OK, let’s clear something up…if you see a tweet on Twitter and the source is listed as “From API”, there is no need to disown that Twitter user as a “bot”, “spammer”, or anything else negative.  While some users might very well be those terms, it is unfair to label all users who have tweets “From API” as fake users.

From the looks of most users concerned with what “From API” really means, nearly all jump the gun and assume the worst…that it is a “bot” account.  Do these users even know what an API is?  From what it looks like, they do not.  For starters, everyone should check out Twitter’s offical page regarding API use and what it is.  This can be found here.

So Why The Hate for “From API” Tweets?

Twitter recently implemented a change where programs who do not list a source parameter in the tweets will be defaulted to post “from API” instead on what it used to be “from Web”.  So what is now happening is programs who do not list a source and are not registered as an application with Twitter will now display the source in tweets as “from API” instead of “from Web”. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of Twitter users are interested in adding more followers to their account.  Whether they are looking to expand their brand or looking to boost their online ego, the amount of followers can be an important factor in your Twitter world.

There was a recent launch of a new site that will help you add more followers to your Twitter account.  While these type of sites have been popping up more recently, this one has upset some Twitter users because of their own incompetency.

Who To Trust?

One important thing not only on Twitter, but for any site you come across, do not share your login information with anyone you do not trust.  Twitter is implementing something called “OAuth” which is a way for you to allow third party sites to access your Twitter account with your permission.  Using OAuth is a process that will protect your login credentials from third party sites while you still get to use the features and functions from those third party sites.  Basically they never see your password information. 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 »