stranger suddenly, without warning, pulls open a big bag that comes out from nowhere,  and starts making a pitch to sell you a fake watch not even acknowledging you by your name.  To make matters worse, he has the audacity to call you “my friend.”

What would you do? I know what I would do – I would be appalled.  Then, I would be angry.  I would stand up, leave the coffee place, delete the contact from that person from my phone and tell all my friends about what had happened.

If you truly don’t see anything wrong with this scenario and would stay and buy a watch from this guy, now is the time to quit reading this post. Really!

Still with me? Great!

Now, I ask myself: Why should it be different on Twitter?!

When you start following someone, it’s usually because you find them interesting or enjoyable.  You want to know more about that person and converse with them from time to time.  Nothing else. And a “follow” is a compliment, in my opinion, that should be taken with respect.

To receive one Auto-DM as soon as you start following someone on Twitter is like going on a first date and, at the end of the night, having that person ask you for a key to your house.  It’s too much, too soon. And, in my opinion, in very bad taste.

I’m not even going to discuss if there are good Auto-DMs or bad Auto-DMs. That, to me, is not a discussion. To try and sell me, at the very beginning of our relationship, to push some program on me, give me a “bonus” gift, tell me how to make millions overnight, lead me to your blog, website or Mafia Tribe is nothing more than a bunch of crap to me. The “Look forward to knowing more about you dear follower” DM is, in my opinion,  just as bad – it creates in me  the same of kind of nausea that I get from a hangover after 3 consecutive days of partying in Barcelona.

The only good AUTO-DM is no AUTO-DM at all!

And, now that you read this, some of you now know why I stopped following you,  and why my friends know about it.

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My sincere thanks go to Shelly Kramer for the help with the editing.

Update: This posts has been featured by TwitterTips, TwiterHelper, TwitterBulletin and TwitterStart

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Strategist, Sound Designer, Electronic Music Producer, New Media Artist, Activist, Blogger, A&R of the PublicSpaces Lab netlabel, SL Newbie and Reef Builder, Cook and Karaoke Nut. Douglas Adams Fanatic, True Blood Fan. Strategist, Forward Thinker. #NLD