On my twitter profile page, I have a link to a post that indicates how I use Twitter. I try to be forthcoming on what to expect. It’s also no secret that I tweet links to just about anything I think is interesting, add anyone who adds me, and I ask many questions to my network. I rarely talk about my ‘lunch’, and nearly everything I tweet about is related to social media, web marketing, business, and sometimes politics. On average, I’ve calculated I tweet about 15 times a day, pretty much once an hour per awake hour. For me, it is the most immediate conversation I can have, I love the interaction.
Spectrum: My tweets are too much
Last night, Tom Foremski, a former colleague of mine and current friend, suggested that my tweets were becoming near “scoblish” due to frequency. Ted Shelton, entrepreneur and one of the leads at the Conversation Group whipped out his iPhone and showed how I’ve dominated his news feed as an example. Most people aren’t following as many as I am (I follow over 4000), so to me, I don’t appear to be dominating the main feed when I visit it, I’ll be revisiting my perspective to think bigger,sorry.
At the GSP conference, I warned folks that I’d be doing a blow-by-blow of what I thought was interesting, and about 3 people complained that it was too much. Of course, I let folks know on Twitter I’d cut back, but there were over 10 people who told me to keep it up, and those that don’t like it could simply unfollow. I shifted my behavior and put all my notes on blog posts instead.
Spectrum: Some would pay money for my tweets
On the other hand, Bill Johnston, who is one of the community manager mavens told me last week that he’d actually PAY MONEY for my tweets. He later followed it up, and said only a small amount of course (as my eyebrows went up, heh), as he says my links are a filter for him to all topics social media and I’m actually saving him time.
Also, the more I tweet, there’s intrinsic personal, career, and business benefits, the more I’m in the conversation the more I’m learning about the social media sphere I’m being paid to analyze, and it helps me get the word out about things that help what’s important to me. I also ask questions, to gauge responses, understand viewpoints, it fuels and focuses some of my research activities (but not all). I also noticed that it’s a great way to send traffic, I get 50-200 click throughs (from an engaged and opt-in audience) on anything I point to on twitter, and it costs me 5 seconds.
I continue to get more and more followers every day, and I think that’s great, but I really want to respect everyone’s experience, but at the same time, I know it will be impossible to please everyone.
Your opinion wanted
Social Media is about listening and about coming half way or more to those you’re trying to reach, and I’ll abide by that, so I’m asking you for your opinion.
So I’d like to take a blog poll, and get your feedback, if you’re a friend, client, colleague, vendor, whoever. Please be brutally honest, I don’t mind, I’ll be pretty damn honest with you about what I think, so I’d expect the same, besides, it’s in your best interest for your experience. If you’re feeling shy, feel free to leave an anonymous comment, but please chime in regardless.
Please respond on the comments below:
1) How are my tweets doing for you?
A) Too little
B) Just right
C) Too many2) How is the content?
Open ended question
I’m listening, I really am, and your feedback will shape my actions.
Update: A few hours later
over 80 comments on the first day, I don’t even need to tally, but it’s clear that based upon the feedback of the community, that it’s suggested that I continue to tweet the same way as before. For those that find it too much, I don’t mind if you unsubscribe, in fact, I encourage it, as I don’t want to disrupt your experience.
I did learn a few things: I’ll strive to keep the value high (and not talk about my lunch) but will try to space out the tweets a little better, so I don’t totally disrupt your stream.
Thank you all for your honest feedback, I’m listening and reacting to your comments.
Updated: A week later
Being the anal guy I am (a good reason to be an analyst) I’ve tallied the results from the comments in the blog, see results.
There is NOT a right or wrong way to use Twitter. I think you should use it the way you want to and if it doesn’t work for people then they don’t need to follow you.
This is the advice I’d give to anyone who would ask this question.
I think the content and frequency is fine. I don’t always get to catch them all live, but your page is one of the few I always go back and read through because I know it will have some nuggets in it that I don’t want to miss.
Do what works for YOU. After all Twitter is asking what are YOU doing?
Well I think the quality/quantity ratio is perfect. It would be disturbing if the content weren’t so valuable, but since it is, keep it up! 🙂
1) How are my tweets doing for you?
C) Too many
2) How is the content?
