Requesting the end of Auto DMs
May 11, 2009 by Kristie Wells
This is a post I have been trying to write for two months. Typical me wanted to do some research, poll our community, do more research and then write this really thoughtful piece about the pros and cons of auto DMs, and I finally realized today…I just need to get it out there. It won’t be perfect, but at least I will have said my peace.
I am not a fan of the auto DM and I want people to stop sending them out. Please.
What was once a feature being used to tell people a little more about you has now become nothing but a promotional tool and a total annoyance. On any given day, the Social Media Club account sees 50-75 auto DMs that range from ‘get rich quick’ to ‘get 18,000 followers in two days’ to someone simply saying ‘thanks for following me!’. None of these have value to me.
The first two are spam, the latter is sweet, but honestly – I would rather you not send that auto DM as it doesn’t tell me anything about you. I understand your desire to recognize the follow, but all it did was cause me to spend an extra minute in the day hitting the delete button. Multiply that by 50 tweets a day with the same message and it has suddenly become a big annoyance. I don’t like it and it seems I am not the only one feeling this way based on the feedback we got when we asked our community in February (just a little sampling):
- Jason Finch: I treat auto-DMs to follows as spam, the spammer then has to do a lot more to get my further respect and trust.
- Anthony Stevens: If social media is about conversation, how can bots take your place? They can’t.
- Jens Schroeter: Since I believe in Social Media as a great opportunity to foster meaningful conversations I don’t believe in any tool to do so. I love tools to search and analyze, but I don’t see any value in auto-responding.
- Andrea: As I see it, the primary issue with auto-responders is that they are impersonal, highly subject to misuse and can be easily turned into another spam tool.
- Kimberly: I think a lot of people using them miss out on opportunities to legitimately connect with new followers through a sincere, personalized hello message. They tend to think that the automated response has made that connection on their behalf, which is just untrue.
- Sue James: When I follow you it’s because I’ve taken the time to browse your tweets, Twitter page and website or blog and appreciated something in particular that I’ve read there. So unless you are prepared to do the same and actually engage with me in some way, don’t send me an auto DM! And also don’t feel you have to follow me back.
As the Twitter community grows so does the number of auto DMs we receive. What was once manageable, now requires 10-15 minutes a day culling through our DM ‘spam’ trying to find the real messages someone actually took the time to pen PERSONALLY.
It makes me wonder if there is some secret ‘getting started with Twitter’ handbook being passed around to everyone signing up for a new account that says the auto DM is a good idea. Trust us, it might have once served its purpose, but it is nothing but an irritant to most people now (see above bullet points and the related post that has more great feedback).
So please, I beg of you. Turn the auto DMs off.
If you are really interested in getting to know me/us, how about we go a little ‘old school’ and do the following:
- Reach out personally 1:1 and let me know a little about you.
- Learn a little about me before you reach out. If you do, you will know that I don’t like to receive ‘get rich quick’ DMs (and I am starting to block people who send those out).
- Understand I am not going to promote something you did just because you asked me to.
- I am not going to click on a random link from someone I don’t know – no matter how enticing the tiny url looks.
And please know I do appreciate the thought of you thanking me for following you, but let’s both just do this telepathically and save me wearing down of my delete key.
Please.
Oh I totally agree. I talked about this a long time ago (http://www.socialmedialand.net/2008/12/29/uncategorized/dont-talk-to-me-if-youre-on-auto-pilot/). I applaud your desire to do all the research and get all your ducks in a row, but I think when it comes to social – if it feels wrong, it is wrong.
I agree auto DM’s are a pest. If the person using auto DM did so through TweetLater than there is an option to Opt-Out http://www.tweetlater.com/optout
[mad]Berry van der Linden
Am I the only one that unfollows anybody who sends me an auto dm? I think if you resort to Auto DM’s in the first place, you’re of no value to me ever.
Katie – my desire to do research is why I don’t pay that much attention to my personal blog (ha), but agree, when it feels wrong – it usually is.
Berry – nice to know about tweetlater, I think I can do the same thing through socialtoo.com.
