Twitterfeed is a (potentially) useful service that allows you to easily convert RSS feeds into tweets or facebook updates. A great way to notify your social networks if your main outlet is your blog – every blog entry gets tweeted and walled.
So why don’t I like it?
Because 99% of twitterfeed users (ok, that may be an exaggeration, but it feels like it) do not use it to convert their own feed. They use it to convert someone else’s feed so that it looks like they are generating lots of useful content.
This is a typical ploy of the so-called social media guru. You need lots of followers, so you follow lots of people. Some people will just automatically follow back (fools), others will look at your tweets first. If they see lots of interesting news they may be tempted. Until they realise that you are just tweeting the same as everyone else because you’ve hooked twitter feed up to mashable.
At least 3 times a week I am followed by such people. Scrolling through their tweets, I have to go back days before I can find a genuine, self-made tweet. And I’m counting retweets and 4square updates as self-made! All their other tweets look like they are real, until you see the “via twitterfeed” and search for the same text. Sure enough, the same tweet has been made by hundreds of others.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love to see a good RT or a link, if it has been hand-picked as something the tweeter genuinely thinks their followers may be interested in.
So, there you go, rant over.
P.S. I would pay for a twitter account that allowed me to filter out tweet sources or particular people direct from my feed. That’s how much I hate them!
A Microsoft Certified Professional with many years of large corporate experience and training, he now focuses on helping small businesses make the most of their IT.
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