Why TweeterGetter Struck a Chord12 Feb
Last night, I posted about Twitter scheme, TweeterGetter.
Little did I know that it would provoke such an intensive debate.
This morning, as I study the aftermath and weigh in on the responses, I can see why this struck a strong chord in me (and apparently, others).
Part of my mission revolves around kicking the hype and spamminess out of network marketing & direct sales.
The “shortcut to riches” mentality is what has given the network marketing industry a bad name and what has ultimately led to it being blanketed with “pyramid” cries.
People who enter the industry with good intentions are then trained to do off-putting things, such as tricking their friends into coming to meetings, trolling for people in need of an “opportunity” at the local coffee shop, and consuming their lives with hyped up recruiting.
It’s an exhausting way to do network marketing and it ticks people off. Not to mention that all these ideas are designed to change the natural order of a business model and trick it into “overnight” success.
TweeterGreeter is a program designed to change the natural order of the Twitter model and trick it into overnight success.
Is network marketing about the numbers? How many people you can sign up into your thing?
How well does that work?
If you’ve ever been in network marketing or direct sales, you know how well that works.
I work hard to raise the image of direct selling as a profession. How much better would it have been had it never experienced people who tried to shortcut their success and thus left a bad taste in the mouths of the innocents?
Twitter is a precious resource. It’s a shame that right now, the stream is being polluted by innocents eagerly trying to short cut to their idea of “success” (numbers?) by using a tool being hyped around by a scammy spammer with something to prove.
Good luck with that. Hope it won’t be too hard to clean up your mess.
11 Responses to “Why TweeterGetter Struck a Chord”
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Thank you, thank you, thank you. As an avid Twitterer who loves to make new connections, I am offended by the TweetGetter model. How on earth can 20,000 accidental/random new followers benefit me or I them? Numbers do not make a business, relationships do.
Ricci,
I couldn’t agree more. But there are always going to be people looking for a shortcut to something that takes time and effort to do the right way.
Twitter strikes me as being similar right now to email 10-15 years ago. At that time, it was a novelty and people would sign up for almost any free newsletter or other information via email just because it was free. That’s no longer the case.
I think Twitter is in that same novelty stage, where people want to get these huge numbers without really understanding what’s involved in managing that amount of information, from people you don’t know and have no idea if you should trust.
I suspect the shine will wear off for a lot of people who use these kind of tools to build a big list of “followers” who aren’t really following anything. In a few months, things will wash out and only the people who are serious will still be around.
I was going to reply, then realized that Molly said everything that I wanted to.
I’ve begun following Tweeters that declared themselves a ‘professional this’ or a ‘guru of that’. When I discover that all they ever do is spam or post links, I lose interest and un-follow them.
The internet is full. It’s full of useless conversations, marketers and others who are all vying for our attention. A direct connection to a PERSON helps to cut through this clutter.
TweeterGetter adds no value to the internet. It’s a glorified chain letter, and I for one would rather have a pen-pal. :-)
Interesting viewpoint, but I completely disagree.
You state “natural order of the Twitter model” but according to who? What is the “natural order of the Twitter model”? Who defines it? Isn’t Twitter defined by its users?
You also state “the stream is being polluted”. Well, if you don’t like it you can filter it out. Blip.fm has “polluted” the stream as well, but no one seems to be complaining about it.
I think it’s an ingenious idea by a creative individual who is pushing the boundaries and exploring the limits of what can be done with Twitter, kudos to him. :)
I agree – 100%. It’s the responsibility of the Twitter Elite (not MY choice of term) to ensure that the value of Twitter is maintained before it dies like so many other tools do under the weight of the “get rich quick” scammers.
Twitter has succeeded thus far due to self-policing. If the populace goes from self-policing to self-defacing, it won’t take long before Twitter becomes a ghetto, with graffiti on every wall and thousands of abandoned accounts.
This whole madness compelled me to put together a quick video training for how to report spam, should you desire to keep Twitter out of the handbasket TweeterGetter seems so determined to thrust it into:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjeD2b7wq-Q
I always try “talking” to the spammer first, and let them know that this kind of thing won’t really work on Twitter. But if they insist on spamming – there’s little else left to do.
The debate is really between those who don’t know what the real meaning of social networking is all about and those who do. While MLM and direct sales are also a part of this, the real thing that will suffer is the relationships.
When I started out on twitter, I thought it was a numbers game. How fast could I get to thousands of followers? How could I get some fast jumps to increase my numbers? Should I use twitter apps to find people faster?
Then one day it hit me.
I fell in love with my followers. When I was feeling down, I tweeted about it and I received the greatest outpouring of love. I literally cried (tough thing for a man to admit) at the amount of support I received. It wasn’t a bunch of numbers that supported me, but a group of people who cared about me.
At that point it became clear to me that people are what drives the social networks. You cannot build a relationship with numbers, only with people. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Thanks for pointing this out, because people need to realize that social networks aren’t worth anything if everyone is the result of a matrix, pyramid or other scheme.
Thanks,
Micheal Savoie
http://twitter.com/michealsavoie
I am rather new to twitter, but I would assume that there must have been dozens if not hundreds of web apps like twittergetter in the past. One of the oddities that I find is that those who are supporting TwitterGetter’s use are commenting on it’s ‘creativitiy’ or ‘novel approach’, or even better ‘original marketing’. ?!?? This ponzi idea is not only not original, but is one of the simplest and most basic ideas relating to anything involving numbers. Just ask Bernie Madoff!
For those who comment in the stream as to it being ‘creative’ or the like, this not only shows that you don’t connect with the core principals of twitter or social networking, but that you don’t understand much about marketing as well. If numbers are all you care about, do something else like try to snag a username that impersonates a celebrity and make some tongue in cheek fun about it. At least some of your followers may get a laugh. But when you’re trying to establish credibility as an online/social marketer, please understand that participating and supporting such simple trickery will not land you a speaking gig anytime soon.
http://twitter.com/rbruner
[...] the “Morning After” post – click here for “Why TweeterGetter Struck a [...]
Warning. I think #tweetergetter is a very clever social-engineered attempt to harvest Twitter passwords. If any of your readers filled in the form and subscribed, I recommend they change their password immediately. Cheers — Mike (@MikeFitzAU)
Why do they want your password to sign up?
I wrote about this at another location on the same topic here at the blog.
I disagree that Tweeter Getter doesn’t add value, particularly for those who want to develop more relationships and are looking for some leverage and automation to accomplish it.
As long as you’re NOT spamming about it or being obnoxious… Promoting Tweeter Getter respectfully and mindfully isn’t a bad thing in and of itself.
Right now, we all have lots of people regularly choosing to follow us at Twitter. Most of us don’t mind. We rarely know the person who ads themselves to the list… we don’t know if they had a good reason to add themselves.
What matters is what we do after someone follows us on Twitter (and what the new follower does). If we engage in conversations, give value after they’re on our list, we are using Twitter how it was intended.
For these reasons, I suggest using it if you’re in business. I’ve written how to go about the correctly and successfully at my blog, which I think there will be a link to here with my name.
Partners in success!