The content is very repetitive, and basically you post way too much – i am actually going to take myself out of your list, simply because it is not all about Jeremiah, and sometimes feel slike you are having a narcisitic attack and doing it in public via Twitter. I know this sounds harsh, but every other post for me with 21 followers following 51 people means you are dominating my feed. Please limit your tweets. Scoble is a dork, he is uninteresting navel gazing twit, so don’t become him.
Hi Jeremiah,
1. Just right
2. I think the content is very relevant, and when it doesn’t apply to me personally, it’s easy to filter out. I have a hard time keeping up at times, but that is more my problem than yours. As far as it being “scoblish” in nature…NO WAY. There might be volume, but there is actual content.
Thanks for everything!
Veronica (@giggey)
I’ve found your posts to be a very good balance; some discussion, some information. Well worth following. Certainly not “scoblish”, which I see more as random pronouncements on various topics, followed by a blast of replies. Your stuff tends to be more thought/conversation provoking”which presumably is why Bill Johnston made his comment.
I sometimes think there are an incredible amount of Tweets from you, but I utterly agree with C C Chapman – because if it got too much I would just stop following.
Relax and do what works for you… I think that works best for social networks, blogs, Tweets whatever…
There are others who post just as much, if not more, as you, yet I find your tweets to be more relevant and interesting. I probably click through more on your links than anyone else that I follow, except for maybe the local newspaper tweets.
I like when you tweet and point to a further discussion, like this post or other sites. Perhaps there are times when you can tone back the conversation in the tweets. It’s kind of hard to follow an in-depth analysis and discussion on social networking, 140 characters at a time.
Keep doing what you are doing. If people didn’t think that it was relevant, they wouldn’t be following you and pointing out that you tweet too much.
1. Just right.
2) How is the content?
The content is most of the time relevant to what I am looking for regarding social media. Hey, I wish I could write that interesting. It is not too often, too detailed and it is not at all boring. I follow several interesting people on Twitter, and this is by far the most interesting. For me it is a prime example on how to write an interesting Twitter. You really like what you are doing, and it shows.
Jason Ch
Thanks for being forthcoming and honest, I respect your decision to remove me, no hard feelings, I certainly don’t want to ruin YOUR experience.
Keep em coming folks, I’m seeking an aggregation to find a pattern.
I find your tweets a seriously valuable part of my daily media diet. I find myself often checking your tweet page to see what you have to say as I have been reading your site for over a year. Your information has greatly helped me in my role as a Community Manager and I consider you the #1 foremost expert in this space.
Therefore, please do not stop. Tweet and tweet away and I will be following and reading. I have also signed up for your webinar.
http://www.twitter.com/streetforce1
Happy Friday Jeremiah,
I feel the very intent of Twitter is to be the outlet for the thoughts feelings and interests that have your attention at the moment. While your tweets do fill up the majority of my feeds, I find most of what you post valuable since the content is more that just “I fed my dog and went to the gym”. You initiate discussions and pose questions, which is more of what Twitter should be.
Stay strong and keep it up!
Jeremiah, I appreciate your asking for feedback. Using social media to get feeback on best practices is a good thing, though I wouldn’t say you should feel compelled to act upon every suggestion. In regard to your ‘tweets,’ I haven’t gotten to the TMI point yet, as I have with other social media personalities of note, but if I did, I’d probably just quietly unsubscribe and not waste anyone’s time with a loud and long complaint. Keep up the good work!
1. Just Right
2. Your content, IMO, is plentiful but useful on all levels. I personally look forward to your tweets as it links to articles/posts/events that are industry specific and very helpful. Many of your tweets lead to great discussions amongst peers and industry leaders – where else can someone sit here and ‘chat’ that frequently and openly with the top names in their respective industry?
I say keep it up. I don’t even have 200 followers yet and your tweets still don’t overpower my main feed.
Quantity AND quality is a hard thing to do but you’ve certainly done it.
A) Too little
B) Just right
I completely agree with your comments from Bill Johnston in that I view your tweets as a filter for me to what I should be watching and monitoring. Others have also noted they go back and look at your archives, and I do that as well. I find them to be a valuable part of my experience and think that what you’re doing is just right – unless, of course, you are limiting your tweets based on this kind of feedback, and in that case I’d say Too Little.
