by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: June 25, 2010

Twitter, the micro-blogging platform which has transformed the Internet in the last few years, is a deceptively simple service. It is easy to use - just post 140 characters about what you are up to, but the devil is in the detail. It is possible to be overwhelmed by all the talk of following, followers, trending topics, hashtags and shortened urls. Direct messages are among the easier of Twitter's features to understand. Simply find your chosen recipient, write a message in the message box (140 characters or less, like a normal tweet) and press send.

The direct message process can be automated, however, and below are a few thoughts on whether this is a good idea.

Most people on Twitter are keen to build their numbers of 'followers', members who sign up to receive your updates in their Twitter feed. If you do not follow someone back as soon as they decide to follow you, they may cancel their subscription to your Tweets. If you have only patchy access to Twitter, you might want to automate (through Socialoomph, Hootsuite, Tweetadder or any of the other tools out there) the following process so that you automatically subscribe. If you would rather vet them first, you can let them know that you are aware of their subscription through an automatic message that says something like:

"Thank you for following my Tweets, I hope you enjoy them."

This interaction should then give you some time to review their account and see whether you are interested in following them.

You can also use the facility to communicate information to your followers without making it public, which may or may not be useful depending on your motives in using Twitter.

The benefits of this facility are clear. Efficient, automatic, private communication. The problem is that people join a micro-blogging network for genuine personal interaction, not automated messages. A message that is overtly computer-generated will alienate a large number of potential followers, and different things irritate different people. If the direct message includes a link to a freshly-written article which you are promoting, or to some sort of affiliate website, you can find that you have destroyed your relationship with your potential follower before it has even begun.

An argument can be made that such people are over-sensitive. There is a lot of junk on Twitter, and it may only be a matter of time before it declines into a network of people promoting affiliate links, Justin Bieber, pornography and articles copied from wikipedia. Anyone who thinks they can sign up for the Gandhi quotes and avoid the spam really is kidding themselves.

But really, if you are setting up an automated direct message, you should take a moment to think about whether it's the kind of message you would really like to receive. How often do you greet messages that say: "Hi! You are cool! Visit my site! http://tinyurl.boring.rubbish" with a smile and a willing click? Are you the sort of person that enjoys getting automated messages? Is anyone?

In short, automated direct messages have their place. But they should be used with care and thought to how they reflect on you, and never as a spamming tool.

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