Recently I shared my thoughts on the use of automated direct messages on Twitter.  I do take the time to read each message in my Twitter inbox, which unfortunately most of the time are pretty lame.

For example, the ones where you can learn how to get 16,000 followers from someone who themself only has a few hundred followers.  Or the ones where you get the “free gift” after signing up for a crappy newsletter/autoresponder series.  However, I have been around long enough to have seen some pretty creative DM’s.  Below I will share some of the better ones I have come across.

If you hate getting catchy songs stuck in your head, this one was derived from a McDonald’s commercial.  You know the one with the singing bass on the wall talking Read the rest of this entry »

Or is it?  An interesting comment was brought up that I thought I would like to address regarding direct messages on Twitter.  This is not the first time this question has been posed, but it is one that always seems to have a “gray” area in my opinion.  Should Twitter users utilize automated direct messages within their account?

The Rundown

There are several sites that you can use to setup automated welcome direct messages in your Twitter account.  I am not going to beat around the bush and say that ploked does not use this tool.  For those who don’t know what an automated DM is, it is basically an automated/scheduled welcome message that is sent out to welcome your new followers.

The Pros

Face it, anything that helps automate or save you a few minutes of time can be a worthy tool if PROPERLY used.  When I say properly used, I mean this in that you use it to engage your follower with some information about who you are, what you do, or what you think about a certain topic.  Not something about getting rich quick, gaining 16,000 followers, or seeing more scantily clad pics of you.

Most of us probably do not have the time to manually go through all our new users and send them a welcome message, so this can be a Read the rest of this entry »