Ultimately, you use Twitter to monitor Social Media, to learn more about it, to survey it, and to discuss it. Many of us who follow you look to you for that. In my opinion, if someone is not interested in that, they can unfollow you.
Lastly, one interesting thing I’ve found about Twitter, is now that I have increased the amount of people I’m following, I miss seeing some of my favorites, which includes you, in there all the time. It’s part of getting a wider group.
So in conclusion, keep up the great work. As with all of us, if what we say becomes less interesting, all someone has to do is unfollow.
Here’s what folks are saying in public on Twitter:
@randelaw
@jowyang 1-Just Right 2-Like other info sources, not all applies to me, but it is worth it when the right link/tweet comes along. Keep it up
@DonEttore
@jowyang guess I should have signed my comment with my twitter id. 🙂
@turnerPR
@jowyang Your tweet frequency is just fine. There are others that I’m seriously thinking of disconnecting who tweet way more frequently.
@sunzhifeng
@jowyang A) Too little
@torley
@jowyang: Enjoyed your blog post on Twitter following! 🙂
Hi Jeremiah,
I think the 1st comment from CC Chapman is on spot.
There’s too many opinions on how to best use Twitter fro broadcasting on one hand, and for listening on the other. And in the middle is the conversation aspect.
Having said that, I can’t give you an advice on hwo you should Twitter. But I can state how I use Twitter in a “listening” mode…
I follow just below 150 twitters right now. And yes, if one of these “twitter too frequent” it *will* cludge up the stream.
That may be OK though, if it’s interesting stuf to some extent.
I dip into the “main” stream of tweets with an eye now and then, using both the twitter web i/f and feeding the feed into my reader. Regulary quickly browse through too see whats up.
Also of importance around my usage is how I select a number of Twitters to also get as SMS.
(as there’s currently a weekly ration of 250 SMS from twitter for me, that factor also come into play when doing the selection)
As SMS I choose a mixture of interesting and personal twitter friends, but can not afford to have to frequent Twitters here.
As summary – Tweet on, but I’d personally have a better mindset for diving ito the pointers when reading your blog, so use the blog also to broadcast interesting links etc
1) How are my tweets doing for you?
I would say just right because your tweets are focused and informative. In fact, your my guide on how to connect and reach a large group of followers.
2) How is the content?
Your content is good but could be better when it comes to how offline Small Business could use social media apps to connect and grow their customer base.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/wisesumo
I say just right. I follow 53 people and you are one of the more frequent Tweeters in my stream, but I like what you have to say. I also like it when you post things that are just for fun / personal too. Just do your thing and people can either follow or not, isn’t that how Twitter works?
@kimdushinski
I think you need to do what you want. If the folks do not want to follow you they can simply unfollow you. I find your posts informative as a whole. I simply tune out those that do not interest me.
I am really annoyed by those who try to lay down rules for messages. There are many communities using twitter for many different reasons. No one is forcing anyone to follow. Plus it is a free service. I just hate when someone posts a blog post that describes what twtter is and how people should use it. These people come of as self righteous.
keep on twittering.
Keep up the good work. There are no rules for Twitter, and you should explore it as you see fit. I usually enjoy the links you post.
You do tweet a lot! So What? Isn’t that the idea behind Twitter? Not being in the loop on everything you cover makes some of it less relevant to me. But I choose to follow b/c there are always bits that are gems. Keep on tweeting little bird! Fly! Fly!
1. b. Just right
2. Because there is so much going on in the social media sphere, your tweets and links are a good way to find tid bits that I might not have come across myself.
Keep up the good work and don’t decrease the volume just because a few people knock you.
@carterlusher
I think that, in general, you keep a good balance in a quality vs. quantity ratio. This medium is hard to keep a perfect balance.
Keep up twittering.
At the risk of making it harder to use twitter (well, this should be a feature anyway) what about having multiple twitter streams and using different streams for different topics? So there can be a main Jeremiah stream, a live tweets from this conference stream, a social media research stream, etc. I know the current twitter UI doesn’t lend itself to this approach but maybe there is a smart work around…
1) Just right
2) I like your tweets. From you, I get useful links that I would not have known about. I enjoy how you initiate quick conversations on memes of the moment. And I think it’s great how you connect people with common interests. I’m glad that you also mix it up – the biggest value Twitter offers to me is the community of people I can connect to and your ‘personal’ tweets help me to get to know you a little better.
