Recent posts and comments around the blogosphere question the practice of thanking others for hitting the ReTweet (RT) button on your Tweets.
- Some feel the thank-yous are overkill
- Others believe they are a nice touch
I confess. I fall into the RT thanker role.
Maybe it was the way I was raised, but I make a point of thanking others who RT my information.
- I appreciate the ReTweet
- I want to acknowledge that
- Yet, I don’t have a problem if they don’t thank me
Why is that?
- I didn’t ReTweet for a thank you
- If they thank me, I consider it icing on the cake
A similar discussion occurs on the subject of Comments.
Although much of what I read recommends you respond to every comment, there are plenty of comments that don’t receive a response.
- Now is your chance to chime in
- Take the unscientific poll
- Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below
I promise to respond – hey, I still send written thank-yous.
Thank you for participating.
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[polldaddy poll=5001715]
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Definitely good manners, Cathy. I tend to thank people in bulk once or twice a week unless I have something to add to the comment of the person who retweeted. Very occasionally, if I’ve fallen behind because I haven’t been on Twitter, I’ll do a ‘thanks to everyone who RTd’ tweet. It never hurts to be polite. 🙂
Neither poll option really applies to me. It’s not a “no” but definitely not “most of the time.”
I consider a lot of it to be tweet spam. It’s just noise. I’ll send a blanket thank you tweet to people who #FFd me during a week. Or I might post a thanks if several people RT’d something I think was important. But as both a follower who has to put up with it and as a former social media and PR consultant, I have a big problem with people taking too much one-on-one material and sending it live to everyone. It’s obnoxious. And while the intent might be to make yourself look good or polite, it often has the opposite effect (especially if you’re an obsessive thanker). If you want to leave a personal thanks, that’s what direct messaging is there for. You don’t need to litter others’ Twitter feeds with content that’s completely irrelevant to them and doesn’t do much to help them get to know you better. I find people appreciate the private outreach more too.
There’s a larger problem with the constant thank yous in social media, and that’s the social media clique. It’s when you get a circlejerk effect of a small group of people who constantly RT and then thank each other. The same thing happens with blogging. It usually involves either deliberate teaming up to cross-promote in that way (really bad, and obvious) or just a certain amount of kissing ass that gets annoying to spectators (still bad, but mostly oblivious).
So do I ever thank people on Twitter? Sure. Do I think it should happen all the time just because someone copy / pasted or hit a retweet button? No. Do I want to see it all the time as a follower? An even bigger “no.”
Sharon-Thanks for stopping by. I’m with you on this one. I do make an effort to thank people for a RT. Maybe it’s partly because I am newer to blogging, and like comments, really appreciate ANY activity. 🙂
But, then I think it’s also my mother’s voice in my ear asking me if I’ve sent my thank yous. 🙂
Jenn- you do bring up a good point about Direct Messaging. I try to remember to send a DM to thank someone, but I admit I don’t always remember to do that. There are times, my thank yous are through Reply because that person doesn’t follow me and I can’t send a DM.
And I do see your side about excessive RTs, but I guess that boils down to the intent. My intent is truly to thank the person because I appreciate them taking the time. I know it takes 2 seconds, but it’s like what happens in Customer Service. Rarely do you find someone taking the time to thank someone for good customer service.
And, like I told Sharon, as one who doesn’t have a lot of RT opportunity, i really DO appreciate any activity. 🙂
So, while I understand (and agree when there’s some nefarious intent), I know I will continue to send thank yous. But, I do promise to try to remember to use my DM.
Thanks, for sharing another view, Jenn.
I can see your point, Jenn. I suppose if everyone did it, it could seem like clutter. Like Cathy, though, I can’t get past the little voice in my ear. DMs are a good option for people who follow you, though; so I’ll give that a try.
And on a side note I should add that you, Cathy, are a perfect example of someone who uses direct messaging effectively as opposed to tweeting everything you say “privately” publicly. 🙂
Oh, don’t go getting all nice on me, Jenn. I depend on you to stir things up. LOL!! 😀
But, thank you. 😉
Cathy, I personally appreciate RT “thank-yous”. Makes me feel that my opinion matters. In my book, grace and good manners never go out of style.
But does exercising one set of good manners excuse other bad manners? That’s what it comes down to for me. I consider it far ruder to disrupt others’ feeds when they’re there for conversation and substance to constantly tweet thank yous that are relevant to no one other than myself and the person being thanked. For the serial thankers, it borders on spam at best. When more appropriate outlets are given, it’s my feeling that they should be used. So I think to imply it’s bad manners not to thank everyone who RTs you is far from the full story. There’s usually an in-between.
Hi Kim-you just made me realize we are not connected on Twitter. I’ll thank you as soon as we are. 😀
Thanks, as always, for stopping by, Kim!
Jenn-true. I think part of my problem (?) is that I am not wired like serial thankers with an agenda. I just don’t think like them. What I mean are the ones who aren’t thanking you for the RT as much because they are grateful, but rather to have an opportunity to send the Tweet again.
Nothing is simple black and white. I would be a serial thanker by definition, and for that I am happy because I know my intent. Should I be better at remembering to DM my thanks? Sure. My point is some of those serial thankers may have their heart in the right place and just don’t think about the similarity to unwanted spam.
Maybe we will reform-no guarantees. 😀
I have to admit that I am sooo new to blogging and twitter (2 days on twitter, maybe) that I didn’t even know that this whole phenomenon exists.
However, I do think it is great that you are posting on “Twitter etiquette” or at least posting the question: Should you or should you not behave in a certain way on twitter? Maybe it is because a lot of the self-promotion on twitter is excessive.
Although I have not personally encountered phenomenon, I don’t think a person needs to or should feel obligated to thank the person. If the person liked it, they tweeted it and that is it. Rather than thank the person, the person who received the benefit of the tweet could “pay it forward,” not to that person necessarily, but if he or she runs across interesting, high-quality content, then tweet and share.
Hi Susan: Welcome to Twitterdom and the Blogosphere. 🙂 I appreciate your perspective. I don’t know that I feel obligated (unless you consider my mother’s training as making me “obligated” to say thank you). 🙂
I think what it boils down to is the good intent – however you handle that – it’s when it becomes self-serving that it is a problem.
Thanks for stopping by-hope to see you around the cyber world.