Jessica – I have not unfollowed anyone (yet) if they are still following us as some just don’t realize it is an annoyance. I think a lot of new[er] folks to Twitter see others doing it or are told to do it and they do. The only time I have unfollowed someone is when responding to their auto DM I see they are not following SMC anymore, I figure they are more likely to be spammy, so I kill the follow then.
I wholeheartedly agree. DMs are annoying. Thank you for getting this out there! @codella
I agree 100%. Auto DMs are borderline spam. They are also rude — and go against the whole idea of Social Media best practices as a way for real connections through real conversations. Auto DMs are also rude because text messages often cost those receiving them phone bills. Auto DMs= increased text messages = increased phone bill = one ticked off consumer.
It’s fairly funny, and tragic however that companies and individuals alike think they are being clever and gaining a “brand community” and “driving traffic to their sites”, when it really is causing horrible damage to their brands, causing people to BLOCK and and UNFOLLOW them, and causing people to be really ticked off by them.
People should just stop using auto DM and Twitter needs to change the auto DM, for the sake of everyone.
I set up an Auto DM through Tweet Later a while back thinking it was a good idea. After reading this piece I am going to shut it off. If someone really is interested in following me, they’ll do a little research and read some of my tweets first. If they really like what I have to say, they’ll check out my blog via the link in my profile. There’s really no reason to Auto DM other than to “push” a message out to someone. Thanks for a good post!
Yes! And next, kill auto-follows. They’re worse than auto-DMs and encourage spammers by enabling them to quickly boost their “followers” leading them to believe their tactics work.
Totally Agree!!! Thanks for bringing this up. Lets us continue to spread the word. Let’s get this on the twitter trend #NoAutoDM
This Twitter “Spammer” thing is getting out of control. People are getting angry, but not really offering any solutions; exacerbating the real issue. And most of the spammers have been either mislead by marketers on how to sell their products effectively or are actually the marketers themselves “in disguise”. Everyone needs to raise the level of their game!
I say…don’t hate or propagate, TWELEVATE
Agreed. Auto direct messages are not personal and don’t lend to conversations. And the ones that include a service offer are definitely spam.
Agreed! Auto DMs are anti-social and have no place on the social web.
AMEN! Social Media is all about building relationships and engaging in real communication. When this is done well, magic happens. No need for additives.
Amen!!
I hate with a passion Auto-DMs! The main reason is like you said, it’s a pain in the ass to sort through them to find the actual real DMs. I honestly have htis avoidance of my DMs which is frustrating, because I’ll only go to them every few days now because I don’t want to deal with the Auto’s!….but I also know I’m not doing a great job in getting quickly back to the people I am engaged with.
In e-mail it’s actually easier to get rid of spam….You can usually quickly tell based on the subject line and e-mail address if the message is spam or not.
Not on twitter though! It’s common to get lots of new followers regularly, so when they’re all auto-dming, you have no idea who is legit and who isn’t! very irritating!
–Sean Patrick Simpson
**The Mindset Apprentice*
Twitter me at http://www.twitter.com/vpsean
Thanks to everyone who has shared their comments on this post and confirmed….I am not alone.
I have decided that anyone who sends Social Media Club an auto DM is going to get a DM from us, linking back to this post. Will see if that helps to slow and eventually kill this plague affecting Twitter.
I like you had to send me an Auto DM to get me to read your post about ending auto DMs. Like feeding me chocolate to explain how no one should eat chocolate. I’m going to take Jason Finches advice and treat you now as a spammer who got me to click through to their site.
Seth, I sent you a DM – not an Auto DM. There is a difference, albeit, a small one in that my DM was *personally crafted in response to a DM I received from you*, not sent to *everyone* who follows the Social Media Club account.
I did include a link to this post in the hopes you would read it, so maybe I am a ’spammer’, but my intentions were true. There were not to drive my follower numbers. I am not looking to make money off this post. I simply want to educate people using this Auto DM feature that most people do not like receiving them.
If you feel slighted by my actions, I am sorry. If you feel the need to unfollow Social Media Club, I understand. If there is a better way to do this, please let me know and I am happy to implement it.