I do recall one situation when I thought “Jeremiah is on Twitter a lot” and it was during some flood and you were bailing water from some place, lol. In situations like that well, I can wait until later for your next tweet 😉 Keep up the good work!
1. As I said on Twitter: Just right. I’m not overwhelmed.
2. Yours’ is by far the most interesting tweetfeed to follow for a Valley outsider like myself. I think your mix of the professional and personal is spot on. And I, for one, consider your tweets one of my primary sources of information on Social Media.
So thank you @jowyang – please keep Twittering!
1. Just right
2. I’ve never noticed your tweets to be excessive, I think those that do are perhaps not as interested in what you tweet about? I find it’s consistently a great source for what’s new and hot in social media, and really easy to access via twitter.
Secondly, I use twitter to get business related info, but I love when people throw in the odd “Eating spaghetti” type tweets because it helps give personality and build the relationship aspect of twitter.
Thanks & tweet on!
1. Just right
2. Your content is substantive. I frequently follow your links to things I’d missed. Because of your vantage point in the Valley and with Forrester, you provide me with an early warning radar for new developments and the thinking that others are likely to begin to mirror in the near future.
Keep it up Jeremiah.
I think you use twitter pretty respectfully. you don’t do any automated linking as far as i can see. you post pretty remorselessly on topic. i would say keep it up. i get hammered on this same issue but jeremiah would you really want to scale back? to what – a one tweet a day limit. two? you’re doing good – you get great responses, you follow 4k people. you’re doing something right
I’ve become acustomed to screening out the tweets I don’t need so the volume is about right for me.
Quality is spot on.
@jkerrstevens
Tweets are just right.
Twitter is a stream of consciousness piece for me. I fly through it to see if anything interesting pops up. I check it like e-mail, so the more the better.
I couldn’t take it on my phone or IM though.
1) Quantity works for me – just right. But that is more your decision than mine. If it doesn’t work for me, I’m free to not follow you.
2) Content is useful in pointing me towards trends, tools and happenings that I might otherwise miss. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t follow you. I like the occasional personal tweet too. Sure, I use Twitter for business purposes, but every business is a people business.
Love Ted Shelton’s idea of multiple streams/personas on Twitter so that I can choose between following friends, zeroing in on business, or information overload as I desire. Allowing the user to tag friends by (non-exclusive) category would accomplish this.
I think your tweets are fine. The frequency is higher than most, but it’s rarely off topic. On the other hand, there are lots of Scoble-esque users out there sending 5-10 tweets complaining about the weather. If your tweets get to that point, I’ll be happy to let you know. 🙂
Keep it up.
Thank you for all of the great content on the social media space. It helps me to keep up with everything, and there is a lot to keep up on.
I monitor 250+ rss feeds and follow 167 people on Twitter. I have found that only about 20 or 30 of those I follow actually tweet much at all (i.e. more than 10 times per day). I find most of your tweets relevant and linking to great content. As an information hoarder I say keep it up. Also, live tweeting of events is becoming the norm, much like live blogging before it. If you warn folks of the coming flood then they can choose to temporarily unfollow and come back after the event.
Keep up the great work and keep the content coming.
I’m new to social media and am trying to learn as much as I can so your tweets are helpful to me. When I don’t want to be over feed on my cell phone, I just turn off the notifications and go back later to catch up.
I am an older non-traditional psychology student and am considering an undergrad thesis using social media. So your tweets are my research shortcut. Thanks for the assist. Mary
I find your tweets worth following, even tho they at times momentarily dominate my twitter flow, because I’m a social software junkie and they are on topic for that. However, this is an early situation, and I can see the need for dynamic contextual re-aggregation of presence flows (I just made that up :-).
For instance, I’ve decided not to have my twitter updates flow to my FB status, because the social presence feels different in the two media, and so what’s appropriate to communicate via updates also differs.
– Mark / @szpak
PS As a historical note, the grandmother of status updates is probably the WELL, which on its Grateful Dead forum has had a permanent, ongoing “Status Update” topic since at least the mid-nineties, with the spontaneously formed community protocol being that an update is about oneself in the third person, and limited to one line.
1. Just right.
2. I’ve just started following you on Twitter but I’ve found your tweets to be very informational on a topic I don’t know a lot about. Keep it up!
Seriously, it depends on the day. Some days the stream is low, you’re there a lot. Other days it’s the other way around. Think you’ve touched on something we should dig into, write about: how who other people follow influences how much of a bother you are.
Content is virtually always solid. Good links, good thoughts. Seldom goes to Forrister stuff I would have to buy at 100’s of dollars in order to say “nah, don’t agree”.
After a morning of Twittering, click randomly on 4, 5 people and check how you appear in their stream.
Hello Jeremiah.
I am following you and I am happy you are on Twitter. I also thnk the first comment of CC Chapman is correct – it is up to the author how to use the twitter system.
I do not know how this became an issue, yes, i read above about how the discussion started but for me those are not real reasons…
To answer your questions:
1. I can read more of your tweets
2. I like the content, it has never been abusing and it has always been professional with the proper quality and amount of truthful information
Finally: Thanks for your tweets, I enjoy them and I will continue to follow you on Twitter.
Jeremiah, my answer is:
B) Just right
I consume your tweets via Google Reader in list view where it’s easy to skim. In fact, I end up opening about 10% of your tweets to see that last 40 or so characters that sometimes don’t show up.
Great content, you’re a leading reporter in this field so keep up the good work. Being compared to Scoble is a complement. Perhaps you should change the name of this website to Owyangizer!
a little on the C side — sorry to say. But 80% of your links are relevant if that makes you feel any better.
Too many tweets.
Keep the blog content coming, though.
Hi Jeremiah,
1 – Too much. Sometimes leaves me yelling “no mas” and reaching for the unfollow button. 🙂
2- Interesting stuff. I’m more of a lurker than an avid follower, but I like the take. I just don’t like pulling out my pda and having to scroll three pages of monotopical tweets to see what anyone else is saying. But hey, like you said in the preface, I can always unfollow and I’m probably not your core audience / demographic anyway. So do your thing.
It was kind of a nice way to follow what was happening at GSP while I was down the hall at etech though.
1- A) Too little or B) Just right.
You’ve never dominated my tweets (following 94 people).
2- It tends to be fairly relevant/interesting/useful for my job, which is great. I’d be a little annoyed if you posted less due to someone complaining, and I’d be rather annoyed if you stopped tweeting as much due to some complaints. It’s easy enough for people to skim over you if they don’t want to unfollow you. Do these people read every single item on their RSS feed, or read every single article on every website they visit?
My answer is “just right” as I also believe how you choose to use twitter is up to you. Your links provide useful information, are on topic, and are relevant to those of us who are just getting started.
Keep up the fantastic twitters!
Your tweet volume, in my opinion, is just right. I’m pretty judicious about who I follow, so the reason I follow you is because your content is insightful and you don’t spam my stream. Keep it up. =)
Crap – you aren’t going to start charging me now, right? 🙂
I said that I would pay a subscription fee to certain folks I thought acted as REALLY great filters for me. You are on the top of the list. 6-9 months ago, it was Scoble’s Google reader shared items feed.
With that said – I vote B. I think you have the right mix of signal to noise (at least for me)
J – as I tweeted the other day, you are doing just fine. One thing I learned the other day when a friend I met on FB “un-followed” me was that if you’re only following 50-75 people, someone that tweets a lot can dominate your feed. I follow closer to 375 people so your cadence feels just right.
Keep on truckin’ – see you in 24 hours down at SXSW!
@astrout
Well, you are far from being the “noisiest” tweeter in my line.
Actually I like your tweets and the frequency.
Hi Jeremiah,
I’m not going to answer, it appears that whatever anyone is doing is just enough for themselves. It alse seems that twitter is still too new to start looking for mob rules/etiquette. Not sure how it will shake out, or how it should. I’m not even sure what I’m doing in here, other than I love love love reading about and partaking in new forms of communication. (I come from the dpi world and would love to bridge to the ppi world.) It seems to me that your tweets are social network, as they should be. Is twitter made for just social networkers? Should it be a segmented community or a general admission ticket? If I want to tweet about humor, running, woodworking, baking, child-rearing, etc., should I? I appreciate your concern and desire to know what others are thinking. Twitter is very much like a forum, although a little more fragmented and staccato-like in tenor. And like any forum, we can choose who we listen to, who to engage, who to ignore. Personally, I like reading your tweets and information. You obviously have a passion. Thanks for your contributions.
I recently blogged on the same topic after coming out of the GSP Conference. I started to notice that Twitter was more than just for keeping up w/friends, but also good as a social platform and as a blog filter. Most of your Tweets are excellent filters of the social media thinking on the Web combined with your commentary. The personal ones can at first seem annoying (and you don’t Twitter much personal) but then start to be enlightening – giving me an idea what its like in DC or a good place to eat in San Diego.
My two thoughts for anyone Twittering is to 1) keep URLs to a minimum and 2) make judicious use of the @ & D.
Jeremiah, nice meeting you last night at Supernova. Just started following, can you follow back @elliottng so I can direct tweet back?
I looked at your historical tweets. I follow @scobleizer and like his twitter coverage so I think:
1: B: just right
2: content. I would like (with 15 tweets/day):
– 5 about *breaking* news items or posts you like about social media
– 5 sharing quick professional insights derived from meetings or events as they occur
– 2 what’s going on overall in the industry;
– 3 purely personal, so your followers get to know you better, where you are, meet up opportunities.
Twitter should be more than just a news feed. It should be an expression of your own personality and your passions. Have fun and see you in Twitterland!
Jeremiah,
Thanks for asking. It’s good of you to walk your talk.
My thoughts:
1) Just right.
2) The beauty of twitter is that it’s an “at will” microblog. Anyone following you can unfollow you at anytime. If people think you aren’t relevant, too frequent, or too self-promoting, they can chose to unfollow you.
You did ask for people’s feedback, so the candid comments are rolling in – to each his own. To me you have a nice blend going between business and personal. Keep it up, tweetie!
1) How are my tweets doing for you?
B) Just right
2) How is the content?
Informative – the tweets that stick in my mind, by the way, are the ones connected to the “Super Bowl Ads” experiment.
In my view, your tweets are not overbearing (I’m following 300+ people, and your tweets don’t seem to be flooding my recent tab).
By way of contrast, I have only stopped following two people due to content, one of whom used the majority of his tweets to promote links to one of his websites (a site with a name rhyming with “rumors”). I wouldn’t have minded, except that the service had its own Twitter account, so the links were getting pretty repetitive.
I have tweeted events before, especially some of the Oracle OpenWorld 2007 keynotes (and the aforementioned Super Bowl). It’s a fine balancing act to determine when one is tweeting too much, but in the end you need to be true to what you want to do.
It’s kind of you to ask this question, but really, it should be your decision alone how to use twitter.
If I don’t have time, I scroll through and I don’t read every single tweet. By all means, you’re not the most frequent twitterer in my stream (but then, I follow @pistachio :). Most of your tweets are professional, meaningful content, and the personal ones are insightful.
You can’t please everyone, just do as you feel is right and consistent with who you are, and your followers will have to decide for themselves if they want to stick around, just like in everyday life – some people like you and want to stick around, others don’t, and that’s OK.
So, be your true (twitter) self 🙂
Jeremiah, I follow 850 people, so I hardly ever see your tweets except early in the morning when you and I and Guy are the only West Coasters awake. Every once in a while, since I feel like you are more than “just” a Twitter friend, I go back in your tweets to see if I missed anything or if you are asking for input. I don’t think it’s too many. I want to hear what people have to say, or I wouldn’t follow them. I’m trying to get a sense of how social media is and will be used. Watching how people use it unself-consciously is helpful to me.
B) Just right.
First of all, it’s right to tweet as you want.
Secondly, people can choose to either not read it or unfollow you.
Thridly, the only thing I’d say is that people may end up putting extra credence in what you have to say vs. what others have to say because you have that presence. That’s common in social networks, both online and off.
I think you recently said that since your blog started getting massive following, you started to rely more on twitter for less formal conversations. I think your twittering is starting to converge with the blog.
Twitter really needs some way to tag or at least allow you to segment your feed, then folks could get what they really want and avoid what they don’t by choosing to follow a particular feed/neighborhood.
If you were George Costanza from Seinfeld I could choose to subscribe to Independent George, Movie George, Coffee shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George or all of them if I wanted to see worlds colliding. I guess you could have multiple twitter accounts but that seems lame. You could also have a twitter segment for “hot topics” so you wouldn’t miss out on any conversations from your other segments. I dunno, just thinking out loud.
Your tweets are just the kinds that I like to follow on twitter.
Agree completely that it’s up to you what you want to do on twitter, and if others don’t like the frequency or content they can unfollow.
I regularly follow and unfollow different people so I can keep different styles and perspectives in the stream I’m watching. Have never unfollowed you though.
Keep up the great conversations.
I am good to go with your frequancy…I had to stop having the tweets delivered to my Blackberry…but I check in on Twitter directly online…and your conversation is the one I look forward to the most.
I like knowing what my friends are doing…but with you and a handful of others, I am staying connected to the up to the minute info I need.
Please don’t stop what you’re doing…I know how to control my information flow! 😉
I’d say it’s getting overwhelming. I think it’s a balance on Twitter. Sometimes it’s interesting to just talk about silly things. But dominating the bandwidth is another thing. No one is that interesting all the time. It’s forgivable to post a few in a row when it matters….but when you follow 150 people and 3 of them make up 50% of the posts, it’s time to unsubscribe. Watch out that you don’t become a Chris Brogan…someone who has very little to say but spends thousands of posts saying it. Remember: Thank goodness for the man, when nothing else needs to be said, doesn’t spend 15 minutes proving it.
Yes. Your tweats are too much for some and just right for others. The number of followers you have is a survey. When it goes up you are writing interesting things. From the fact that you have gotten over 60 comments on this post… you are doing something right.
Hi Jeremiah,
I love your tweets– I’m a completely fanatical follower of the social web and I find what you write to be insightful and valuable. Also great to hear you speak at GSP West.
All the best,
Heather Gilmour
Be yourself, don’t let Tom change your ways. Everyone’s a critic, and at some point you need to be true to yourself first.
How are my tweets doing for you?
B) Just right
Though I want to say A sometimes ‘cuz you give out such good info.
2) How is the content?
It’s great, not all of it applies to me, but it’s always interested. And I like the work stuff and the geek stuff – it shows who you are, which is what I love about social media. If I wanted a straight news feed, I’d add an RSS for one.
I think @guykawasaki Twitters way more than you do. 🙂
Hi Jeremiah,
I discovered you through Mari Smith’s interview… I’m also new to twitter and I have a small following and yes your post at time dominate.
I enjoy them… I scan through and pick the ones of interest.
Twitter to your hearts content
Ann Rusnak
“The Time Diva”
The number and content of your tweets are fine with me. I *am* the sort to tweet about my lunch, but reading yours and how they are different from mine is the beauty of Twitter. I can always unfollow if I don’t like it.
A nice function for Twitter would be a temporary opt-out on any given person’s account, so that if I didn’t want dozens of posts over days on something, I could flip a switch, then, when it was done, turn it back on again.
1. The volume is just right
2. You provide current content about topics that I’m interested in. I had to “unfollow” my first person recently because the person twittered like a 13 year old girl. Zero relevant content = one unfollow.
Your twitter usage is fine by me, but I don’t read everything you tweet.
This is the attention economy and it comes down to how much time I have for twitter. For me, twitter as a communication channel is somewhere between a water cooler conversation and a casual meeting.
Generally I follow people from the same professional realm that I work in, but it is the eclecticism of personal tweets that I enjoy the most.
If I ever found your twitter dominated my timeline too much I could just subscribe to your twitter feed.
1) Too many (1/2 ok)
2) Half of the content is Ok
but the other one is not interesting ex:
-“We finished up the discussion, we solved user experience, monetization and predicted the WHOLE future of social networks” (SO WHAT ?)
– “crap my voice is trashed despite honey tea” (so what ?)
If you use Twitter as a “pro” then we do not need “personal” reactions…
Or you should have 2 channels: Jeremiah Pro and Jeremiah Pers
Anyway, by just asking the question, you have earned an even bigger consideration on my side 😉
I agree with what many have said — there is no right or wrong way to use Twitter. That’s the beauty of it.
Personally I love seeing a mix of random comments, thoughtful insights, and interesting links (whether they are to your own blog posts or to those of others). It gives a “real” and personal feeling to social networking, while keeping it useful.
I skim over most of the tweets that I receive from folks in general, and I find it easy enough to “tune out” tweets that aren’t relevant or interesting to me. If someone posts an overwhelming majority of irrelevant* tweets and doesn’t make up for it with the occasional worthwhile info, I just stop following them.
*irrelevant is, of course, extremely subjective in this context
Bottom line: keep up the great work and thank you for sharing bits of yourself with us
Jeremiah,
I think just right – Twitter is used for many things, but I think your Tweets are definitely amongst the most insightful and useful on Twitter.
Content is good because we get to hear both about you as a person as well as your professional insights.
I don’t think we should define how Twitter should be used. Its usage in increasing and is yet to be shaped by its users.
I think if people don’t like it, Twitter is very democratic because you can unfollow.
Your twitter links are great keep it up. good information and very imformative. I always use mine to let folks know of a podcast that I am doing and or making a new bolg post.
Thanks
Addictive, like any drug-crazed, need my jowlang twitter dose. I do have days in remission though.
Must have had too many drugs, finger slipped jowyang is what was meant above
@Marilyn
the jowyang first hit is always free.
Impressed that you asked for this feedback. Frequency is fine. Content is generally great. Unfollow is a good (temporary) option for those who feel caught in a tweet storm when you attend a conference. Twitter is YOUR communication and test vehicle; fans can follow (or not) as desired. I also read your blog (RSS) and attend your MarketingProfs (and other) webcasts.
I think you tweet just right.
The wonderful thing about Twitter is that you don’t have to read every tweet by every person. You just catch glimpses when you want. Notifications can be turned on and off for each individual so you can largely control which messages you see first/at all.
It drives me nuts when people complain that people tweet too much. Then turn off notifications, or unfollow! Couldn’t be simpler.
The best way to judge the “success” of your Twitterstream is by the number of followers you have. Zero followers probably means you’re doing something wrong (if your goal is to reach an audience, at least). >0 followers means someone’s listening.
Paying for your twitter! Now that is really interesting. It would be like having your own personal agent – or subject matter expert – on a topic. Maybe Forrester should pimp you out…
Kidding! Just kidding! But think of it… who would I pay to Twitter? Peter Jackson, for one.
Jeremiah,
Your twitter links are great and it’s my social media aggregator. You tweet right. Also I did small survey around New York I believe there are only 4k twitter users. Is the media giving lot of coverage for twitter? or just you . Whatever it™s twitter gets lot of promotion just from you , so you better ask Twitter Inc for some money.
1) How are my tweets doing for you?
They are too many in case I wanted to keep track of all of them, but I don’t do that and just read the ones that you tweet when I’m online.
I’m handling it as river of tweets, not like a feed reader
2) How is the content?
I’m loving most of your tweets, they provide a valuable insight and link to great sources.
I’m happy with the volume and quality of your tweets.
J — Sorry I didn’t respond to this sooner. You Tweet at a high rate, but A) Your content is valuable and well worth our time to monitor and B) Opt-in. The one thing I enjoy about your use of Twitter, and that of folks like Chris Brogan, is that you often push us to think, react and become analysts to react. Your questions to your Twitter following challenge us. Further, those of us who have been lucky enough to have you point to our blogs through Twitter know best, your Tweets have impact.
Your additional assessment is right. If anyone thinks you Tweet too much for their tastes, they’re welcome to stop following you. But IMHO they’re going to miss too much.
Keep on keepin’ on, my friend.
Just right.
Agree with CC 100%. How you use Twitter is up to you. And I also agree with Jason Falls as well… Content is good–that’s why I follow you.
Good to see you at SXSW.
“Tom Foremski, a former colleague of mine and current friend…”
A ‘current’ friend? I know time is money but do you apply time limits to friendships? haha. Nice post – I barely get any work done thanks to this blog…
Kenobi
Tom is a former, current, and future friend.
😉
I really like the commentary and you have helped me develop thoughts on a project I am working on. Please keep up the good work. I just signed up to twitter so I can get your tweets, i will let you know my thoughts on frequency shortly. If you are ever in Dublin, Ireland, let me know.
John O Gorman (Jog)